La mirada de Aquiles es un libro que recoge, describe y analiza el gran acorde que representa la poética de Robert Lowell en la coyuntura de la literatura norteamericana contemporánea. Así concentramos nuestra mirada sobre la secuencia poética de Life Studies (1959), que interpretamos como epicentro irradiador del sistema imaginario de este poeta. Una secuencia que también supuso un punto de inflexión en la vida pública desde una yoidad que impulsó su universo íntimo y profundamente elegíaco hacia el exterior. Desde aquí se procede a profundizar en For the Union Dead (1964), para reflexionar sobre lo que denominamos como conflictividad axiológica estructural inherente al sistema imaginario de Lowell. Desde esta perspectiva se parte de la edición norteamericana que incluye ambas secuencias poéticas y que contiene la importante sección en prosa titulada '91 Revere Street'. La profundización en estas dos secuencias líricas implica la revisión previa de un mapa de relecturas que afecta no sólo a la obra anterior de Lowell sino a toda la modulación de su sistema imaginario desde su temprana etapa creativa. Es un camino hacia y desde el mito buscando llenar el vacío de las crisis religiosas tanto del propio Lowell como del pensamiento occidental, tal como indica George Steiner. El poeta accede a Aquiles como referente. Así, desde la asimilación del mito construye su cosmovisión a partir de la palabra poética.

Aquest estudi analitza un ordre literari canviant: Amèrica com unitat i diversitat, com un ens nacional i transnacional. Els escrits crítics literaris reunits aquí ofereixen una sèrie de perspectives que tracen gran part de la geografia cultural en joc: la narrativa, l'autobiografia, el teatre, etc. Es presenten també un conjunt d'assajos i ressenyes que, amb diverses direccions d'enfocament, posen atenció als fonaments previs a Colón, a una antologia canònica nord-americana de poesia i al que s'ha omès; la narrativa llatina i als principals dramaturgs antics. Inclou entrevistes a creatius i acadèmics com Gerald Vizenor, Frank Chin, Louis Owens, John Cawelti i Rex Burns. La secció de ressenyes final ofereix una sèrie de monografies de rellevant erudició multicultural així com contribucions a l'emergent i ampli mural d'anàlisi.

Quaker characters have peopled many an American literary work—most notably, "Uncle Tom’s Cabin"—as Quakerism has been historically associated with progressive attitudes and the advancement of social justice. With the rise in recent years of the Christian romance market, dominated by American Evangelical companies, there has been a renewed interest in fictional Quakers. In the historical Quaker romances analyzed in this book, Quaker heroines often devote time to spiritual considerations, advocate the sanctity of marriage and promote traditional family values. However, their concern with social justice also leads them to engage in subversive behavior and to question the status quo, as illustrated by heroines who are active on the Underground Railroad or are seen organizing the Seneca Falls convention. Though relatively liberal in terms of gender, Quaker romances are considerably less progressive when it comes to race relations. Thus, they reflect America’s conflicted relationship with its history of race and gender abuse, and the country’s tendency to both resist and advocate social change. Ultimately, Quaker romances reinforce the myth of America as a White and Christian nation, here embodied by the Quaker heroine, the all-powerful savior who rescues Native Americans, African Americans and Jews while conquering the hero’s heart.

This volume brings forward a descriptive approach to the translation and reception of African American women’s literature in Spain. Drawing from a multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework, it traces the translation history of literature produced by African American women, seeking to uncover changing strategies in translation policies as well as shifts in interests in the target context, and it examines the topicality of this cohort of authors as frames of reference for Spanish critics and reviewers. Likewise, the reception of the source literature in the Spanish context is described by reconstructing the values that underlie judgements in different reception sources. Finally, this book addresses the specific problem of the translation of Black English into Spanish. More precisely, it pays attention to the ideological and the ethical implications of translation choices and the effect of the latter on the reception of literary texts.

This first critical biography of radio broadcaster, stage director, and auteur filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis examines his prolific body of work within the socio-political context of his times. Best known as a bold modernist for triple-Oscar-winner ‘Zorba the Greek’, Michael likewise was hailed as an astute classicist for his inventive interpretations of Euripides. Working across several continents and languages, he forwarded feminist, humanist, and pacifist agendas, as he further innovated crafty LGBT narratives of unprecedented artistry and complexity. Despite intense persecution during the Cold War red scare and lavender scare, his casts and crews of frugal cosmopolitans critiqued racism, militarism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Avoiding censorship, job loss, and jail, Michael thereby laid foundations for the 1990s new queer cinema and set the stage for empowering dramas of socio-economic justice in the third millennium. Over his long life and productive career, Michael exposed and espoused the vital truths up his sleeve.

Benjamin Drew’s "North-Side View of Slavery: The Refugee, or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada" (1856) is a collection of his interviews with former slaves living in Canada who had escaped from the United States, and an invaluable example of the transnational abolitionist movement’s political agenda. These edited oral accounts show how these runaways turned into African Canadians and reconfigured new meanings of Blackness in Canada, set out the foundations of a Black Canadian sense of attachment, and eventually helped to reshape North America by contributing to the birth of the Canadian nation-state.

'Americas: Selected Verse and Vignette' seeks to give expression in poem and metaphor to the United States as a personally lived and engaged-with culture. The span, accordingly, involves both site and journey, a roster of art, people, different authorships, film, music, photography, cities, society. Prose sketches both serious and antic as well as verse. American Studies with a difference.