Description
Book SynopsisThe first book in English to consider the full extent of the accomplishments and influence the Chilean cultural icon, Violeta Parra. Violeta Parra was an extraordinary figure. She is best known for her contribution to the Latin American New Song movement and for her visual art, which was exhibited in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of the Louvre gallery in 1964. Parra spent her early career singing Mexican songs in bars and researching traditional Chilean culture. All the different phases of Parra's life and work are discussed in this book, with analyses of her music, paintings, sculptures, embroideries (arpilleras), and poetry. Her exhibition in the Louvre gallery and the music venue that she set up before she died, La Carpa de la Reina, are also covered. Among the individual essays collected here are seminal works by Patricio Manns and Leonidas Morales, which have been translated into English for the first time. These works introduce the historical and biographical context for Parra's work. Other essays feature thelatest research and findings by Catherine Boyle, Ericka Verba, Paula Miranda, Serda Yalkin, Romina A. Green, and Lorna Dillon. The book also includes an interview with Violeta Parra's brother, the influential poet Nicanor Parra and a Foreword by Marjorie Agosín. Lorna Dillon earned her PhD at King's College London. She is currently a network facilitator and associate lecturer at the University of Kent.
Trade ReviewVioleta Parra: Life and Work is a portrait of this major Chilean artist and folklorist that should engage casual fans and Parra specialists alike . . . . [P]rovides exceptional insights into the articulation of Parra's work and complex subject positions. . . . Much of the writing is moving, and in some cases beautiful. Parra is a fascinating person who, past the grave, seems to have demanded the same skill, dedication, and loyalty of these authors as she did of her students at La Carpa de la Reina at the end of her life. * JOURNAL OF FOLKLORE RESEARCH *
Table of ContentsList of Contributors Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Violeta Parra: The Genesis of her Art Extracts from La guitarra indócil (The Unruly Guitar) Conversation with Nicanor Parra about Violeta Back in the Days when She sang Mexican Songs on the Radio...Before Violeta Parra was Violeta Parra Violeta Parra, Creative Researcher Unearthing Violeta Parra: Counter-Memory, Rupture, and Authenticity Outside of the Modern Violeta Parra at the Louvre: The 'Naïve' as a Strategy of the Authentic Violeta Parra's Contribution to the 1960s Art Scene Violeta Parra and the Empty Space of La Carpa de la Reina Conclusion Index
