Se habla español: Voces latinas en USA » (1st Edition)

Se habla español tiene el aroma de french fries, el sabor a coca-cola y hamburguesas, pero también a nachos y salsa, a cortaditos y smoothies de mango-guayaba. Esta colección compilada por Edmundo Paz Soldán y Alberto Fuguet, muestra la experiencia latinoamericana en Estados Unidos, y revela la compleja realidad de un país que es ya, a su modo, latinoamericano.

Aquí están reunidos los trabajos de 36 jóvenes autores, representantes de una generación de escritores latinos que aparecieron en los noventa, con una propuesta seria, pero a la vez atrevida e irreverente. Lo que ellos exponen y exploran en estas historias es, por un lado, el rol de los Estados Unidos en el imaginario latinoamericano. Por otro, las contradicciones entre el sueño del progreso económico, la pesadilla del capitalismo salvaje, y el modo en que se realizan los deseos más allá de la ilusión de una promesa que no puede cumplirse.

Se habla español smells like french fries, tastes like Coca-Cola and hamburgers, but it also has the flavor of nachos and salsa, and of mango-guava smoothies. This collection of short stories reflects the Latin American experience in the United States. These are works by 36 young writers who entered the literary world during the 90s with a style described as serious, yet irreverent. Edited by Edmundo Paz Soldán and Alberto Fuguet, this collection explores the space occupied by the United States within the Latin American cultural imagery. It illustrates the contradictions presented by the dream of material progress and the nightmare of ruthless capitalism, and the fulfillment of all desires over the mirage of a never- attainable promise.

Publishers Weekly

There was a time when exotic locations found in stories by Manuel Puig, Gabriel García Márquez, and Isabel Allende novels were exciting to U.S. readers. But now the tables have turned. Latin Americans want to read about foreign places like Denny's, New York's El Barrio, and East L.A. This collection features the works of well-known writers such as Junot Díaz, Mayra Santos-Febres, Ilan Stavans, and Ernesto Quiñonez. While based in Ithaca, NY, Edmundo Paz Soldán and Alberto Fuguet gathered essays from some of the most recognized U.S. Latino voices into one collection, including essays in their original Spanish, in translations from English, and in the now omnipresent Spanglish. The short stories are broken up into sections corresponding to U.S. regions, with titles such as "Welcome to Miami," "California Dreamin'," and "New York, New York." Through this format, the reader is able to navigate the vast cultural differences among Latino experiences. The story that will surely garner the most attention is Junot Díaz's "Instrucciones para citas con trigue as, negras, blancas o mulatas" ("How To Date a Brown Girl, Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie"), which introduced the art of Spanglish to the mainstream when it was originally published in The New Yorker. It's not an easy task to translate Díaz's story about a Dominican teen coming of age in New Jersey, known for its East Coast street poetics and slang, but translator Eduardo Largo is able to relay his comical posturing quite smoothly. Other entries worth reading are Silvana Paternostro's sarcastically chilling essay, "Northern Ladies," about the fad of revirginizing oneself through clitoral surgery in the hope of marrying in Queens, NY, and Ernesto Qui onez's mysterious tale, "El ni o blanco" ("The White Baby"), about an urban legend in an El Barrio botanica. By acquainting themselves with these quirky stories, the South will learn that the North, with all its complexities, is speaking español in ever-growing numbers. Recommended for public and academic libraries and all booksellers. --Adriana Lopez, "Críticas" Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.