Tropical Synagogues

by Ilan Stavans

Most readers north of the Rio Grande are not aware that waves of immigrants have created an ethnically diverse culture in Latin America, a mosaic of particular visions and voices that includes a cohesive Jewish community with roots in Eastern Europe and as far back as pre-Columbian Spain. In this unique anthology, Ilan Stavans - who is at home both in Jewish and Latino cultures - introduces us to engaging writers, the histories of the different communities in which they emerged, their literary tradition and cultural predicament. Organized from a geographic and historical perspective, Tropical Synagogues includes stories by acclaimed and new voices - some appearing in English for the first time. We encounter the beginnings of the Jewish literary tradition on the continent in the work of Alberto Gerchunoff, who immigrated to Argentina during the late nineteenth century and influenced future generations of writers such as Isidoro Blaisten, German Rozenmacher, Gerardo Mario Goloboff, and M