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Book Cover for: Permissible Narratives: The Promise of Latino/a Literature, Christopher González

Permissible Narratives: The Promise of Latino/a Literature

Christopher González

In his groundbreaking new study, Permissible Narratives: The Promise of Latino/a Literature, Christopher González examines the difficulties Latina/o writers face in writing beyond the narrow expectations of U.S. readership in the stories they tell. González argues that a constrained conception of the possibilities of storytelling by and about Latinos diminishes the development and progression of narrative form. Through an examination of Latina/o writers against the a priori mode of engaging with nonethnic literature in the United States, González explores the limitations and challenges Latina/o authors have confronted via the shaping power of their narratives to reach a sustainable audience.

Bringing together cultural critique, memory, narratology, cognition, and comprehension, González examines Latina/o authors-such as Oscar "Zeta" Acosta, Gloria Anzaldúa, Piri Thomas, Giannina Braschi, Gilbert Hernandez, Sandra Cisneros, and Junot Díaz-investigating how they successfully, and sometimes unsuccessfully, use the expansive canvas of narrative form to capture the imaginations of an open-minded readership. Permissible Narratives highlights both the inequitable accessibility of narrative devices and, crucially, the daring of Latina/o authors to nurture a readership to afford the same literary deference to them that is so often afforded to white, male, straight authors.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Ohio State University Press
  • Publish Date: Sep 21st, 2017
  • Pages: 230
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 0.63in - 1.05lb
  • EAN: 9780814213506
  • Categories: American - Hispanic & LatinoComics & Graphic NovelsCaribbean & Latin American

About the Author

Christopher González is Assistant Professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He is the author of Reading Junot Díaz.

Praise for this book

"Permissible Narratives leads to new understandings of canonical works. Perhaps more importantly, however, it leads to a broader, and liberating, reconceptualization of Latino/a literature in general." --Dr. Richard Gordon, author of Cannibalizing the Colony: Cinematic Adaptations of Colonial Literature in Mexico and Brazil
"Permissible Narratives does important work in revising expectations and explicating the possibilities for Latino/a narrative." --Dr. Patrick Hamilton, author of Of Space and Mind: Cognitive Mappings of Contemporary Chicano/a Fiction