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Friction in language is inevitable and unruly. Lexical, grammatical, and contextual issues require linguistic negotiation for both native and second-language speakers. This preoccupation with language is heightened by the tug-of-war of linguistic power occasioned by Puerto Rico's commonwealth status in relation to the United States. My essay "Close Encounters of the Third (Space) Kind: La guaracha del Macho Camacho and the City as Site of Unavoidable Contact" examines the image of the city of San Juan in this Luis Rafael Sánchez novel as a luminal, metaphorical space to dramatize these linguistic tensions. Specifically, this analysis argues that Puerto Rico's urban colossus functions as a hybrid "Third Space" in which daily encounters with the island's "others" metaphorically demonstrate a negotiated, intercultural, and truly Puerto Rican space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on contemporary Puerto Rican literature in the U.S. Details of the collapse of Puerto Rican cultural practices in the U.S.; Examples of translocal tendency in Puerto Rican literature; Aim of U.S. Puerto Rican translational strategies.

Examines how and in what context Latina literature was being taught in the United States. Views of Latin American women authors on Latina literature; Examination of the contributions of the Puerto Rican literature and the work of Puerto Rican author Rosario Ferre to the North American literary tradition.

Discusses the foundations of Puerto Rican literature in the United States. Community cannibalism in reaction to homosexuals according to Luis Rafael Sanchez; Nuyorican literature on landlessness and banishment; Reversibility and implication according to Fanon.