A series on nineteenth-century Latin America cannot, however, be
limited to literary genres such as the novel, the poem, and the short story.
The literature of independent Latin America was eclectic and strongly
influenced by the periodical press newly liberated from scrutiny by colo-
nial authorities and the Inquisition. Newspapers were miscellanies of fic-
tion, essays, poems, and translations from all manner of European writ-
ing. The novels written on the eve of Mexican Independence by José
Joaquin Fernández de Lizardi included disquisitions on secular education
and law, and denunciations of the evils of gaming and idleness. Other
works, such as a well-known poem by Andrés Bello, "Ode to Tropical
Agriculture," and novels such as Amalia by José Mármol and the Bolivian
Nataniel Aguirre Juan de la Rosa, were openly partisan. By the end of
the century, sophisticated scholars were beginning to address the history
of their countries, as did João Capistrano de Abreu in his Capítulos de
história colonial.

It is often in memoirs such as those by Fray Servando Teresa de Mier
or Sarmiento that we find the descriptions of everyday life that in Europe
were incorporated into the realist novel. Latin American literature at this
time was seen largely as a pedagogical tool, a "light" alternative to speech-
es, sermons, and philosophical tracts--though, in fact, especially in the
early part of the century, even the readership for novels was quite small
because of the high rate of illiteracy. Nevertheless, the vigorous orally
transmitted culture of the gaucho and the urban underclasses became the
linguistic repertoire of some of the most interesting nineteenth-century
writers--most notably José Hernández, author of the "gauchesque" poem
"Martín Fierro," which enjoyed an unparalleled popularity. But for many
writers the task was not to appropriate popular language but to civilize,
and their literary works were strongly influenced by the high style of po-
litical oratory.

The editorial committee has not attempted to limit its selection to the-
better-known writers such as Machado de Assis; it has also selected many
works that have never appeared in translation or writers whose work has
not been translated recently. The series now makes these works available
to the English-speaking public.

Because of the preferences of funding organizations, the series initial-
ly focuses on writing from Brazil, the Southern Cone, the Andean re-
gion, and Mexico. Each of our editions will have an introduction that
places the work in its appropriate context and includes explanatory notes.

We owe special thanks to Robert Glynn of the Lampadia Foundation,
whose initiative gave the project a jump start, and to Richard Ekman of

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