Latino USA by Ilan Stavans
A carnivalesque yet serious cartoon history of the Latino experience in the US -irreverent, sweeping, political, and very funny. . Latino USA represents the culmination of Ilan Stavans's lifelong determination to meet the challenges of capturing the joys, nuances, and multiple dimensions of Latino culture within the context of the English language. In this cartoon history of Latinos, Stavans seeks to combine the solemnity of so-called "serious literature" and history with the inherently theatrical and humorous nature of the comics. The range of topics includes Columbus, Manifest Destiny, the Alamo, William Carlos Williams, Desi Arnaz, West Side Story, Castro, Guevera, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Neruda, Garca Mrquez, the Mariel Boatlift, and Selena. Stavans represents Hispanic civilization as a fiesta of types, archetypes, and stereotypes. These "clich figurines" include a toucan (displayed regularly in books by Garca Mrquez, Allende, and others), the beloved Latino comedian Cantinflas (known as "the Hispanic Charlie Chaplin"), a masked wrestler, and Captain America. These multiple, at times contradictory voices, each narrating various episodes of Latino history from a unique perspective, combine to create a carnivalesque rhythm, democratic and impartial. For, as Stavans states, "History, of course, is a kaleidoscope where nothing is absolute. " Latino USA, like the history it so entertainingly relates, is a dazzling kaleidoscope of irreverence, wit, subversion, anarchy, politics, humanism, celebration, and serious and responsible history.
Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. A Guggenheim Fellow, he is the author, editor and translator of numerous books, including Thirteen Ways of Looking at Latino Art and Mutual Impressions: Writers of the Americas Reading One Another, both also published by Duke University Press. Stavans' television series for PBS, Conversations with Ilan Stavans, was nominated for three Emmy awards, and his writing has appeared in, and his writing has appeared in publications including the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Village Voice, the Nation, Salon, and the New York Times. Joshua Ellison is Executive Editor of Restless Books and the founding editor of Habitus, a journal of international Jewish literature. His work has appeared in the New York Times and on National Public Radio.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780465082216 |
| ISBN 10 | 0465082211 |
| Title | Latino USA |
| Author | Ilan Stavans |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Basic Books |
| Year published | 2000-09-05 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |