Author: Noël Valis
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822384280
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423
Book Description
Not easily translated, the Spanish terms cursi and cursilería refer to a cultural phenomenon widely prevalent in Spanish society since the nineteenth century. Like "kitsch," cursi evokes the idea of bad taste, but it also suggests one who has pretensions of refinement and elegance without possessing them. In The Culture of Cursilería, Noël Valis examines the social meanings of cursi, viewing it as a window into modern Spanish history and particularly into the development of middle-class culture. Valis finds evidence in literature, cultural objects, and popular customs to argue that cursilería has its roots in a sense of cultural inadequacy felt by the lower middle classes in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Spain. The Spain of this era, popularly viewed as the European power most resistant to economic and social modernization, is characterized by Valis as suffering from nostalgia for a bygone, romanticized society that structured itself on strict class delineations. With the development of an economic middle class during the latter half of the nineteenth century, these designations began to break down, and individuals across all levels of the middle class exaggerated their own social status in an attempt to protect their cultural capital. While the resulting manifestations of cursilería were often provincial, indeed backward, the concept was—and still is—closely associated with a sense of home. Ultimately, Valis shows how cursilería embodied the disparity between old ways and new, and how in its awkward manners, airs of pretension, and graceless anxieties it represents Spain's uneasy surrender to the forces of modernity. The Culture of Cursilería will interest students and scholars of Latin America, cultural studies, Spanish literature, and modernity.
The Culture of Cursilería
Author: Noël Valis
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822384280
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423
Book Description
Not easily translated, the Spanish terms cursi and cursilería refer to a cultural phenomenon widely prevalent in Spanish society since the nineteenth century. Like "kitsch," cursi evokes the idea of bad taste, but it also suggests one who has pretensions of refinement and elegance without possessing them. In The Culture of Cursilería, Noël Valis examines the social meanings of cursi, viewing it as a window into modern Spanish history and particularly into the development of middle-class culture. Valis finds evidence in literature, cultural objects, and popular customs to argue that cursilería has its roots in a sense of cultural inadequacy felt by the lower middle classes in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Spain. The Spain of this era, popularly viewed as the European power most resistant to economic and social modernization, is characterized by Valis as suffering from nostalgia for a bygone, romanticized society that structured itself on strict class delineations. With the development of an economic middle class during the latter half of the nineteenth century, these designations began to break down, and individuals across all levels of the middle class exaggerated their own social status in an attempt to protect their cultural capital. While the resulting manifestations of cursilería were often provincial, indeed backward, the concept was—and still is—closely associated with a sense of home. Ultimately, Valis shows how cursilería embodied the disparity between old ways and new, and how in its awkward manners, airs of pretension, and graceless anxieties it represents Spain's uneasy surrender to the forces of modernity. The Culture of Cursilería will interest students and scholars of Latin America, cultural studies, Spanish literature, and modernity.
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822384280
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 423
Book Description
Not easily translated, the Spanish terms cursi and cursilería refer to a cultural phenomenon widely prevalent in Spanish society since the nineteenth century. Like "kitsch," cursi evokes the idea of bad taste, but it also suggests one who has pretensions of refinement and elegance without possessing them. In The Culture of Cursilería, Noël Valis examines the social meanings of cursi, viewing it as a window into modern Spanish history and particularly into the development of middle-class culture. Valis finds evidence in literature, cultural objects, and popular customs to argue that cursilería has its roots in a sense of cultural inadequacy felt by the lower middle classes in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Spain. The Spain of this era, popularly viewed as the European power most resistant to economic and social modernization, is characterized by Valis as suffering from nostalgia for a bygone, romanticized society that structured itself on strict class delineations. With the development of an economic middle class during the latter half of the nineteenth century, these designations began to break down, and individuals across all levels of the middle class exaggerated their own social status in an attempt to protect their cultural capital. While the resulting manifestations of cursilería were often provincial, indeed backward, the concept was—and still is—closely associated with a sense of home. Ultimately, Valis shows how cursilería embodied the disparity between old ways and new, and how in its awkward manners, airs of pretension, and graceless anxieties it represents Spain's uneasy surrender to the forces of modernity. The Culture of Cursilería will interest students and scholars of Latin America, cultural studies, Spanish literature, and modernity.
... Catalogue of Printed Books
Author: British Museum. Department of Printed Books
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 454
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 454
Book Description
Catalogue of Printed Books
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 598
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 598
Book Description
Catalog
Author: University of Texas. Library. Latin American Collection
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin America
Languages : en
Pages : 802
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin America
Languages : en
Pages : 802
Book Description
Spain and Spanish America in the Libraries of the University of California
Author: Alice Irene Lyser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin America
Languages : en
Pages : 868
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Latin America
Languages : en
Pages : 868
Book Description
British Museum Catalogue of printed Books
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 710
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 710
Book Description
Catalogue of Printed Books in the Library of the British Museum ...
Author: British Museum. Department of Printed Books
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1082
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1082
Book Description
Catalogue of Oriental Literature, Manuscripts, Printed Books, Translations, Works of Eastern Travels
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1138
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1138
Book Description
Valle-Inclán's Ruedo Ibérico
Author: Alison Sinclair
Publisher: Tamesis
ISBN: 9780729300346
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Published by Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Publisher: Tamesis
ISBN: 9780729300346
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172
Book Description
Published by Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Catalogue of Rare Books
Author: Angel Aparicio
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 958
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 958
Book Description