World Literature and Its Times: Latin American Literature and Its Times (World Literature and Its Times, 1) - Hardcover

Moss, Joyce; Valestuk, Lorraine

9780787637262: World Literature and Its Times: Latin American Literature and Its Times (World Literature and Its Times, 1)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787637262 ISBN 13: 9780787637262

Publisher: Gale Research Inc, 1999

World Literature and Its Times helps students and researchers make connections between political/social climate during which books were written and the works themselves. Each volume focuses on major fiction, poetry and nonfiction from a particular country and region, representing approximately 50 works. The detailed essays are approximately 10 pages in length and offer the following features:

Introductory profile -- an overview that discuss genre, time, place and other important elements with a synopsis and introduction that places the work in the context of the authors life
Events in history -- a report on the social, political and cultural climate relevant to the work, including primary source documents, charts, timelines and other illustrative materials
Literary work in focus -- three sections that place the work in context with an in-depth summary, related history and historical sources
Sources for more information -- full citations offering additional sources of information

Additional features include illustrations; maps; author and title tables of contents; sidebars; timelines; advisor information; and an alphabetical index of authors, titles, events and personalities.

The series contains eight volumes covering the following literatures:

Latin American literature
African literature
British & Irish literature (2 volumes - The Victorian Era to the

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From Booklist:

Latin American Literature and Its Times is the first volume of the new Gale series, World Literature and Its Times. The series was designed to help high-school and undergraduate students make connections between literature and history or society. The series will consist of 12 volumes to be released in intervals of six months; proposed volumes include African, French, Asian, Modern British and Irish, Spanish and Portuguese, Middle Eastern, Jewish, and Italian literature, and the literature of India. Works are selected for inclusion by scholars based upon frequency of study, ties to significant events, or enduring appeal to readers, either in or outside the cultures that produced them.

The first volume of the series is an impressive beginning. Classic as well as contemporary writings are included; all are available in English. All 50 works span a variety of genres and countries (including the U.S.) as well as historical periods. The earliest work is A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Friar Bartolomede las Casas, written in 1542; the most recent, Santa Evita, by Thomas Eloy Martinez, was published in Spanish in 1995 and in English in 1996. Arranged alphabetically by title of work, the signed entries consist of five parts: an introduction to the work, including a synopsis and its relation to the author's life; a discussion of events in history at the time the work is set; a detailed discussion of the work itself that includes plot, sources used by the author, and its relation to other writings; a description of the history of the time the work was written; and, finally, a list of sources cited in the entry and a list of further readings. The discussion of Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits begins with mention of her relation to ousted Chilean president, Salvador Allende, who becomes a fictional president in her novel. The article describes the lives of Chilean people from 1910 to 1973, including miners and farm workers who fled to large cities in search of work, then describes the various political movements, such as the "New Song Movement," which figures in the story. Sidebars cover Pablo Neruda's bid for the presidency and the U.S. involvement in the violent coup that ousted the socialist government in 1973. The discussion of the novel includes comparisons with the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and a list of the fictional names of characters and their counterparts in Isabel Allende's life. Finally, there is a summary of the novel's critical reception. Many entries also include time lines, anecdotes, and illustrations.

Time lines precede the text and are divided into topics such as "Conquest," "Slavery," "Human Rights," and "Dictatorships." They not only list historical events but also note the literary works that discuss or were influenced by each event. There are a subject index and two tables of contents (title and author); a chronological table of contents would have been a helpful addition. Recommended for high-school, public, and academic libraries.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 9 Up-This first book in a projected 12-volume series devoted to the literature of different geographic regions highlights Latin American literature and Latino works "produced in the United States." Arrangement is alphabetical by title. Lengthy, informative essays discuss individual poems and fiction and nonfiction titles with a focus on the political, economical, and social contexts in which the pieces were written. The selections range from Pablo Neruda's book of poetry The Heights of Macchu Picchu, written in 1943 when the poet visited the Peruvian ruins, to Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden, set in 1990 in a country implied to be Chile, to the often-assigned One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garc'a M rquez. Sidebars provide excerpts from the literary works, quotations, and additional information. Each essay concludes with a list "For More Information." Black-and-white photographs, movie stills, and reproductions are sprinkled throughout. There is very little overlap between this volume and its companion set, Literature and its Times (Gale, 1997). The only drawback to Latin American Literature is that its content is limited to 50 works.
Reina Huerta, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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