FIFTY YEARS OF LOOKING SOUTH: THE PROMOTION AND RECEPTION OF LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE IN THE U.S. (PUBLISHING, INTER-AMERICAN LITERARY RELATIONS; UNITED STATES

Latin American literature has moved from almost total neglect to the center of U.S. intellectual attention in the last fifty years. The dissertation focuses on the efforts of those Americans--publishers, critics, editors, and writers--who brought recognition to Latin American writing. In addition to the rise and fall of particular reputations, the history of the reception and promotion of Latin American letters in this country involves such issues as North American literary tastes, publishing strategies, and hemispheric politics.;In the twenties and thirties, critic and novelist Waldo Frank was the principal spokesman for Latin American literature. His romantic view of Latin America as an organic, natural world and his crusade on behalf of Latin American regionalistic writing were largely responsible for creating a sterotypical image of Latin American literature as an exotic and mainly of folkloric value.;Unlike Frank's limited impact, President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy created a dynamic program of inter-American cultural exchange during World War II. This officially promoted enthusiasm developed most vigorously at Alfred and Blanche Knopf's publishing firm. They began to publish South American authors, particularly Brazilian, in the 40's and have continued to do so to the present.;With the emergence of the counterculture during the sixties, interest in Latin America, especially the Cuban Revolution, gained a new momentum. Edited in Mexico City by the poet Margaret Randall and her husband Sergio Mondragon, the little magazine The Plumed Horn took the lead in translating Latin American poetry for U.S. readers and vice versa. It established strong ties with avant-garde groups in both Americas and kept abreast of developments in Castro's Cuba.;Conversely, the Rockefeller-funded Center for Inter-American Relations in New York promoted contemporary Latin American novelists and their forerunners among mainstream publishers and nationally important publications. Significant consequences of the Center's success are the emergence of a new image of Latin American literature and the redefinition of inter-American literary relationships. Today well-known American writers acknowledge the influence of Borges on their work. Critics are now more willing to regard Latin American writing on its literary merit than on its revelations about the region.