Postnational Perspectives on Contemporary Hispanic Literature ed. by Heike Scharm and Natalia Matta-Jara (review)

Heike Scharm is an associate professor of Spanish at the University of South Florida. Her co-editor, Natalia Matta-Jara, is a Spanish teacher in Washington, DC. Both have publications in reputable journals and Scharm is the author of a book on the Spanish author Javier Marías. The contributors to this volume are international scholars who have directed their chapters to scholars of Hispanisms. In the introduction, the editors point out that they prefer to use the term Hispanisms in order to stress the inclusivity of the different ethnicities, cultures, and languages that form the Spanish-speaking world instead of relegating these characteristics to contrived categorizations. The book has an introduction, followed by three units that are divided into Hispanism and theory, identity and belonging, and New World literatures. Each unit has three chapters. In the introduction, the editors emphasize that "reevaluating literary processes within a planetary rather than a local context requires a conscious attempt to avoid falling into the binary trap of center-periphery" (p. 2). This strategy entails a focus on the glocal (the convergence of global and local factors) while foregoing the traditional concepts of margin and center.

In chapter 1, Nil Santiánez posits that "the question ought to interrogate not only the impact of globalization on contemporary literature and culture, but also its effect on our understanding of any literary and cultural artifact from any historical period" (p. 30). Essentially, he proposes a new pedagogy and ways of reading that are more intensive rather than extensive. In chapter 2, Ottmar Ette explores migration to and from Cuba, writing that "possibly the greatest challenge today consists of making a transition from history informed by spatiality to history shaped by movement" (p. 48). He opines that the literary canon should be one of inclusion rather than exclusion because literature written in exile is a chain of islands, not just one island. In chapter 3, the eminent scholar Julio Ortega describes the mixture of languages and cultures in the Spanish-speaking world as diverse, but equally important, given that "the inherent plurality of our language … is the foundation under construction for a transatlantic culture. … I propose to call [it] … a Baroque algorithm" (pp. 69–71).

In chapter 4, Silvia Goldman also focuses on literature in exile. She writes, "[Cecilia] Vicuña's book of poetry compels us to rethink Latin American itinerancy … from a position of fluidity and hopefulness, where the erasure of borders allows the diverse voices inhabiting this 'nonplace' to find their own language in a mutually transformative process" (pp. 89–90). Goldman points out that Vicuña mixes indigenous languages, Spanish, and English in her poetry to transcend artificial political, geographical, and linguistic limitations. In chapter 5, Ricardo F. Vivancos-Pérez compares the works of Junot Díaz and Juan Francisco Ferré, who "focus on the need for a recodification of masculinity that includes both a historically grounded deconstruction of virility, and a new understanding of cultural exchange that is beyond nationalistic positions and the primacy of one-dimensional traditionalist views about national cultures" as they relate to the Dominican Republic and Spain (p. 110). In chapter 6, Francisco Brignole compares works by expatriate authors from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. He surmises that "unlike the vast majority of political exiles who conceive their stay abroad as a sterile interruption outside the normal course of their lives, the voluntary exiles portrayed by Gamboa, Vargas Llosa, and Ferrufino-Coqueugniot think of exile primarily as a place of self-discovery and growth" (p. 130). He differentiates between those who are forced into exile due to political repression and voluntary exiles, who are victims of economic oppression.

In chapter 7, Bernat Castany Prado concludes that Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges's "work constitutes not only a veritable arsenal of ideas and references but also of cosmopolitan literary practices; so much so that he could be considered a direct or indirect precursor to all of contemporary post...