Alejo Carpentier

A unique anthology of eight Latin American novellas by major modern writers that enables the reader to really experience the work of each writer. A who's who of Latin American literature: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ana Lydia Vega, G. Cabrera Infante, Alvaro Mutis, Alejo Carpentier, Julio Cortazar, Joao Guimaraes Rosa, and Felisberto Hernandez.

Though there are a number of anthologies of Latin American literature which contain numerous short selections and include many writers, the brevity of the selections doesn't allow the reader to savor, feel, or comprehend the writer's style and work. What is needed is a selective group of examples of short fiction by major Latin American writers which will introduce the reader to works of sufficient length so that it's possible to really experience each writer. The novellas included are distinctive and demonstrate the richness of contemporary Latin American literature and offer a variety of style, theme, tone, and subject. Further, the writers included have all been critically praised and widely recognized. The novella by Joao Guimaraes Rosa is published here for the first time in English. There are short biographies of the eight authors included at the end of the book.

"A superb anthology! For readers who know nothing about Latin American fiction and for readers who think they know everything, these eight novellas will be a treat". Ariel Dorfman Duke University

"A wonderful introduction to some of the best work of the

In this section edition of the Repeating Island, Antonio Benitez-Rojo, a master of the historical novel, short story, and critical essay, continues to confront the legacy and myths of colonialism.

This study offers a unique perspective in interpreting the cultural politics of Cuba's complex history through an exploration of the country's literature. The book introduces readers to some of Cuba's most eminent and engaging voices by examining some of the historical tropes put forth by major writers. Drawing on an array of interpretive approaches from mythopoetic analysis to phenomenology, West addresses the work of Nancy Morejon, Alejo Carpentier, Virgilio Pinera, Dulce Maria Loynaz, Jose Lezama Lima, and Severo Sarduy. This poetic look at Cuba's rich and turbulent history through the eyes of its writers will be of interest to students and scholars of Latin American history and culture.

It is commonly assumed that the United States and Latin America, culturally so different, move artistically to very different rhythms. Also common is the assumption that, with rare exception, the literary figures on one side of the global North/ South divide have had little interest in the work of their counterparts. With Mutual Impressions Ilan Stavans dispels these notions by showing how solid the bridges between writers and across borders have been -- at least since the early days of this century -- and how crucial they are likely to become as we enter the next millennium.

Divided into symmetrical halves -- South reading North and North reading South -- the book presents essays by leading novelists, poets, and other writers that focus on the work of another literary figure from across the divide. Borges, for example, finds in Hawthorne the perfect precursor to his own interest in allegories; Katherine Anne Porter examines Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi as a rascal whose picaresque views of life in The Itching Parrot served to launch the Latin American novel; Cortazar's study of the plots and style of Poe show an affinity that left an indelible mark on the Argentine's short fiction; Susan Sontag views Machado de Assis as the ultimate mirror, a proto-postmodernist.

With other essays by Thomas Pynchon, William H. Gass, John Updike, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Alejo Carpentier, John Barth, Robert Coover, Pedro Henriquez Urena, Grace Paley, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Mark Strand, among others, Mutual Impressions offers a remarkable view of the connections that comprise a literary tradition of the Americas. It is a book that will surprise and enliven its readers as it informs and awakensin them a sense of wonder.

Working deliberately against the grain of assumptions dominant in the contemporary literary academy, Boyers examines novels by Gunter Grass, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Milan Kundera and others, arguing that it is necessary to speak of character, ethics, and philosophic purpose if one is to understand these works. A penetrating study, Atrocity and Amnesia illuminates some of the major fiction of our time and makes an important contribution to contemporary political thought.

This volume surveys the range of texts, authors and topics from the literary and non-literary cultures of Latin America and Lusophone Africa, adopting a set of perspectives that are grounded in the discipline of postcolonial studies. Using comparative and contrastive methods, Postcolonial Perspectives reinterprets cultural landmarks and traditions of Latin America and Lusophone Africa.