Buenas Noches, American Culture: Latina/o Aesthetics of Night (Studies in Continental Thought) - Tapa dura

DeGuzman . . . offers new insights into how representations of night have been employed to form (impose) a Latino identity within and beyond the borders of the US. Juxtaposing historical illustrations with modern literary and artistic depictions of night from Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, she compellingly argues that there are new trends in representations of night used by Latino/a writers and artists as a means of self-representation. * Choice * [T]he multidisciplinary approach of this work allows DeGuzman to reflect on the complexity and multiplicity of Latinidades in both content and method, successfully situating the volume in the broad, and often deliberately complex and nuanced, fields of Latina/o Studies, American Studies, and Cultural Studies (to mention a few). Jan 2016 * Modern Language Review *

Often treated like night itself-both visible and invisible, feared and romanticized-Latina/os make up the largest minority group in the US. In her newest work, Maria DeGuzman explores representations of night in art and literature from the Caribbean, Colombia, Central and South America, and the US, calling into question night's effect on the formation of identity for Latina/os in and outside of the US. She takes as her subject novels, short stories, poetry, essays, non-fiction, photo-fictions, photography, and film, and examines these texts through the lenses of nationhood, sexuality, human rights, exoticism, among others.