Enrique A. Laguerre by Estelle Irizarry (review)

112ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW These few quotations demonstrate in little Ide's sense of the conflicting views held by Chapman and Shakespeare. The book is scholarly and critical, grounded in history, and imaginative, articulate, and cogent. JOHJV BOJVI Colorado State University Estelle Irizarry. Enrique A. Laguerre. Boston: Twayne, G.K. Hall, 1982. 165p. Although perhaps the most widely read Puerto Rican novelist in his homeland, Enrique Laguerre has received very limited critical attention outside of Puerto Rican circles. His first novel, La llamarada (1935), became an instant success, and it is read by thousands of students in the island's schools as one of Puerto Rico's own "classics". Laguerre's literary contribution spans more than forty years and he is still very active today. His latest novel, Los amos benévolos, was published in 1976. For many critics, Enrique Laguerre's novels best exemplify the spirit of the so-called Generation of 1930, a group of Puerto Rican intellectuals whose main concerns were the reinterpretation of Puerto Rico's history and the creation of a new national awareness. But Laguerre has been a witness to many changes throughout his life, and his novels, in various ways, portray the changing image of his country. Irizarry's book constitutes the very first in-depth study on Laguerre published in English. Also, it is the first one to include all of his literary works thus far, which include several short-stories and essays, one play, and ten novels, themain emphasis having been given to the latter. Following a brief but useful biography, Irizarry begins her analysis of specific works in a more or less chronological fashion. Her critical approach is primarily socio-historical, although the author also makes pertinent commentaries on structural, linguistic, and stylistic aspects of the texts. The biographical data, as well as the background information on Puerto Rico's history and culture provided by Irizarry, are convincingly utilized to support her analysis of Laguerre's works as literary fabulations which often intertwine legends and fables of the popular imagination, the author's own creative impulses, and historical happenings. Noteworthy of Irizarry's study is her setting of several of Laguerre's works against the larger spectrum of Hispanic literature, which includes important Spanish and Spanish-American novels. Irizarry establishes significant points of contact between Puerto Rican literary traditions and movements, and those in other Spanish speaking countries. One could perhaps wish for more extensive comparison with other Puerto Rican novelists, especially when dealing with those novels which belong to an easily recognizable sub-genre. A case in point is Laguerre's novels which deal with the massive migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland, particularly New York City. Although the author rightfully mentions Guillermo Cotto-Thorner's Trópico en Manhattan as one of the precursors to Laguerre's own La ceiba en el tiesto and El laberinto, one notably misses any subsequent references to the works of Pedro Juan Soto, Emilio Diaz Valcárcel, and José Luis Gonzalez which, in various and often contrasting ways, fictionalize this episode of Puerto Rico's recent history. As a study encompassing a great number of works examined under separate headings with sufficient care and comprehensive grasp of the material, Irizarry's fares well in indicating important interrelations between individual works, be they thematic, structural, or, as in some cases, the reappearance of one or more Book Reviews113 characters in later novels. The author's intention to present Laguerre's works as a unified corpus, and not as disconnected pieces, is well accomplished. Through Irizarry's book, Enrique Laguerre joins playwright René Marqués as the only other Puerto Rican author represented in the Twayne's World Author Series. The international recognition which this represents will hopefully enhance Laguerre's exposure to a wider range of readers and critics, and in turn, stimulate the study of other Puerto Rican writers. RAUL A. ROMAN RIEFKÖHL Princeton University Jane Marcus, ed. New Feminist Essays on Virginia Woolf. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981. 272p. The Virginia Woolf revival which began in the 1970s and which continues unabated in the 1980s has included both the editing of previously unpublished letters, diaries, memoirs, short stories, and...