In the first volume of the MLA series World Literatures Reimagined, Earl E. Fitz examines the complex relation between Brazil and the United States: the colonial similarities and differences; the shared issues of slavery and racism; the mutual influences; and the political, economic, and cultural interactions, sometimes troubling, between the two nations. He also provides an extensive overview of Brazilian narrative, tracing its roots in both European and indigenous traditions, and of Brazilian literature in English translation.

Inter-American literary study is an exciting and fast-growing area of comparative scholarship. The Americas are tied together by a common historical heritage and by a history of social, political, economic, and cultural interaction. As a contribution to this field, this book brings together the literatures and literary histories of English and French Canada, the United States, Spanish America, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The periods focused on include the Colonial Period, the Nineteenth Century, Modernism and Modernity, the 1960s, and the Contemporary Moment. The author contrasts the...