Telenovela: A Reader

Charting the history and legacy of Latin America’s melodrama export, featuring archival images and documents as well as fan artThis illustrated reader examines how telenovelas, as both popular entertainment and global commodities, have conveyed Latin American social, political and economic values to national and international audiences. As the most widely circulated cultural product of postwar Latin America, telenovelas have been central to inter-American cultural dialogue, with many productions becoming transnational hits. The volume offers an account of the genre, adopting a multidisciplinary perspective—spanning sociology, anthropology, literature, performance, film and art history—in documenting the histories and ongoing afterlives of a form that remains deeply embedded in Latin American and Latinx culture. Telenovela: A Reader brings together 13 essays by scholars from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the United States and Venezuela, alongside illustrations of telenovela-inspired artworks. It includes a substantial archival section that highlights the visual and conceptual richness of telenovelas through reproductions of key archival documents.