Open AccessReading the Margins: Juan Pablo Viscardo y Guzmán and Francisco de Miranda (1801)
Author(s) -
Jorge Téllez
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
textual cultures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1933-7418
pISSN - 1559-2936
DOI - 10.14434/textual.v13i2.31593
Subject(s) - reading (process) , trace (psycholinguistics) , materiality (auditing) , relation (database) , identity (music) , humanities , context (archaeology) , art , history , literature , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , aesthetics , archaeology , database , computer science
In this essay, I study the connection between the act of reading and the circulation of Juan Pablo Viscardo y Guzmán’s Carta dirigida a los españoles americanos (1801). Drawing from a perspective that regards materiality as a central element to understanding the relationship between readers and texts, I explore Francisco de Miranda’s intervention as editor of the letter in relation to notions of authenticity, authority, identity, and culture in the context of colonial discourse. Specifically, I argue that Miranda’s additions to the text provide an opportunity to trace his reading of the text, showing the complicated history of how Viscardo’s letter has been constructed as a text while positing reading as a creative and productive act.