The trunk, the branch and its suckers: anxieties of influence in the literate city

The figure of the lettered person in the constitution of Latin American nations and even during colonization has been constantly questioned by writers such as Jose Marti, Pedro Henriquez Urena, Mariano Picon Salas, etc. However, it can be said that is in La ciudad letrada, Angel Rama's canonical work, where this literate-phobia reaches its end. Our interest lies precisely on how this thought takes shape in Rama's above mentioned work. Furthermore, taking into account the author's relevance in subsequent Hispano-American cultural studies, we are interested in how this thought reaches those same authors that, from La ciudad letrada, criticize the figure of the lettered person and his/her relationship with power in the hemisphere.