Overview

Modern literary culture depended on the medium of the print book. Today, with the advent of digital technologies, it is far from apparent that print is, or should be, the vehicle of choice for contemporary writers. Print has been placed in relief, as the book becomes a site of experimentation with new platforms for writing. Among Latin American countries, none has been as crucial player in the world of print as Argentina. Argentine presses were the channel for many of the great modern literary experiments in Latin America. As such, it comes as no surprise that today, when those same presses have been gobbled up by transnational media conglomerates and digital technologies abound, Argentine writers would be attentive to the shifting media of literature. Late Book Culture in Argentina chronicles that shift. Epplin offers readings of some of the most innovative Argentine writers and collective projects of recent years: Osvaldo Lamborghini, César Aira, the cardboard publishing house Eloísa Cartonera, the poetry project Estación Pringles, Sergio Chejfec, and Pablo Katchadjian. This corpus provides a lens through which to understand the numerous experiments with literary formats in Argentina today. These experiments take on a number of forms—digital, artisanal, and collective—and they provide the ferment for some of Argentina’s most audacious contemporary literature. As such they deserve critical attention and theoretical examination.

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9781501318276

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Reviews

Craig Epplin's Late Book Culture in Argentina is a superbly engaging, precisely written analysis of Argentine culture's grappling with the inevitable changes brought about by the advent of digital technologies. The expected account of digital platforms is put aside, and the reader is instead surprised by Epplin's masterful and novel perception of Osvaldo Lamborghini's obsession with the hand-made, artisanal as ready-made, as the degree zero of the paradigm shift in book culture. That is, Epplin does not go and give us the lineage of the rise of digital works in Argentina per se, but of the return (because Macedonio Fernadez emerges as the forerunner) of an 'uncreative' kernel that has re-emerged with renewed strength in the last couple decades and that is at the heart of what many media theorists have termed 'remixing'. The last chapter on Katchadjian is a real tour de force. Epplin's book opens a new chapter in the historiography of Argentine literature. Late Book Culture will soon be a must read. -- Natalia Brizuela, Associate Professor of Spanish & Portuguese, University of California, Berkeley, USA Epplin provides a timely and thoroughly-researched critical ethnography of avant-garde literary practices in Argentina. Late Book Culture in Argentina will be of interest to specialists and general readers alike. -- Hector Hoyos, Assistant Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures, Stanford University, USA, and author of Beyond Bolano: The Global Latin American Novel Late Book Culture in Argentina offers the reader an impeccable balance between close reading, cultural theory, and socio-historical contextualization. Scholars working on contemporary Argentina and academics interested in material culture or book history will find in this study illuminating discussions of some of the major theoretical debates in these fields. -- Veronica Garibotto, Assistant Professor of Spanish, University of Kansas, USA This book is a subtle exploration of the limits of the literary practice. Epplin reflects on the intersections of literature, aesthetics, material production, and distribution of books, where he finds the possibilities for contemporary experimentation. In a brilliant counterpoint, his arguments highlight local works in a global media context. -- Graciela Montaldo, Professor of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Columbia University, USA

Author Information

Craig Epplin is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Portland State University, USA. He has published articles on Latin American literature, film, and media culture.

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