Ricardo Palma’s Tradiciones is the first full-length account of Ricardo Palma informed by theories of cultural criticism. Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela sheds new light on important aspects of Palma’s work. She offers a fresh interpretation of the relations between history and literature – perhaps the most discussed aspect of Palma’s work – engaging with new critical thinking on historicism and examining the significance of the marginal and the anecdotal in Palma’s work. By using the tools of postcolonial cultural criticism, Vera Tudela considers Palma’s encounter with modernity, arguing that his recuperation of colonial history plays a crucial part in imagining the modern future. Most innovatively, Vera Tudela examines the multiple and contradictory notions of femininity in nineteenth-century Latin America and in Palma’s writing, showing how a historical consideration of the sexual politics of cultural production transforms our understanding of many of the assumptions about this period. Finally, by applying the insights of cultural geography in analysing the racial, sexual and political identity of domestic, urban and national space in Palma’s writing, Vera Tudela demonstrates that Palma’s literary maps and topographies are uniquely revelatory of questions of power and agency. In its exploration of sexual politics and nationhood, Ricardo Palma’s Tradiciones presents Palma as a proto-modernist who paved the way for many of the experiments of twentieth-century Latin American narrative fiction.

Peruvian author Ricardo Palma (1838-1919) was one of the most popular and imitated writers in Latin America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As head of the National Library in Lima, Palma had access to a rich source of historical books and manuscripts. His historical miscellanies, which he called "traditions," are witty anecdotes about conquerors, viceroys, corrupt and lovelorn friars, tragic loves and notorious characters. Humor, irony and word play characterize his collection of over five hundred traditions written between 1872 and 1906, whether describing violent deeds or amorous misadventures. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the second half of the nineteenth century, Palma did not write transparent didactic fictions and defend elite cultural forms. Rather, he reveled in ironic approaches to written sources, political authorities and church institutions as well as in popular speech and knowledge. Both fiction and history, Palma's delightful Peruvian Traditions represents a hybrid literary form that constructs historical memory distinct from the dominant literary trends of the time.

Latino folklore comprises a kaleidoscope of cultural traditions. This compelling three-volume work showcases its richness, complexity, and beauty. Latino folklore is a fun and fascinating subject to many Americans, regardless of ethnicity. Interest in—and celebration of—Latin traditions such as Día de los Muertos in the United States is becoming more common outside of Latino populations. Celebrating Latino Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Cultural Traditions provides a broad and comprehensive collection of descriptive information regarding all the genres of Latino folklore in the United States, covering the traditions of Americans who trace their ancestry to Mexico, Spain, or Latin America. The encyclopedia surveys all manner of topics and subject matter related to Latino folklore, covering the oral traditions and cultural heritage of Latin Americans from riddles and dance to food and clothing. It covers the folklore of 21 Latin American countries as these traditions have been transmitted to the United States, documenting how cultures interweave to enrich each other and create a unique tapestry within the melting pot of the United States.

In the continuing debates about the cultural dimensions of globalization, the question of 'literature' has been something of a poor relation. This volume seeks to redress the balance. It takes as its starting point Goethe's idea of Weltliteratur, from which it then travels out to various parts of the globe at different historical junctures. Among its many concerns are the legacies of Goethe's idea, variable understandings of the term 'literature' itself, cross-cultural encounters, the nature of 'small literatures', and the cultural politics of literary genres. With contributions from many of the leading voices in the field, Debating World Literature seeks to transcend the pieties and simplifications of polemic in a search for the complexity embodied in the linking of the two terms 'world' and 'literature'.

The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature is by far the most comprehensive work of its kind ever written. Its three volumes cover the whole sweep of Latin American literature (including Brazilian) from pre-Colombian times to the present, and contain chapters on Latin American writing in the USA. Volume 3 is devoted partly to the history of Brazilian literature, from the earliest writing through the colonial period and the Portuguese-language traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; and partly also to an extensive bibliographical section in which annotated reading lists relating to the chapters in all three volumes of The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature are presented. These bibliographies are a unique feature of the History, further enhancing its immense value as a reference work.

In this study the author analyses similarities, differences and contradictions in the cultural norms about gender expressed in proverbs she has found in oral and written sources from over 150 countries. Grouping the proverbs into categories as the female body, love, sex, childbirth and the female power, the author examines shared patterns in ideas about women and how men see them.