Urban Chroniclers in Modern Latin America: The Shared Intimacy of Everyday Life

Acknowledgments

This project was, for many years, an important part of my everyday life—too much so, some of those who lived it with me might say. But it was also a process that I was lucky enough to share with many people along the way. The constant advice and encouragement I received from mentors, colleagues, and friends have enriched this book, and my own life, in more ways than I can imagine. My adviser Doris Sommer guided me through the first steps of this project while it was taking shape as a dissertation, and I still count on her ideas and generosity. My readers Joaquim Coelho and Luis Cárcamo Huechante contributed many insights to this project, and Luis remains a frequent interlocutor and a patient reader.At the time,my research benefited from the financial support of the David Rockefeller Center, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Nancy Clark Smith Fund, all of Harvard University; as well as the emotional and intellectual support of my friends in graduate school: Wanda Rivera, Susan Antebi, Santiago Morales, Juan Pablo Lupi, Carmen OquendoVillar,AlexandraVega, and ClaretVargas. In New York, where I grappled with the mysterious process of transforming a thesis into a book, I counted on the help of friends and colleagues at Fordham University who had the patience to read drafts and proposals and even toy with possible titles. My thanks go to Hugo Benavides, Andrew Clark, Arnaldo Cruz Malavé, Jeanne Flavin, Javier Jiménez Belmonte, Carey Kasten, Luz Lenis, Chris Schmidt-Nowara, Acknowledgments Acknowledgments | xii Lise Schreier, and Cynthia Vich. Numerous conversations in conference hallways, cafés, bars, parks, and even taxicabs gave me stamina and new ideas. I am indebted to Anke Birkenmaier, Jean Franco, Rubén Gallo,Wael Hibri,Alberto Medina, Lina Meruane, José delValle, Pablo Piccato,Adela Pineda,Nicolau Sevcenko,and Sylvia Saítta,as well as to Julio Ramos,who many years ago put a book of chronicles in my hands for the first time and who also commented on the final versions of this manuscript. Two research fellowships and a faculty fellowship from Fordham University enabled me to complete my archival research and gave me the time to focus on revisions. I would like to particularly thank Jacinto Fombona for his excellent work in translating the appendices. Much of the research for this book took place in archives abroad. In Mexico City,I counted on the encouragement of Antonio Saborit,Héctor de Mauleón, Michael Schuessler, and Miguel Capistrán, as well as with the patience of the staff of the Hemeroteca Nacional, and the hemeroteca of El Universal. In Buenos Aires, I received the help of Ana María Amar Sánchez and Matt Cifaldi.In Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,I counted on the advice of Charles Perrone and Beatriz Resende. I am especially grateful toTheresa May of the University of Texas Press for her consistent support throughout the road to publication, as well as to Victoria Davis, Nancy Bryan, Rosemary Wetherold, and Laura Young Bost for their expert help. My sincere thanks also go to Vicky Unruh and my anonymous reader; their insightful comments helped make this a better book. An abridged version of chapter 4 appeared as “The Chronicler as Streetwalker: Salvador Novo and the Performance of Genre” in Hispanic Review 76, no. 2 (Spring 2008), pp. 155–177, © 2008 The University of Pennsylvania Press. Sections of chapter 5 appeared in previous form as “Cube Bonifant: Una escritora professional en el México postrevolucionario ” in Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, no. 66 (2007); and in my introduction to the edition of Cube Bonifant’s chronicles, Una pequeña Marquesa de Sade: Crónicas selectas (1921–1948). Finishing this book would have been impossible without the encouragement of Susana Mahieux; the patience and humor of Ricardo Restrepo ; and the contagious energy of my many friends who have nothing to do with literary criticism and always remind me of the pleasures in life. Urban Chroniclers in Modern Latin America THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK ...