Saturday, October 08, 2011

Language by the Border: A phenomenon worth learning about now!


The regions that outline the border between Mexico and the U.S. give off a palpable energy unique to the specific dynamics between the two countries. Although many people can feel or sense this energy, it is difficult to pinpoint and define one of the innumerable aspects that -along with a million other factors- work together to create this atmosphere. Sergio Gómez Montero takes on the task of researching particular facets of border atmosphere and delineates how each of them affect and shape the way people use language along the border. Montero believes that research into the border language phenomenon will become increasingly important and hopes to establish the basis for this branch of study in
The Border: The Future of Postmodernity

Anyone that spends time in the immediate area surrounding the U.S./Mexico border can attest to the existence of a real cultural, economic, and political synthesis that undoubtedly creates a manner of communicating that slightly deviates from the national norm of both countries. Montero recognizes this and seems to be one of the first to develop a scholarly investigation into the formof speech and writing emerging from the one of the busiest international borders in the world.

The Border: The Future of Postmodernity endows the reader with knowledge of this emerging field of communication, giving them an edge on a very novel area of language studies.

Purchase a copy of Montero's pioneering work here.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Steven F. Butterman's Perversions On Parade: An in depth look at the work of Glauco Mattoso.





Perversions on Parade is the first extensive critical analysis of Brazilian author Glauco Mattoso's work. Author Steven Butterman asserts that Mattoso makes a significant contribution to postmodern literature as well as a worthwhile study of the potentialities of human sexuality. Butterman focuses on a variety of effects that Mattoso's work inspires. Rather than just brushing over its evident anti-aestheticism, Butterman discusses what that anti-aestheticism sets out to achieve. The answer is to bring to light the existence of a primal human sexuality that has been obscured and oppressed by the aesthetic standards of civilization. The book goes into how Mattoso's writing dares people to think beyond the societal structures of what's right and wrong or what actions or body parts are considered pleasurably satisfying and which are written off as disgusting. Once people take steps toward questioning the basis and validity of the rules, they are introduced to a new level of freedom and perhaps an unprecedented level of satisfaction.

Butterman also stresses that Glauco Mattoso's work is pertinent to gender studies,
considering how it breaks from the rigid conventions that a person can and should only obtain satisfaction from certain body parts of someone of the opposite gender.

Even more interesting is the connection that Butterman makes between Mattoso's increasingly transgressive work and how it parallels the progressive increase in social and
political freedom that occurred during the same time period in Brazil.

Whether you want to learn more about alternative modes of personal expression, gain a better more well-rounded understanding of human behavior, or study the dynamics between national politics and cultural movements, Steven Butterman's Perversions on Parade is an engaging, compelling, and exciting way of achieving any or all of those goals.

Purchase a copy here.
Click Here to visit Glauco Mattoso's official website!

...Butterman's analysis of Mattoso's work is irresistibly compelling if you're intellectually curious enough to seek an understanding of how or why the human animal develops fetishes. One famous example is Quentin Tarantino's love of feet, as seen here: