Ilan Stavans

by Ilan Stavans

"The New York Times described Ilan Stavans as "the czar of Latino literature in the United States." But his influential oeuvre doesn't address Hispanic culture exclusively. It has also opened fresh new vistas into Jewish life globally, which has prompted the Forward to portray Stavans as "a maverick intellectual whose canonical work has already produced a whole array of marvels that are redefining Jewishness."" "Neal Sokol devoted almost a decade to the study of Stavans's work. He applies his knowledge to this series of eight interviews. In them Stavans is caught at the vortex where his Mexican, Jewish, and American heritages meet. He discusses everything from the formative influences that shaped his worldview to anti-Semitism, Edmund Wilson, sexuality in Latin America, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the fate of Yiddish. He also contrasts the role of intellectuals in advanced and developing societies, dwells on his admiration for Don Quixote and his passion for dictionaries, and reflects