The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel: Bolano and After

The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel provides an accessible introduction to an important World literature. While many of the authors covered-Aira, Bolaño, Castellanos Moya, Vásquez-are gaining an increasing readership in English and are frequently taught, there is sparse criticism in English beyond book reviews. This book provides the guidance necessary for a more sophisticated and contextualized understanding of these authors and their works. Underestimated or unfamiliar Spanish American novels and novelists are introduced through conceptually rigorous essays.

Sections on each writer include:

*the author’s reception in their native country, Spanish America, and Spain
*biographical history
*a critical examination of their work, including key themes and conceptual concerns
*translation history
*scholarly reception

The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel offers an authoritative guide to a rich and varied novelistic tradition. It covers all demographic areas, including United States Latino authors, in exploring the diversity of this literature and its major themes, such as exile, migration, and gender representation.

Will H. Corral has taught at Stanford and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is the author of recent books on the Latin American novel, Bolaño, and Vargas Llosa, and co-author of the seminal Theory’s Empire.

Juan E. De Castro is an Associate Professor in Literary Studies at Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, New York, USA, where he teaches courses in Latin American, Latino, Peninsular, and Inter-American literature. He has published articles in MLN, Latin American Research Review, and Aztlan, among other journals. He is the author of three books, the most recent of which is Mario Vargas Llosa: Public Intellectual in Neoliberal Latin America (2011).

Nicholas Birns is Associate Teaching Professor at Eugene Lang College, the New School for Liberal Arts, New York, USA, where he concentrates in general humanities, fiction in English from 1700 as well as literary theory. His books include Understanding Anthony Powell (2004), the co-edited Companion To Australian Fiction since 1900 (2007). The latter was named a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2008. He is also the author of Theory After Theory (2010), Willa Cather: Critical Insights (2011) and Vargas Llosa and Latin American Politics, co-ed. Juan E. de Castro. He has published essays and reviews in The New York Times Book Review, the Australian Literary Review, the Australian Book Review, Arizona Quarterly, and Exemplaria; Studies in Romanticism, Symbiosis, College Literature, and European Romantic Review.