Pablo Adalberto Ortiz Quinones (1914-2002) was one of the most gifted writers in Ecuador and all of Latin America. Yet outside of Ecuador and amongst Afro-Hispanic literature scholars in the United States, little critical attention has been given to this pioneer whose multi-genre contributions spanned decades. In his writings, Ortiz explores some of the defining social issues in the Americas since the African and European encounters with the New World, including the notion of "race." He articulates a complex process of affirming the ethnic while not denying the national. Consequently,...

This book examines the memoir of Toussaint Louverture--a former slave, general in the French army, and leader of the Haitian Revolution--and the memoir of his son, Isaac. The Revolution and its leaders have been studied and written about extensively. Until recently (2004), however, the memoir of Toussaint has received little attention--and only as a historical document. This is the first study that explores the 1802 work foremost as a literary text, a creative production that deploys the techniques of fiction and drama to make truth claims about the past; moreover, this is the first...