| A Geography of Hard Times: Narratives about Travel to South America, 1780-1849 Contributor(s): Perez-Mejia, Angela (Author), Cluster, Dick (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0791460142 ISBN-13: 9780791460146 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $32.25 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2004 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Travel | South America - General - Literary Criticism | European - General - Literary Criticism | Caribbean & Latin American |
| Dewey: 918.042 |
| LCCN: 2003060760 |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6" W x 9" (0.50 lbs) 179 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This fascinating glimpse into South America's past focuses on the works of four European voyagers who came to South America and left a legacy of travel writing in their wake: José Celestino Mutis, a Spanish botanist and doctor; Alexander von Humboldt, a German geographer; Maria Graham, a British historian; and Flora Tristán, a French feminist and labor activist whose father was Peruvian. Each took on his or her voyage as a personal endeavor, and collectively their travels covered the Andes from its northern traces in Venezuela to the southern heights of Chile and Arequipa. Their writing contributed to the construction of a complex map of the Andes in which many levels of physical and social geography may be read. By analyzing the travelers' narratives, illustrations, and maps, Ángela Pérez-Mejía unravels the rich complexities of the colonial travel experience, explores its impact on both the object of description and the traveler's subjectivity, and the collective readership seeking a discourse of nationhood. |