Skip to content
Home/ Usable Past: The Imagination of History in Recent Fiction of the Americas
Usable Past: The Imagination of History in Recent Fiction of the Americas
Save Ask us

Usable Past: The Imagination of History in Recent Fiction of the Americas

by Lois Zamora
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9780521582537
Published
Dec 1997
Language
English
$124.01 $126.00 1% off
You save $1.99 · list price $126.00
In stock
Most orders arrive within 3 weeks. Shipping policy
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery over $35 · 15-day returns

Condition

Brand New

An unread, unused copy: no writing or highlighting, and no missing or damaged pages. Every book we sell is brand new, including our lowest-priced titles.

About this book

How can we know the past? How can we speak of it in literary forms? Why should we want to? Concentrating on the past as both the subject of fiction and as a force for inscribing fiction, The Usable Past traces the ways in which writers self-consciously participate in the construction of an American canon. Successfully linking Latin American and North American fiction, Lois Zamora invokes authors as diverse in origin and manner as Carlos Fuentes and Willa Cather, Jorge Luis Borges and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Sandra Cisneros and Mario Vargas Llosa to explore issues surrounding colonisation and independence, mestizaje and melting pot, domination and self-determination, and the ambivalence of history in a 'new' world. The Usable Past is an elegant examination of the historical attitudes and literary practices of writers located in American time and space - locations that yield insight into American literary visions and versions of history.

Specifications

PublishedDec 13, 1997
ISBN-100521582539
ISBN-139780521582537
LanguageEnglish

Buying from Saanjhi

  • Ships from the USA. Delivery to US addresses only.
  • Free delivery on orders over $35.
  • 15-day returns. Unless we send the wrong book or it arrives damaged, you pay return shipping and a 15% restocking fee.
  • Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from American - Hispanic & Latino
See all
Noche Buena: Hispanic American Christmas Stories
<em>A family seated round the fireplace<br>Singing and making merry;<br>A sprightly waltz played with grace</em> <p/><em>Noche Buena</em> brings us all the magic of the Christmas season as seen through the eyes of the Hispanic Americans who celebrate it. Christmas is at times a universal story, and many of the images here are recognizable across cultures. We hear and see proud, joyful singing; the adoration of the Infant Jesus; and the peaceful strains of <em>Adeste Fidelis</em>. But here as well are the rich traditions and legends specific to the Hispanic culture, such as the celebration of the <em>posadas</em> for nine nights leading up to Christmas, with candy raining down from colorful swinging <em>piñatas</em>, egg shells filled with confetti, and beautiful paper lanterns crafted to illuminate the town on Christmas Eve. There is the "Legend of the Poinsettia" where a poor child embarrassed by the modesty of his gift for the Christ Child sheds tears on the dull green leaves of the familiar plant, thereby miraculously transforming them to a brilliant red. And here too are hopeful children singing "If You Give Me Meat Pies," asking for the reward of warm meat pies and rice pudding in return for their sweet caroling.<br> Thirty-six inspiring literary selections comprise this enchanting collection of works from Mexican, Colombian, Cuban, and Puerto Rican writers--writers who represent the range of Hispanic minority groups in the United States. Through these stories, traditional tales, songs, and poetry, readers gain a true understanding of the importance of the Christmas holiday within the Hispanic community, and begin to grasp the issues that inform the Hispanic American creative process--issues such as communal identity, patriotism, poverty, assimilation, and religion. With vivid illustrations and original Spanish text for all poetry, this fascinating anthology will inform readers of all cultural backgrounds, and give them the opportunity to celebrate this cherished time with a newly extended family.
$85.89
Herencia: The Anthology of Hispanic Literature of the United States
Dworkin y Mendez, Kenya
$164.89
Latino Continuum and the Nineteenth-Century Americas: Literature, Translation, and Historiography
Lamas, Carmen
$126.49
Language, Gender, and Community in Late Twentieth-Century Fiction: American Voices and American Iden
Hurst, M
$57.47
European Aestheticism and Spanish American Modernismo: Artist Protagonists and the Philosophy of Art
Comfort, K
$57.47
Hispanic World and American Intellectual Life, 1820-1880 (2007)
Jaksic, I
$38.41