The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City

“In this impressive study, Franco…tracks the collapse of the belief in utopia among Latin American writers from the Cold War to neoliberalism… Franco raises crucial questions in her fascinating exploration of the decline and vestiges of the lettered city. Essential reading for Latin Americanists and anyone interested in modern intellectual life.”—D.L. Heyck, Choice

“Books that are so well crafted and so original that they make a difference in the evolution of a discipline do not come out often. This book by Franco, longtime literary and cultural observer of Latin America and professor emerita of Columbia University, is one such work… This book provides a unique understanding of both the literature and the politics of this important period in Latin American history.”—Mark L. Grover, Library Journal

“With seemingly effortless grace, Jean Franco teaches us to reread Latin America, showing the roots of ‘global’ cultural politics in the Cold War. The range is from hard politics to transvestite disidentifications; interspersed with lapidary textual reading and unfailingly innovative theoretical interventions.”—Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, author of A Critique of Postcolonial Reason