The Lettered City by Angel Rama, John Charles Chasteen - 9780822317661

The Lettered CityAuthor(s): Angel Rama, John Charles Chasteen\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Duke University Press, United States\nImprint: Duke University Press\nISBN-13: 9780822317661, 978-0822317661\nSynopsis\nPosthumously published to wide acclaim, The Lettered City is a vitally important work by one of Latin Americas most highly respected theorists. Angel Ramas groundbreaking study-presented here in its first English translation-provides an overview of the power of written discourse in the historical formation of Latin American societies, and highlights the central role of cities in deploying and reproducing that power. To impose order on a vast New World empire, the Iberian monarchs created carefully planned cities where institutional and legal powers were administered through a specialized cadre of elite men called letrados; it is the urban nexus of lettered culture and state power that Rama calls the lettered city. \nStarting with the colonial period, Rama undertakes a histor.