Hispanic Immigrant Literature: El Sueno del Retorno (Joe R. and Teresa Lozana Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture) - Hardcover

"Yet despite the array of nomenclatures, Kanellos' text is a valuable and important study of the early works of immigrant writers who originally published in Spanish...and the significance of these texts to the larger field of Latino(a) studies. Furthermore, Hispanic Immigrant Literature: El Sueno del Retorno brings to the forefront the works of several hitherto understudied and/or over-looked texts (especially those written by women) with careful and insightful literary analysis...In this sense, Kanellos' work is a welcome contribution to the increasing corpus of critical/theoretical studies in the field of Latino(a) literature."--Carmen Haydee Rivera, Latino(a) Research Review "By winning the 2011 PEN Southwest Book Award for non-fiction, this book is finally getting the attention it deserves. Hispanic Immigrant Literature challenges the existing paradigms and sheds new light on an important and timely topic: the Latino psyche."--Octavio Quintanilla, Southwestern American Literature "This volume is the latest installment in a long list of contributions that Nicolas Kanellos has made to the history and understanding of Hispanic literatures in the United States. The vast body of works he has produced over the last three decades is now enhanced by this excellent study of Hispanic immigrant literature...With this book, Kanellos makes yet another important contribution to the comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted character and trajectory of Hispanic literature in the United States. Scholars in the field will find it both informative and useful."--Lauro Flores, University of Washington, Camino Real

Immigration has been one of the basic realities of life for Latino communities in the United States since the nineteenth century. It is one of the most important themes in Hispanic literature, and it has given rise to a specific type of literature while also defining what it means to be Hispanic in the United States. Immigrant literature uses predominantly the language of the homeland; it serves a population united by that language, irrespective of national origin; and it solidifies and furthers national identity. The literature of immigration reflects the reasons for emigrating, records-both orally and in writing-the trials and tribulations of immigration, and facilitates adjustment to the new society while maintaining links with the old society. Based on an archive assembled over the past two decades by author Nicolas Kanellos's Recovering the U. S. Hispanic Literary Heritage project, this comprehensive study is one of the first to define this body of work. Written and recorded by people from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, the texts presented here reflect the dualities that have characterized the Hispanic immigrant experience in the United States since the mid-nineteenth century, set always against a longing for homeland.