Susan Castillo – författare

Susan Castillo’s pioneering study examines the extraordinary proliferation of polyphonic or ‘multi-voiced’ texts in the three centuries following the first contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Taking a selection of plays, printed dialogues, travel narratives and lexicographic studies in English, Spanish and French, the book explores both European and indigenous writers of the early Americas. Paying particular attention to performance and performativity in the texts of the early colonial world, Susan Castillo asks:why vast numbers of polyphonic and performative texts emerged in the Early Americashow these texts enabled explorers, settlers and indigenous groups to come to terms with radical differences in language, behaviour and cultural practices how dialogues, plays and paratheatrical texts were used to impose or resist ideologies and cultural normshow performance and polyphony allowed Europeans and Americans to debate exactly what it meant to be European or American, or in some cases, both.Tracing the dynamic enactment of (often conflictive) encounters between differing local narratives, Castillo presents polyphonic texts as not only singularly useful tools for exploring what initially seemed inexpressible or for conveying controversial ideas, but also as the site where cultural difference is negotiated. Offering unparalleled linguistic and historical range, through the analysis of texts from Spain, France, New Spain, Peru, Brazil, New England and New France, this volume is an important advance in the study of early American literature and the writings of colonial encounter.

Susan Castillo’s pioneering study examines the extraordinary proliferation of polyphonic or ‘multi-voiced’ texts in the three centuries following the first contact between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Taking a selection of plays, printed dialogues, travel narratives and lexicographic studies in English, Spanish and French, the book explores both European and indigenous writers of the early Americas. Paying particular attention to performance and performativity in the texts of the early colonial world, Susan Castillo asks:why vast numbers of polyphonic and performative texts emerged in the Early Americashow these texts enabled explorers, settlers and indigenous groups to come to terms with radical differences in language, behaviour and cultural practices how dialogues, plays and paratheatrical texts were used to impose or resist ideologies and cultural normshow performance and polyphony allowed Europeans and Americans to debate exactly what it meant to be European or American, or in some cases, both.Tracing the dynamic enactment of (often conflictive) encounters between differing local narratives, Castillo presents polyphonic texts as not only singularly useful tools for exploring what initially seemed inexpressible or for conveying controversial ideas, but also as the site where cultural difference is negotiated. Offering unparalleled linguistic and historical range, through the analysis of texts from Spain, France, New Spain, Peru, Brazil, New England and New France, this volume is an important advance in the study of early American literature and the writings of colonial encounter.

Compiled in response to emerging transnational perspectives in American Studies, this comprehensive and imaginative anthology brings together a rich variety of works of colonial literature from across the Americas, covering the period from first contact, through to settlement and the emergence of national identities, with an emphasis on the American Revolutionary period.

This broad introduction to Colonial American literatures brings out the comparative and transatlantic nature of the writing of this period and highlights the interactions between native, non-scribal groups, and Europeans that helped to shape early American writing. Situates the writing of this period in its various historical and cultural contexts, including colonialism, imperialism, diaspora, and nation formation. Highlights interactions between native, non-scribal groups and Europeans during the early centuries of exploration. Covers a wide range of approaches to defining and reading early American writing. Looks at the development of regional spheres of influence in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Serves as a vital adjunct to Castillo and Schweitzer’s ‘The Literatures of Colonial America: An Anthology’ (Blackwell Publishing, 2001).

American Literature in Context to 1865 discusses the issues and events that engaged American writers of the period, providing original and useful readings of important literary works that demonstrate how context contributes to meaning Covers a range of genres including the myths, chants and songs of indigenous cultures, sermons, slave narratives, essays and the novels and poetry to 1865Designed to be used alongside the major anthologies of literature from the periodEquips students with the necessary historical context needed to understand the writings from this periodPedagogical features include a detailed bibliography, and a transatlantic timeline, with literary works, and historical events