“The Disrepute of the Old Revolutionary Utopias” and Conrad's Nostromo : Disparaging and Forgetting Democratic Innovation in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico and Colombia
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
The Latin Americanist
Volume
61
Issue
2
Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Publication Date
6-7-2017
First Page
169
Last Page
192
Abstract
Why have we forgotten nineteenth-century Spanish America’s innovative experiments with democracy? The sense that Spanish America’s nineteenth-century experience with democratic republicanism was defined by failure, corruption and farce was not a reflection of reality but of a late-century elite project. Around mid-century, many Mexicans and Colombians had expressed great confidence in their nations’ experiments with democratic republicanism. However, beginning in the 1870s, an intellectual and political current emerged that sought to rewrite the region’s experiences with democracy and republicanism as a sham. Conrad adopted this view in his influential novel Nostromo, seen by many as an accurate reflection of reality, instead of as a reflection of an elite intellectual project to denigrate a history of democracy to suit their interests.
Recommended Citation
“`The Disrepute of the Old Revolutionary Utopias’ and Conrad’s Nostromo: Disparaging and Forgetting Democratic Innovation in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico and Colombia.” The Latin Americanist 61 (June 2017): 169-192.
