U.S. Latino Literature

Invisibility, displacement, and the immigrant experience are all key themes of US Latinx literature, and recently, more writers who identify as Colombian-American have garnered attention for their narratives that approach these subject matters.  In this interview, writer Patricia Engel speaks about representing the Colombian and Latinx diasporic experience in her work.  Engel also discusses her evolution as a writer and her research process throughout her novels Vida (2010), It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris (2013), and The Veins of the Ocean (2016), as well as the importance of authenticity to history and geography within the representation of global communities.

Tesis para optar al Grado de Magíster en Literatura con Mención en Literatura Inglesa y Norteamericana. Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile, 2014.

Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Master in Arts in Literature with Specialization in American and British Literature, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile, 2014.

ABSTRACT

The aim of the following investigation is to study the urban imaginary of
New York City portrayed in the narrative work of U.S. Latino/a authors
during the last fifty years, using as primary sources three selected texts: "In Nueva York” by Nicholasa Mohr; “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love” by Oscar Hijuelos; and “Fishlight: A Dream of Childhood” by Cecile
Pineda.

The hypothesis of the study states that the urban imaginary of New York
City portrayed in the selected texts can be described as both a divided and
translated city, based on the concepts defined by Hana Wirth-Nesher in her book “City Codes”. Into the build environment of New York City, we are
going to analyze how El Barrio constitutes a relevant space that allows the Latino identity to find a trench to maintain its essentiality, and at the same time constitutes a unit whose social walls contribute to maintain the
otherness status of Latinos in the city. Regarding the human environment of the city, we are going to analyze how Latino stereotypes arise, contributing to the portrayal of a divided city. And, regarding the verbal environment of the city, we are going to analyze how the language used by the characters reflects a translated city, helping them to allow their desire to reduce the distance between “home” and New York City, by the use of Spanish, and also how the mastery of English reflects the social walls that build a divided city.

To work on these hypotheses, we relied on the concepts that Hana
Wirth-Nesher developed to carry on the study of the urban environment in
narrative texts, dividing the city into four aspects, and in her encapsulating
idea of the four strategies the characters could have to read the urban
environment. Starting with a brief revision of the bibliography about the
city and New York City in the American literature, we will follow with the
characterization of U.S. Latino/a Literature, and then moving to describe
the concepts of Wirth-Nesher. Then, we will specify our hypothesis, to
finalize with the analysis of the primary texts, and the conclusions of the
study.

Key Words City – U.S. Latino/a Literature – New York City – Latino
Identity – Cultural Studies and Literature.