The Art of Transition

“[Masiello] defends the ability of literature and art to advance ethical positions and foster a critical view of neoliberalism and shows how issues of gender and sexuality function as integrating threads throughout this period.” - , Michigan Alumnus

“During the postdictatorship years in Argentina and Chile, both countries aggressively adopted Neoliberal market-driven economies. Francine Masiello interprets the culture of this period as an art of transition (both politically and aesthetically) and through discussions of art and literature sketches a broad landscape of vivid intellectual debate in the Southern cone of Latin America.” - , Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education

“Excellent material here for serious students of Southern Cone culture, women’s studies, and contemporary literature.” - K. M. Sibbald, Choice

"The Art of Transition offers a wide and complete panorama, as well as a deep analysis of the cultural production of our times. . . . [T]his book is, without a doubt, a timely and ambitious project, and as challenging and complex as its object of study." - María Cristina Pons , symploke

"[A] pathbreaking book that consolidates her as one of the most creative academics working in the area of Latin American literature in the U.S. . . . The Art of Transition is already indispensable for scholars working in contemporary art, literature, and cultural studies in Latin America." - Fabricio Forastelli , Bulletin of Hispanic Studies

"Francine Masiello’s The Art of Transition offers a broad reflection on contemporary cultural production in Argentina and Chile. . . ." - Patrick Dove , Nepantla

"Only by situating ourselves at this crossroads, only by adopting this reading en route proposed by Masiello in The Art of Transition, can we truly comprehend the political and aesthetic subversion implied in the painting selected for the cover and give full meaning to Davila's cross-dressed Bolivar. This reading en route initiated by Masiello constitutes, in my view, a daring challenge to all the scholars who intend to read against the grain the intellectual debates not only of the Southern Cone, but also of contemporary Latin America." - Laura Demaria , Latin American Literary Review

"With a clear and enticing writing style, Masiello gathers, analyses and exemplifies the theories that have shaped postmodern literary and cultural production in Chile and Argentina over the past decade. . . . The pointed questions that she evokes-from the intellectual's subject position vis-à-vis feminist cultural production to the role of foreign words in poetry that insists on the disruption of language in this era of constant change-challenge the reader to reassess identity in this contemporary age." - Amanda Holmes , Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánícos

“The Art of Transition will be indispensable reading for literary critics working on contemporary Latin America. Though it focuses on Argentina and Chile, the questions it poses are of concern to anyone who cares about literature and art in the neoliberal era. Masiello tacks smoothly among a diverse gallery of figures, lining them up around a rich and often brilliant array of insights.” - Mary Louise Pratt, Stanford University

“Two centuries ago, Villemain described literature as an expression of society; one century later Benedetto Croce replied that what really counts is that literature is always expression. Proving both right, Francine Masiello has written a much-needed book that brings back the aesthetic dimension to a study of current Spanish American literary production grounded on her exceptionally insightful understanding of the current turn in the history of the region.” - Tulio Halperín-Donghi, author of The Contemporary History of Latin America