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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2025

Kenya C. Dworkin y Méndez
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University
Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

The Cambridge University Press Latinx Literature in Transition series is conceived, in part, as a response to the challenges that arise when thinking historically about the field of Latinx literary studies. This first volume in the series undertakes the particularly important task of questioning what have often been presented as the uncomplicated origins of Latinx literature – starting points defined by US history and geography that belie the multiple eras, geographies, cultures, and cosmologies that gave rise to “Latinx” as a storied and complex identity spanning multiple centuries and places. By defining and discussing these complexities and accentuating the transits, transactions, and transcreations of/by multiple peoples over time, we hope to upset the familiar narrative and invoke a much more inclusive, more plural, and less functional origin story for Latinx literature and its creators. Through a focus on very early literary expression and surviving texts, we push the boundaries of what has most commonly been understood and studied as the “history” of Latinx literature.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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