The Syntax of Spanish (review)

Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 293 rheir sexual awakenings, the celebration of rheir female bodies and their sensuality, and their struggles against many forms of racism, sexism, and oppression both in their communities and at the various universities and institutions where they obtained their degrees and later worked. These testimonios and writings are grouped onto the following four chapters: I) Genealogies of Empowerment; II) Alchemies of Erasure; III) The Body Re/members; and IV) Passions, Desires, and Celebrations. Novelist Julia Alvarez writes: Telling to Live is a groundbreaking text [...] that will fill an alarming gap in the academy, where silence or simplification of Latina perspectives still prevails (cover). In the introductory chapter "Papelitos Guardados:Theorizing Latinidades Thro ugh Testimonio ," rhe women explain: Our vision for this book has been to illustrate how Latina feminists come together to engage our differences, face-to-face, and work to find common ground [...]. As we introduced ourselves to each other, described the work we do and why we are compelled to do it, we spontaneously began to weave testimonios, stories of our lives, to reveal our own complex identities as Latinas. (1) It is fascinating the way in which sharing personal experiences empowered these women and began a process of healing and solidarity. Epistemologically , it is significanr rhe way in which these women used their own testimonios as "rhe basis for theorizing and constructing an evolving political praxis to address rhe material conditions in which they live." Angela Davis enthusiastically comments, " Telling to Live challenges prevailing research practices and forges a model of deep collaboration for future generations of scholars." Telling to Live is a moving account of these women's life stories. They eloquendy write about their struggles to overcome pain and abuse, to achieve success in their personal and professional lives, and of their discovery of a profound sense of sisterhood. These Latina feminists created a safe place to share many intimate details of their lives, their hopes and dreams, and rheir professional battles and accomplishments. AU of the writings are informative about the diversity of Latina perspectives (definitely an undetrepresented group) within the U.S. academy; these stories and creative writings will evoke feelings of anger, compassion , admiration, and joy in the readers. This book should hold wide appeal for students of Women's Studies, American Studies, Latino/a and Ethnic Studies and the general reader interested in the experience of Latinas in the United States! JudyMaloof University of New Mexico The Syntax of Spanish Cambridge University Press, 2002 By Karen Zagona Any volume entitled "The Syntax of X," where X is a natural language and X is nor English , has to contend implicitly with the longstanding injunction that Generative Grammar (in many, if not all, of its incarnations) imposes a cruel English imperialism on the notion of "relevant fact." Which means that, by and large, what one expects to find in such volumes are accounts of how X differs from English. Arguments satisfying X can be divided into two groups. Those that have grown out of the injunction and can offer dear and rational evidence that it is false; and the rest. Obvious examples of the first group are Italian, French, Japanese; languages that can claim direct access to Big Theory. Spanish has been less fortunate. Or ar least it looks that way. The general feeling about Spanish seems to be that it had arrived late at the Romance Language Symposium, so late that all the "good facts" had already been taken by either French or Italian. Yes, Spanish facts are "simpáticos," or perhaps even illustrative, but not teally connected in any substantial way to the vicissitudes of BigTheory. 294 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Karen Zagona has written a "Syntax of X" book. And it is an extraordinary one, if only because , in a very quier, fastidious, and deliberate way, she has managed to seat Spanish wim rhe big boys. This is not the book's only merit, but it does for Spanish whar Richard Kayne, author oÃ- French Syntax: The Transformational Cyck (1975), and Luigi Rizzi, author of Issues in Italian Syntax (1982), did for French and Italian tespectively, with one imporrant difference: ir is...