Transnational US Latino/a Literature: From the 1960s to the Twenty-First Century

This essay provides a concise historical overview of US Latino/a literature from the 1960s into the twenty-first century. By tracing the evolution from its origins in small presses to major publishing houses in the United States, this literary tradition shifts from its regional and local portrayals of the Latino experience in the United States to that of transnational subjects migrating between the United States, Latin America, and beyond. This essay suggests that US Latino/a literature is no longer on the margins, but rather engages multiple geographies and histories that make these dynamic narratives part of world literature. Rather than employ a nationalist approach to the analysis of US Latino/a literature, critics in the twenty-first century use a transnational lens because it moves in various global contexts and has gained a wider readership and institutional following.