Mexican Modernity: The Avant-garde And The Technological Revolution

In Mexican Modernity: Ruben Gallo tells the story of a second Mexican Revolution, a battle fought on the front of cultural representation. The new revolutionaries were not rebels or outlaws but artists and writers: their weapons were cameras, typewriters, radios, and other technological artifacts, and their goal was not to topple a dictator but to dethrone nineteenth century aesthetics.
Gallo uncovers a secret history of Mexican modernity that includes a number of fascinating episodes: the pictorialist backlash against Modotti and Edward Weston; the postcolonial Remington typewriter; Mexican radio at the North Pole; the campaign to aestheticize cement through journals and artistic competitions; and the protofascist political spectacles held at Mexico City's National Stadium in the 1920s.

Ruben Gallo is Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature in Princeton University's Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures.