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The process from manuscript to book is long and needs the help of many people. I want to start with the same critics noted in the Introduction, maestros like Frank Dauster, Merlin H. Forster, Seymour Menton, and John S. Brushwood. If they had not written what they did, we would have to be doing so now. They studied Mexican literature because they loved and respected the country, its people, and its art. I have humbly tried to learn from them. I also have to thank my wife, Leonides Covarrubias Comadurán, who taught me almost everything I know about her birth country, Mexico , and immersed me in her unending norteña family. The father of this project is David William Foster, the best literary coach on this side of the Río Bravo. Many people read parts of the manuscript and gave me invaluable insight: Mel Arrington, Douglas Benson, Bob Clark, Rose Costantino, Melissa Fitch, Laura Kanost, Darrell Lockhart, Mary K. Long, Bradley Nelson, Bradley Shaw, Chuck Thorpe, Chris Weimer, and Kim Wiggans. They are my friends. When translations of texts existed , I used them (references can be found in the Bibliography); but Bradley Shaw and I modified most of them to suit our common taste. The rest of the translations are our own. I also want to thank the anonymous reader for the University of Texas Press and Miguel GonzálezGerth of the University of Texas, second reader of the manuscript. Their suggestions were crucial. In 1995 I attended a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Seminar under the direction of Elias Rivers and Georgina Sabat-Rivers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. I thank them very much for their generosity in inviting me and for the opportunity to enjoy their wisdom and eruAcknowledgments 00-T2335-FM 11/5/02 2:20 PM Page ix dition. The Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University granted me a sabbatical in the fall of 1998 during which I was able to write an important part of the manuscript. I also want to thank my colleagues at Kansas State University, including Maureen Ihrie, who is now pursuing other interests. Special thanks to the two department heads during recent years, Michael Ossar and Robert Corum. Finally I want to thank Theresa May, Rachel Jennings, Kathy Lewis, and the staff of the University of Texas Press for their help and impeccable professionalism. Parts of this manuscript were published as articles in Chasqui, Monographic Review/Revista Monográfica, and Romance Languages Annual and as a chapter of the book Echoes and Inscriptions: Comparative Approaches to Early Modern Spanish Literatures, edited by Christopher B. Weimer and Barbara A. Simerka (Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2000). x  The Contemporáneos Group 00-T2335-FM 11/5/02 2:20 PM Page x ...

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