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In the first study of Latino/a literature to systematically examine the post-Sixties generation of writers, The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature challenges the ways that Latino/a literary studies imagines the relationship of art, politics and the market. Dalleo and Machado Sáez engage with the major critics from the field to dispute the consensus view of Latino/a literature from the 1960s as politically committed and resistant to the market versus the literature of the 1990s as apolitical and assimilationist due to its commodification. This study argues that post-Sixties writers Pedro Pietri, Ernesto Quiñonez, Abraham Rodriguez, Junot DÃaz, Angie Cruz, Cristina Garcia and Julia Alvarez have not abandoned politics, but are imagining creative strategies for revitalizing progressive thought through the market.
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THE LATINO/A CANON AND THE EMERGENCE OF POST-SIXTIES LITERATURE
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THE LATINO/A CANON AND THE EMERGENCE OF POST-SIXTIES LITERATURE By Raphael Dalleo and Elena Machado Sáez
Excerpt from “Puerto Rican Obituary” by Pedro Pietri, 1973 is reprinted with permission from Margarita Deida Pietri, executrix of the estate of Pedro Pietri. Excerpt from La Bodega Sold Dreams by Miguel Piñero, 1980 is reprinted with permission from Arte Público Press, University of Houston. THE LATINO/A CANON AND THE EMERGENCE OF POST-SIXTIES LITERATURE Copyright © Raphael Dalleo and Elena Machado Sáez, 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978-1-4039-7796-0 ISBN-10: 1-4039-7796-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe, Inc. First edition: May 2007 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America.
This book is dedicated to the spirits of generosity and hope.
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CONTENTS
Introduction Sellouts? Politics and the Market in Post-Sixties Latino/a Literature Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 3Chapter 51 5
Conclusion
1
Periodizing Latino/a Literature through Pedro Pietri’s Nuyorican Cityscapes
17
Mercado Dreams: The End(s) of Sixties Nostalgia in Contemporary Ghetto Fiction
45
Movin’ On Up and Out: Lowercase Latino/a Realism in the Work of Junot Díaz and Angie Cruz
73
Latino/a Identity and Consumer Citizenship in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban
107
Writing in a Minor Key: Postcolonial and Post-Civil Rights Histories in the Novels of Julia Alvarez
133
New Directions: The Post-Sixties Miami Imaginary
159
Notes
177
Bibliography
187
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While our intellectual debts will be clear throughout this book, we’d like to begin by emphasizing how inspiring the work of Frances Aparicio, Juan Flores, Lisa Sánchez González, and Silvio Torres-Saillant has been for this project. Román de la Campa has been an important mentor and has shaped our intellectua