Isolation and identity.

• Author: Martinez, Elizabeth Coonrod
• Position: Brief article

The United States no longer espouses the same ideals it did a century ago, when its identity was based on the idea of a "melting pot." Today, many realize that "America" is broader than a country, and that individual identity can be elusive. Some populations feel they have to grapple for survival and against oblivion. New literature by US-Latino writers reveals that sense of a more complex state of consciousness. The novels considered here portray characters cast aside by their society; living the American Dream without finding fulfillment; and lost in a place and time where names and villages are regularly erased.

The authors themselves are examples of a new era: a Chicana who lives in New Jersey, a Cuban-American who lives in California, and a Peruvian who grew up in Alabama. Helena Maria Viramontes, Cristina Garcia, and Daniel Alarcon all write in English. If their novels are published in Spanish, it is because they are translated by others. So goes the experience of the US-Latino writer. Their...