these essays by critics, theorists and artists explore the allusive nexus of the dark in contemporary mexican literature and visual culture. they chart the poetics of 'negrura-oscuridad' in creative media during decades of deepening crisis marked by the high-profile staging of atrocities, the re-emergence of an ironic noir aesthetic and the consolidation of forensically inspired art-making.

in the wake of walter benjamin's 'unfinished' thinking structures, this volume operates through contiguous directions, transitions and regressions, incorporating images as part of the discussion of a ruinous visuality. its polycentric mesh covers a wide range of art, writing, photography and film: from ritual uses of the 'darksome' and its legacies in pre-hispanic cultures to colonial religious iconography of penitential blindness; from narco-noir in the novels of roberto bola o and yuri herrera to techno-noir in dystopian border films; from the quotidian taxonomy of horror expurgated in art practice to the haunted 'other darkness' of the photographic blink. it also explores how we can contest the threat of dark ecology and 'horrorism' through sense expansion within new media and by positing fruitful blind spots in text and art.

propuestas para (re)construir una naci n explores how emilia pardo baz n (1851-1921) imagines and engenders the spanish nation in her theatrical production staged and/or published between 1898 and 1909. in the aftermath of spain's colonial losses, when spain's male authors, in a growing mood of collective introspection, directed their attention to the homeland, pardo baz n generated a series of theatrical proposals to revitalize the nation. in her plays, she manifests her ideas about spain's fin de si cle crisis, reflects on spain's place in the international arena (emphasizing the nation's civilizing mission), critiques the intoxicating power of the so-called golden legend (spain's glorious past), and sees the origin of the nation's hardship in the lack of education of its inhabitants and in the inequality between men and women.

pardo baz n's vision of spain is forward looking, and she imagines a future in which new social configurations will be possible. instead of locating her plays in an ancestral castile, she situates several of her works in her native galicia. for the author, spain's regional issues are inseparable from the country's national issues and these can all be traced back to the woman question. the playwright appeals to the spectators/readers' reason and emotions in order to let them think and feel that the problems the nation faces can all be attributed to the spanish men. for pardo baz n, spain's potential for national regeneration resides in the inner strength of women.

in cross-fire with the main male players in the literary field of her time, pardo baz n offers her critique of national decadence in plays that cleverly subvert a broad range of by then outdated theatrical conventions, and that introduce the public to new currents of theatrical innovation (ibsen, maeterlinck, d'annunzio).

propuestas offers a new perspective on the participation of female authors in the contentious debate about the spanish nation. pardo baz n's theater is an overlooked area in the author's extensive creative production, and propuestas challenges the so often repeated topic of the backwardness of the spanish stage and the alleged lack of innovation during the fin de si cle.

propuestas para (re)construir una naci n explora c mo emilia pardo baz n (1851-1921) imagina y engendra la naci n espa ola en su producci n teatral finisecular que vio la luz entre 1898 y 1909. a la zaga de la debacle de 1898, cuando la introspecci n colectiva dirige la mirada de los autores hacia la patria, pardo baz n genera una serie de propuestas teatrales para revitalizar la naci n. en sus obras, expone sus ideas sobre la crisis finisecular, reflexiona sobre el lugar de espa a en la arena internacional (enfatizando su misi n civilizadora), critica el poder embriagador de lo que llama la leyenda dorada (el glorioso pasado espa ol) y ve la causa de los males de la patria en la falta de educaci n de sus habitantes y en la desigualdad entre hombres y mujeres.

en vez de enfocarse en el ayer, pardo se imagina un futuro en el que nuevas configuraciones sociales sean posibles. en lugar de ubicar sus obras en una castilla ancestral, sit a varias de sus piezas teatrales en su galicia natal. para la autora los problemas regionales son inseparables de los nacionales y los problemas nacionales son inseparables de la cuesti n de la mujer. la dramaturga apela tanto al raciocinio como a las emociones de sus espectadores/lectores para hacerles pensar y sentir que son los hombres los que constituyen el problema nacional. para pardo baz n la clave de la regeneraci n de espa a se encuentra en la mujer.

en fuego cruzado con los jugadores m's importantes del campo de producci n cultural de su tiempo, pardo baz n ofrece su cr tica de la decadencia nacional en unas obras que reciclan una serie heterog nea de materiales por aquel entonces anticuados que la autora combina de manera inteligente con formas inesperadas que introducen al p blico a nuevas corrientes de innovaci n teatral (ibsen, maeterlinck, d'annunzio).

propuestas ofrece una nueva perspectiva de la participaci n de las autoras femeninas en el contencioso debate sobre la naci n espa ola. dentro de la extensa producci n creadora de la autora, su teatro es un terreno frecuentemente pasado por alto y propuestas desaf a el tan trillado t pico del retraso de la escena espa ola y la supuesta falta de innovaci n durante el fin de siglo.

a stunningly illustrated look at how blake's radical vision influenced artists of the beat generation and 1960s counterculture

in his own lifetime, william blake (1757-1827) was a relatively unknown nonconventional artist with a strong political bent. william blake and the age of aquarius is a beautifully illustrated look at how, some two hundred years after his birth, the antiestablishment values embodied in blake's art and poetry became a model for artists of the american counterculture.

this book provides new insights into the politics and protests of blake's own lifetime, and the generation of artists who revived and reimagined his work in the mid-1940s through 1970, or what might be called the "long sixties." contributors explore blake's outsider status in georgian england and how his individualistic vision spoke to members of the beat generation, hippies, radical poets and writers, and other voices of the counterculture. among the artists, musicians, and writers who looked to blake were such diverse figures as diane arbus, jay defeo, the doors, sam francis, allen ginsberg, jess, agnes martin, ad reinhardt, charles seliger, maurice sendak, robert smithson, clyfford still, and many others. this book also explores visual cultures around such galvanizing moments of the 1960s as woodstock and the summer of love.

william blake and the age of aquarius shows how blake's myths, visions, and radicalism found new life among american artists who valued individualism and creativity, explored expanded consciousness, and celebrated youth, peace, and the power of love in a turbulent age.

exhibition schedule:
mary and leigh block museum of art, northwestern university
september 23, 2017-march 11, 2018

this book investigates the spaces of interaction between portuguese and brazilian modernists--specifically oswald de andrade, augusto de campos and haroldo de campos, ronald de carvalho, ant nio ferro, fernando pessoa, m rio de s -carneiro--and their interpretation of nation. most importantly, the way in which their work echoes and transfigures the ulysses myth, to be termed portuguese ulyssism by brazilian gilberto freyre in his reading of lu's vaz de cam es's epic poem the lusiads, is analyzed, underlining the presence of a postcolonial ulysses in the lusophone world. the trope of the shipwreck is central to the creative production of these atlantic modernists who, outside of their respective national literatures, interact beyond the territories of nation-states through texts on exile, national identity, and colonialism.

in addition to the renowned the lusiads, the texts studied include two issues of the luso-brazilian quarterly orpheu (1915) and ant nio ferro's contributions to brazil's klaxon (1922, in celebration of the centenary of brazil's political independence from portugal); oswald de andrade's anthropophagic manifesto (1928) and an unpublished letter to ferro; fernando pessoa's poem "ulysses" in message (1934); and haroldo de campos's galaxies (1984) and "finismundo: the last voyage" (1997). in a postcolonial ulysses in the lusophone world, relocations and transfigurations of the ulysses myth inform a dialogue between the modernists of portugal and brazil through texts on exile, national identity, and colonialism.