The Essential Ilan Stavans

"Ilan Stavans is a prodigious reader and listener, and . . . his essay collection-lively and intelligent, eclectic, sharp-tongued yet fair-minded-is a marvelous survey of cultural matters that most of us imagined that we knew about but really didn't." -Peter Matthiessen "Ilan Stavans . . . has the sharp eye of the internal exile. . . . this book examines the conflicts and contradictions of that frontier where Kafka meets NAFTA." -John Sayles, author of Los Gusanos and director of "Lone Star" "This volume by Ilan Stavans . . . is a display of absolute devotion and passion. It evinces a singular mastery of the craft of the essay and reaches unexpected levels of depth." -Alvaro Mutis "Stavans opens to the reader the doors of a world (or several worlds). He is not only a keen essayist, he is also an excellent fiction writer, as demonstrated by the short stories in this volume. In short: Ilan Stavans gives us a comprehensive and affectionate panel of human and intellectual profiles of our times." -Moacyr Scliar "Ilan Stavans is the rarest of North American writers-he sees the Americas whole. Not since Octavio Paz has Mexico given us an intellectual so able to violate borders, with learning and grace." -Richard Rodriguez "Ilan Stavans may be our most savvy reader. The 'we' in that sentence provides a space in which many groups can truly identify. He is a brilliant participant and reader of Mexican, Latin and South American literature and culture." -Sander L. Gilman, The University of Chicago "Stavans is bold, engaging, refreshingly agile as narrator and essayist, and this book is a most impressive accomplishment. . . . Latino arts willembrace Stavans' challenge of irony and multiple identities." -Doris Sommer, Harvard University Ilan Stavans is one of the foremost Latino scholars, and here his best essays are collected into one volume. From Selena and Subcomandante Marcos to Cisneros and Paz, these