I Speak of the City: Mexico City at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Description

In this dazzling multidisciplinary tour of Mexico City, Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo focuses on the period 1880 to 1940, the decisive decades that shaped the city into what it is today.  Through a kaleidoscope of expository forms, I Speak of the City connects the realms of literature, architecture, music, popular language, art, and public health to investigate the city in a variety of contexts: as a living history textbook, as an expression of the state, as a modernist capital, as a laboratory, and as language. Tenorio’s formal imagination allows the reader to revel in the free-flowing richness of his narratives, opening startling new vistas onto the urban experience. From art to city planning, from epidemiology to poetry, this book challenges the conventional wisdom about both Mexico City and the turn-of-the-century world to which it belonged. And by engaging directly with the rise of modernism and the cultural experiences of such personalities as Hart Crane, Mina Loy, and Diego Rivera, I Speak of the City will find an enthusiastic audience across the disciplines. Dedication Epigraph Contents Acknowledgments Note on Translations Introduction Part I. Right around 1910 . . . 1 On 1910 and the City of the Centennial 2 On 1910 Contrasts: Washington and Mexico City 3 Interiors Part II. 1919 4 In and Around 1919 Mexico City Part III. The Brown Atlantis 5 The Brown Atlantis 6 Transparency Part IV. Odalisque-Mania 7 Japan 8 India Part V. Science and City 9 Science and the City, Stories from the Sidewalk 10 On Lice, Rats, and Mexicans Part VI. Language 11 Whispers 12 The Street Muse Final Word Notes Archives Cited Index