Comparing to reframe: Ana Pizarro and the directions of comparative literature in Latin America

Abstract

ana Pizarro has led a renowned collective project dedicated to writing a new history of Latin American literature. One of the main challenges that the initiative faced was the adoption of the comparative method and its articulation with the concerns and orientations of local literary criticism. In this context, Ana Pizarro has reflected on the issue and has proposed the need for a “Latin American comparatism”. On the one hand, reconstructing the project and debates on the topic sheds light on the subject and contextualizes her intervention in the discussion. On the other hand, the analysis of Pizarro´s article “Sobre los posibles niveles de un análisis comparativo en América Latina” clarifies that her interpretation of regional literature is centered on the idea of cultural heterogeneity. Her text engages with contributions from contemporary comparatism and aligns with its more innovative trends. The author combines an integrative agenda with a radicalized one that impact unevenly on the design of literary history and suggest a still relevant critical research program. Pizarro thus reformulates the proposals of comparatism based on a Latin American geopolitical foundation, involving critical operations as complex as they are original.