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This volume is the first translation of Romano Bilenchi’s 1940 masterpiece to appear in English. This is surprising since The Conservatory of Santa Teresa is much more than an invaluable historical document of life in provincial Tuscany around the time of the First World War. It is truly one of the most important works of fiction published in Italy under Fascism. In telling of the pre-adolescent Sergio’s encounter with the larger world of sex, politics, and the violence and cruelty of adult life, Bilenchi succeeds in representing a universal paradigm, that of the clash of innocence with experience. But what makes Sergio’s trajectory unique is that he goes through it in the company of three extraordinary women who are at once femmes fatales and benevolent guides: his mother, his aunt, and his tutor, all almost unbearably beautiful, as least in Sergio’s eyes. These women, plus the dazzling landscape of the Sienese countryside as captured by Bilenchi, make Sergio’s journey an enviable even if sometimes painful and bewildering experience.
In North America between 1894 and 1930, the rise of the “New Woman” sparked controversy on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world. As she demanded a public voice as well as private fulfillment through work, education, and politics, American journalists debated and defined her. Who was she and where did she come from? Was she to be celebrated as the agent of progress or reviled as a traitor to the traditional family? Over time, the dominant version of the American New Woman became typified as white, educated, and middle class: the suffragist, progressive reformer, and bloomer-wearing bicyclist. By the 1920s, the jazz-dancing flapper epitomized her. Yet she also had many other fac...
Into the Mainstream: Essays on Spanish American and Latino Literature and Culture is a direct outgrowth of Jorge Febles’s involvement with the annual conference of the American Culture Association and the Popular Culture Association. In that sense, the compilation expands on a project initiated in 1993 by Helen Ryan-Ransom with her book Imagination, Emblems and Expressions: Essays on Latin American, Caribbean, and Continental Culture and Identity (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1993). David William Foster, who penned a lengthy preface to that collection, justified its intent by underscoring: “The very fact that our approach to culture is dominated by c...
Survivors from pre-revolutionary times, American limousines line the streets of Cuba, adding to the Caribbean island's undeniable charm. Havana is the best place of all to admire these classic automobiles. Star photographer Robert Polidori presents a brilliant photographic exhibition of these fascinating relics, some lovingly maintained, some in decay, which do so much to define the street scene of the Cuban capital. Music CD's: Accompanied by original Cuban music - including the stars from Buena Vista Social Club Company Segundo, and Omara Portuodo; The Book summons up mellow memories of glamorous days in old Havana.
This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of Miguelito Valdes, Arsenio Rodriguez, Benny More, and Perez Prado. It offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making the case that Cuba was fundamental to the evolution of music in the New World. The ways in which the music of black slaves transformed 16th-century Europe, how the "claves" appeared, and how Cuban music influenced ragtime, jazz, and rhythm and blues are revealed. Music lovers will follow this journey from Andalucia, the Congo, the Calabar, Dahomey, and Yorubaland via Cuba to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint-Domingue, New Orleans, New York, and Miami. The music is placed in a historical context that considers the complexities of the slave trade; Cuba's relationship to the United States; its revolutionary political traditions; the music of Santeria, Palo, Abakua, and Vodu; and much more.
“This evocative memoir is a joyous, rhythmic history” of the 11-sister dance band that broke musical and cultural barriers in 1930s Cuba and beyond (Publishers Weekly). In the 1930s, Havana was the place to be for tourists, ex-pats, celebrities, and excitement-seekers. Nights were filled with drinking, dancing, romance, and the roar of infectious music spilling from cafés into the streets. It was a time and place immortalized by Hemingway, and a macho mecca where only men took the stage. That is until Alicia Castro, a thirteen-year-old greengrocer’s daughter, picked up a saxophone and led her sisters into the limelight. With infectious melodies and saucy lyrics, the Sisters Castro—p...
DIVThe definitive guide to the composers, artists, bands, musical instruments, dances, and institutions of Cuban music./div
Afro-Cuban Religions and the Arts: A Dog Has Four LegsBut Takes Only One Path argues for an understanding of Afro-Cuban religions and Vodou through the arts, be it through music, the visual arts, film, or literature. This book examines the philosophical and spiritual facets of religions like Regla de Ocha, Palo, Abakuá, and Vodou, and how deeply embedded they are in Cuban popular culture. Cuban popular music, from son to salsa, timba to rap, offer reflections on Ocha, Palo, and Abakuá influences. Film and visual arts borrow allegory from Regla de Ocha and Palo beliefs. Myth and the Haitian Revolution is embedded throughout the work of Alejo Carpentier, Aimé Césaire, and Derek Walcott. This volume seeks to dialogue with the works of contemporary artists and Caribbean ancestors such as C.L.R. James, Wilson Harris, and Fernández-Retamar, in order to show the impacts that spiritualism, religious belief, and mythology have had on Afro-Cuban art.
Dr. Ben Robinson is haunted by his past but a new doctor joining the staff at his Argentinian hospital may be just what he needs to start enjoying life again.
The late Jan Fairley (1949-2012) was a key figure in making world music a significant topic for popular music studies and an influential contributor to such world music magazines as fRoots and Songlines. This book celebrates her contribution to popular music scholarship by gathering her most important work together in a single place. The result is a richly informed and entertaining volume that will be of interest to all scholars in the field while also serving as an excellent introduction for students interested in popular music as a global phenomenon. Fairley’s work was focused on the problems and possibilities of cross-cultural musical influences, fantasies and flows and on the importanc...