A Handbook of Latin American Literature ed. by Carol Fairbanks (review)

Book Reviews83 pioneer prairie women and how they have named the 'new' land" (2). Studies of this sort are inevitably fraught with hazards of definition: "But what are the prairies?" asks Fairbanks (2). She focuses mainly on the prairies of the American Midwest and central Canada, with occasional forays as far south as Texas and as far north as Edmonton, Alberta. She notes that "Canadian writers have a more persisting sense [than Americans] of the prairie landscape, of prairie history, and of the prairie as home ground. Sixteen Canadian novels have been published since 1970 as compared with three American works" (252). Fairbanks argues that "Women's prairie fiction . . . reveals a pervasive optimism rarely found in the works of men" (252), and suggests at least two possible reasons. First, prairie women writing in the last quarter of the nineteenth century might have been consciously attempting to undermine, or at least modify, the public's image of the desolate lives of women on the frontier (25). Also, and more significantly, Fairbanks argues throughout the book (especially in her discussions of "Prairie as Garden" in chapter 2) that prairie women responded emotionally and spiritually to the fecundity of the land, in contrast to their masculine counterparts who often saw the prairies, and nature itself, as antagonistic elements which they must subdue or conquer in order to survive . Organization of the text is understandably loose. In a chapter titled "Women and the Prairie Landscape," Fairbanks observes: "No subject related to the prairie is more difficult to approach objectively than the landscape itself. . . . If we let the stories speak for themselves, however, they will entertain us with a surprising and challenging variety of perspectives" (65). Chapter headings such as "First Wave Women," "White Women and Indians," "Second Wave Women," "The Prairie Town," and "Prairie Born, Prairie Bred" suggest the generally chronological structuring of material. This rather directionless study has produced an impressively informative, though limited, literary history of the settlement of prairie lands in the central United States and Canada. Carol Fairbanks' lucid and sensible critical commentary and her sixteen-page bibliography of prairie literature make Prairie Women a valuable resource in the field of Western Americana. ORVIS BURMASTER Boise State University DAVID W. FOSTER, ed. A Handbook of Latin American Literature . New York: Garland Publishing, 1987. 608 p. Useful, helpful, fact-full! All 608 pages! Indefatigable David Foster again provides a practical reference tool for students of Latin American literature. As compiler, he brings together 2 1 essays, each dealing with a separate country. All Latin American countries including French and Creole Haiti and Portuguese Brazil are recognized with a full chapter. Foster wisely selected some of the best authorities in the United States and Canada to write a brief history of each country's literatures: Naomi Lindstrom (essay on Argentina), Roberto Reis (Brazil), Ray Williams (Colombia), Matías Montes Huidobro (Cuba), Juan Manuel Marcos (Paraguay), and others. The chapters justifiably vary in length from 75 pages for bulging Mexico, 50 for poetic Chile, to 7 pages for literaturepoor Honduras. The chapters understandably vary in emphasis, organization, 84Rocky Mountain Review approach, and even value as critical tools. A few chapters are little more than a catalog of names, titles, and dates. The section on Brazil is too short, in comparison to others, for the great literature it represents. Foster has done an admirable job of translating all articles, some originally written in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, to English. All titles in all articles are translated to English, even if no translation of the work exists. The text is surprisingly free of typographical errors — only a few remain (page 447 is a complete repetition of the previous page). But aside from these infrequent lapses, the bibliographical information is very accurate. The Index indicates that nearly 2,000 names are mentioned in the text. Handbook is not likely to hold sufficient interest to be avidly read from cover to cover (this critic did, however); it will be used as a serious reference work. At the beginning of the book Foster includes a short section of "General References," 44 well annotated entries. Each country essay concludes with mention of a few general reference works specific to...