Luis Arturo Ramos

María Elvira Villamil

"Cronicas desde el Pais vecino" (Chronicles from the country next door) is a collection of short chronicles published in Mexican newspapers in the late 1990s by Luis Arturo Ramos to illustrate everyday life in the United States as seen by a Mexican citizen. Written in the 1990s they deal explicitly with frontier issues.In these nine brief texts Ramos discusses many subjects and comments upon different places and events. The "boundary" quality of these pieces is evident as numerous trips along the frontier are described, and in the choice of the chronicle as genre. "Cronicas desde el Pais vecino" provides an outstanding entry point for further investigation, deepening perspectives and provoking discussion about several socio-political aspects of the border zone. At the same time the reader will enjoy the author's subtlety and wit. This sharply perceptive humor and the format it is given, due to its linguistic dexterity, allows the reader to visualize scenes from daily life, as well as the architecture and geomorphology of the American Southwest.This edition by Prof. Maria Elvira Villamil includes analysis of the texts as well as information about the author and his writings within a socio-political context. The introduction analyzes various perspectives on the chronicle as literary genre, and its relationship to other literature. Topics relevant to the text are discussed, as is its regional historical framework both as seen by Luis Arturo Ramos and by scholars in other disciplines.

María Elvira Villamil

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