On the Dark Side of the Archive

<I>On the Dark Side of the Archive</I> examines nineteenth-century nation building through narratives that are not part of the romantic or realist traditions specifically those associated with the critique of traditional ideas often portrayed in Decadentism and <I>modernismo</I>. The study focuses on the non-canonical works of turn-of-the-century authors-including Joséeacute; Maríiacute;a Vargas Vila Horacio Quiroga Clemente Palma and José Martí-and concludes with a study that compares the literary portrayal of doomed societies in the nineteenth century with the work of contemporary authors such as Fernando Vallejo.