Introduction: The Lyric and the State

Abstract

In the Introduction, Bollig argues that a culturally and historically situated reading of Argentine poets working in the period from 1996 to date can offer insights into both literary history and contemporary politics. He cites the work of Franco Moretti to support the claim that literary studies has the potential to contribute to a political reading of culture and society. Bollig also engages with influential work on Latin American poetry by William Rowe and recent studies of contemporary Southern Cone culture by Cecilia Palmeiro, Craig Epplin, and others. Bollig argues that poets themselves conceive for their work a political role. This occurs not just in thematic or formal choices but also in the means by which they make their writing public.