Fractal Families in New Millennium Narrative by Afro-Puerto Rican Women

(Hardback)

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Description

A study of the family in contemporary Puerto Rican fiction.

Colonial narratives described Puerto Rico as a familial plantation governed by white men and served by Black women, but Puerto Rican women writing today are changing the story. This book surveys diasporic fiction written by Afro-Puerto Rican women whose historical storytelling reimagines the islands collective family around particular active womensurvivors, creators, and activists. John T. Maddox IV argues that these storiesby such writers as Mayra Santos-Febres, Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa, Arroyo Pizarro, and Yvonne Denis-Rosarioreveal imaginations committed to both the liberative and traumatic experiences of a new fractal family. Through close readings and interviews with the authors discussed, this book opens the door to a more fruitful conversation between the diaspora, homeland, and memory.

Reviews

"Fractal Families is a necessary, timely intervention. The author offers urgent readings of Afro-Puerto Rican women's literature, engaging groundbreaking recent works by Mayra Santos-Febres, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Yvonne Dennis-Rosario, and Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa. This book will be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and Latin American literature and culture."-- "Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Professor of Spanish, American Culture, and Women's and Gender Studies, University of Michigan"

Author Bio

John T. Maddox IV is associate professor of Spanish and African American studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.