Hispanic American Literature

Allende's In the Midst of Winter "tells a modern tale of immigration, suppressed love, and madcap adventure" (Contemporary Authors). Born in Lima (1942), raised mainly in Santiago and more briefly in Bolivia, Allende lived in Venezuelan exile during the Pinochet dictatorship. She now resides in California and holds both Chilean and U.S. citizenship. Allende is widely recognized as among the greatest living Latin American writers.

"Inspired by the author's own life, [this work] is a powerful testament to the impossible choices women are often forced to make in the face of violence and the unexpected connections that can blossom out of desperation" (book jacket). The author is Colombian American. She immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 18, older than many authors on this list. In a recent interview, Rojas Contreras described "thinking in Spanish" even as she wrote the novel in English. Spanish translation by Guillermo Arreola of Fruit of the Drunken Tree: A Novel (2018).

Rivera-Valdés examines the immigrant experience through themes that include exile, identity, gender, and sexuality. The novel satirizes a Cuban-in-exile's uncompromising anti-Castro attitude. Rivera-Valdés is Cuban American. See also Memorias del Subdesarrollo (1968), a classic Cuban film based on a novel (1965) by Edmundo Desnoes (Cuban). The film touches on some of the same themes but from the flip side of the immigrant experience. Desnoes's protagonist, Sergio, a young bourgeois intellectual, elects to stay in Cuba after the Revolution even as others in his circle emigrate to the United States. Desnoes defected (1979) at the age of 49.

"A vivid and funny first novel about three generations of a Cuban family divided by conflicting loyalties over the Cuban revolution, set in the world of Havana in the 1970s and '80s and in an emigre neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is a story of immense charm about women and politics, women and witchcraft, women and their men" (book jacket). Originally published in English (1992). García is Cuban American. She immigrated to the United States (1960) as a very young child.

This popular novel features a chatty first person narrator in Oscar de Léon, aka Oscar Wao, who lives in Patterson, New Jersey. Oscar struggles with the effects of a family curse that dates back to the Trujillo dictatorship. Díaz is Dominican American.

This novel centers on a Dominican American widow and her sisters. Spanish translation by Mercedes Guhl of Afterlife (2020). Julia Alvarez is Dominican American.

Originally published in English as Ordinary Seaman (1996), this novel fictionalizes the true-to-life experiences of men from Central America who live and work on a dry-docked freighter in New York City. One of the men, 19-year-old Esteban, is a veteran of the 1980s Nicaraguan civil war between the Sandinistas and Contras. Translated into Spanish by Fernanda Melchor (2017). Goldman is Guatemalan American.

Cisneros, who is Mexican American, wrote The House on Mango Street in English (1984). Elena Poniatowska translated the novel into Spanish in 1994. Through Esperanza, her child protagonist, Cisneros explores life in a mid-century Hispanic neighborhood of Chicago.

"Moving to a volatile Texas border town after his mother's death, a Mexican-American boy discovers a young illegal immigrant taking shelter in his godmother's home before their shared desire for independence puts them both at risk" (book jacket). Spanish translation by Guillermo Arreola of Where We Come From (2019).

A novel about secrets, visions, fortune-tellers, and generations of Mexican-American and indigenous families.

Ruiz uses magic realist fiction to explore children of Mexican immigrants and man-woman relationships.

A widowed mother searches for her daughter. The author employs magical realism and addresses sexual themes including prostitution. Escandón was born in Mexico City but is a longtime resident of Los Angeles.

Humorous adult novel about a Mexican American family written by Chicago essayist and fiction writer Erika L. Sanchez (b1984). Spanish translation by Graciela Romero Saldaña of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (2017).

Fictionalized account of an upper class Puerto Rican family by an author, Ferré, born in Ponce.

This novel explores misogyny and homophobia within a country, Uruguay, that was for the 12 years of the dictatorship (1973-1985) deeply conservative. The author translated her original English work (2019) into Spanish (2020). De Robertis (b1975) is of Uruguayan descent. She immigrated to the U.S. from Europe (1980). Listen to a 5-minute NPR interview (2019) in which De Robertis discusses Cantoras.

"En otra voz is the first Spanish-language anthology to bring together literature from the entire span of Hispanic writing in the United States, from the age of exploration to the present. The product of hundreds of scholars, the anthology compiles scores of previously unknown works in the Spanish language written by Hispanics of diverse ethnic backgrounds and classes" (book jacket).

This selection of essays by a key literary figure of the mid-century Latin American "Boom" is subtitled (in English translation) Reflections on Spain in the New World. Fuentes (1928-2012) was Mexican.

The author presents nine stories centered on the forbidden. Each incorporates characters who are Cuban or other Latinx immigrants to the United States. Rivera-Valdés is Cuban American.

This short story anthology features the work of 15 Hispanic American authors.

Short stories in Spanish by Hispanic American authors.

Translated from the English original (c2022) by Cinta Garcia De La Rosa, "How to Date a Flying Mexican is a beautifully realized work that comes out of the depths of the Mexican and Mexican American cultural experience" (Michael Nava, Los Angeles Review of Books).

Written in English and published in 2005, this is the Spanish translation by Jorge Cornejo. The book's nine short stories are set in Lima and New York City. Many feature young adults who experience violence, natural disasters, heartache, and other stressful situations. Daniel Alarcón is Peruvian American. He immigrated in 1980 as a very young child to Birmingham, Alabama.