Mexican Literature in Theory is the first book in any language to engage post-independence Mexican literature from the perspective of current debates in literary and cultural theory. It brings together scholars whose work is defined both by their innovations in the study of Mexican literature and by the theoretical sophistication of their scholarship. Mexican Literature in Theory provides the reader with two contributions. First, it is one of the most complete accounts of Mexican literature available, covering both canonical texts as well as the most important works in contemporary production. Second, each one of the essays is in itself an important contribution to the elucidation of specific texts. Scholars and students in fields such as Latin American studies, comparative literature and literary theory will find in this book compelling readings of literature from a theoretical perspective, methodological suggestions as to how to use current theory in the study of literature, and important debates and revisions of major theoretical works through the lens of Mexican literary works.

Acknowledgments1. IntroductionIgnacio M. Sánchez Prado (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)2. Into the 'Oriental' Zone: Edward Said and Mexican LiteratureLaura Torres-Rodríguez (New York University, USA)3. The Perils of Ownership: Property and Literature in 19th-Century MexicoAna Sabau (University of Michigan, USA)4. Pale Theory: Amado Nervo and the AbsentialJosé Ramón Ruisánchez Serra (University of Houston, USA)5. Mexican Revolution and Literary Form: Reflections on Nellie Campobello's CartuchoIgnacio M. Sánchez Prado (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)6. The Nature of Revolution in Rafael F. Muñoz's Se llevaron el cañon para BachimbaCarolyn Fornoff (Lycoming College, USA)7. Reading Rulfo between Benjamin and Derrida: End of StoryBruno Bosteels (Cornell University, USA)8. Rosario Castellanos' Southern Gothic: Indigenous Labor, Land Reform and the Production of Ladina SubjectivityEricka Beckman (University of Illinois, USA)9. Beginnings of José Emilio PachecoChristina Soto van der Plas (Cornell University / University of California Riverside, USA)10. A Theory of Trauma and the Historical Novel: A Small Theoretical Treaty on Fernando del Paso's Noticias del ImperioPedro Ángel Palou (Tufts University, USA)11. Embodiment Envy: Love, Sex and Death in Pedro Ángel Palou's Con la muerte en los puñosRebecca Janzen (University of South Carolina, USA)12. Visualizing the Nonnormative Body in Guadalupe Nettel's El cuerpo en que nacíLilia Adriana Pérez Limón (University of Oklahoma-Norman, USA)13. Fictions of Sovereignty: The Narconovel, National Security and Mexico's Criminal GovernmentalityOswaldo Zavala (The College of Staten Island & The Graduate Center, CUNY, USA)14. Writing and the Body: Interfaces of Violence in Neoliberal MexicoRoberto Cruz Arzabal (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico)15. The Politics of Infrastructure in Contemporary Mexican WritingBrian Whitener (University of South Alabama, USA)16. 'Dickens + MP3 ÷ Balzac + JPEG' or, Art and the Value of Innovation in the Contemporary Mexican NovelEmilio Sauri (University of Massachusetts-Boston, USA)Notes on ContributorsIndex