Explorers - Biography, Latin America & the Caribbean - Travel Essays & Descriptions - General & Miscellaneous, Mountains - Travel, South America - General & Miscellaneous - Travel, Naturalists - Biography
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Overview
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.Author Biography: Ángela Pérez-Mejía is an Associate Professor in the Romance and Comparative Literature Department at Brandeis University. The Spanish version of this book won honorable mention in the literary essay category, International Literary Prize, Casa de las Américas, Cuba, 2000.
Book Details
Published
March 11, 2004
Publisher
Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, c2004.
Pages
167
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780791460139