Ilan Stavans

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Ilan Stavans
Stavans at the 2015 Texas Book Festival.
Stavans at the 2015 Texas Book Festival.
BornIlan Stavchansky
1961 (age 62–63)
Mexico City, Mexico
OccupationAuthor
EducationJewish Theological Seminary
Columbia University
RelativesAbraham Stavans (father)

Ilan Stavans (born Ilan Stavchansky, 1961) is an American writer and academic. He writes and speaks on American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. He is the author of Quixote (2015) and a contributor to the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010). He was the host of the syndicated

PBS
show Conversations with Ilan Stavans, which ran from 2001 to 2006.

Early life and education

Ilan Stavans was born in

Jewish family; his father's ancestors had immigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement. His parents were born in Mexico City. His father, Abraham Stavans, was a Mexican telenovela actor.[1] His mother, Ofelia Stavans, taught theater.[1]

After living in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, Stavans immigrated to the United States in 1985, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994.[2] He earned a master's degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a PhD from Columbia University.[3]

Career

Since 1993 he has been on the faculty at

Latino Culture. He is on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common.[4] He has taught at various other institutions, including Columbia University
.

Stavans's work includes both scholarly monographs, such as The Hispanic Condition (1995), and comic strips, as in his graphic book Latino USA: A Cartoon History (with Lalo Alcaraz) (2000).

Stavans has edited anthologies, including The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998). A selection of his work appeared in 2000 under the title The Essential Ilan Stavans. In 2004, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pablo Neruda's birth, Stavans edited the 1,000-page-long The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. The same year he edited the 3-volume set of Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories for the Library of America.

His autobiography is entitled On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language (2001). He is best known for his investigations of language and culture. His love for lexicography is evident in his memoir, Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion (2005).

He has written influential essays on the Mexican comedian, Mario Moreno ("

Tejana singer Selena. He wrote a book about the board game Lotería! (with Teresa Villegas), which includes his own poems. Stavans was featured in one of the Smithsonian Q&A
books.

Honors and awards

In 1998, Stavans was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.[5] He has also received international prizes and honors for his writings, including the Latino Literature Prize (Latin American Writers Institute, New York), 1992, for his novella Talia y el cielo (Talia in heaven);[2] Chile's Presidential Medal; and the Rubén Darío Distinction.[2]

Influence

Stavans at the Santiago International Book Fair 2017

Stavans writes on

Jewish-American identity as Eurocentric and parochial.[citation needed] He has been a critic of the nostalgia in this community for the past of the Eastern European shtetls
of the 19th century.

His work explores

National Jewish Book Award.[6]
In his The Inveterate Dreamer: Essays and Conversations on Jewish Culture (2001), he explores Jewish writing in every major language, including variations such as Yiddish, Ladino, and others. His work has been translated into a dozen languages.

He has been influenced by

Philosophers, Lovers: On the Writings of Giannina Braschi.[7]

He wrote a biography, Gabriel García Márquez: The Early Years (2010), the first of two planned volumes. Stavans traces the artistic development of Márquez from childhood to the publication of One Hundred Years of Solitude in Spanish in 1967 (it was translated by Gregory Rabassa and published in English in 1970).

In A Critic's Journey (2009), Stavans address three cultures: Jewish, American, and Mexican. It includes pieces on writing On Borrowed Words, the legacy of the

Hispanic culture.[8] He also includes pieces on writers Sandra Cisneros, Richard Rodríguez, Isaiah Berlin, and W. G. Sebald, and close readings of Don Quixote and the oeuvre of Roberto Bolaño
.

Spanglish

Stavans is a

sociolinguist and who writes on Spanglish,[9] a hybrid form of communication that merges Spanish and English.[10][11] He edited a dictionary of Spanglish words called Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language (2003), which provides historical analysis of the development of this linguistic form and denotes Spanglish use in literary works by major Latino authors Piri Thomas, Giannina Braschi, Sandra Cisneros, and Junot Díaz.[12] Stavans says Spanglish first developed after 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed after the Mexican–American War
ended and a large portion of Mexican land was ceded to the United States.

He describes various distinctive varieties of Spanglish, such as Cubonics (

hip-hop, and graffiti.[14]

In 2002, Stavans published a Spanglish translation of the first chapter of

mestizaje," the mixture of racial, social, and cultural traits of Anglos and Latinos, similar to what occurred during the colonization of the Americas in the sixteenth century.[15]

Criticism

Stavans' writings on Spanglish have been criticized by linguists such as

syntactic restrictions. While code-switching is often used in US Latino literature and poetry, authors typically adhere to the same rules that govern spoken, spontaneous code-switching. Stavans' 'translations' of excerpts of classic works such as Leaves of Grass, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "The Gift Outright", and Don Quixote into Spanglish often include improbable Anglicisms (sudenmente), colloquial forms typical of rapid speech (pa'lante), unlikely phonetic combinations (saddleaba), and violations of typical constraints on code-switching (you no sabe). These translations cannot be the result of a poor attempt at mimicking bilingual speech, since Stavans is proficient at producing realistic code-switched language in his other writings. Stavans' translations have been frequently cited in Spanish-speaking countries as evidence of the supposed degraded state of Spanish in the US.[16]

The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature

Stavans served as general editor of

Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland, and other Latinos. It also features a section with samples by Latin American writers, such as Octavio Paz and Roberto Fernández Retamar, discussing the United States. Among the featured writers in the anthology are Daniel Alarcón, Julia Alvarez, Giannina Braschi, Julia de Burgos, Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Junot Díaz, Cristina García (journalist), Oscar Hijuelos, José Martí, Octavio Paz, Luis Rodríguez, Rolando Pérez (Cuban poet), Esmeralda Santiago, and William Carlos Williams.[17][18]

The Norton Anthology was deemed an "essential source for academic libraries".[19] It was reviewed by The Boston Globe, Smithsonian, the American Book Review, World Literature Today, Literal, and NPR's On Point. Erica Jong said "Ilan Stavans has spread a feast of Latino literature before us."[20] Cornel West called it "an instant classic." And Felipe Fernández-Armesto of University of Notre Dame stated: "Imaginatively conceived, painstakingly executed, stunningly broad, profoundly stirring, endlessly engaging, this book can change the way the world thinks about America and the way Americans think about themselves." It was also criticized for his subjective selection; there were few authors born in Central America.

Stavans also coedited The FSG Book of Twentieth Century Latin American Poetry, (2011) a 728 page volume that contextualizes the history of Latin American poets, including José Martí, Rubén Darío, César Vallejo, Oswald de Andrade, Pablo Neruda, Violeta Parra, Nicanor Parra, Gabriela Mistral, Luis Palés Matos, Octavio Paz, Giannina Braschi, and Roberto Bolaño.[21][22]

Cultural studies

Stavans's works explores how

Iberian conquest of the Americas in the 16th century from a linguistic perspective. Stavans believes that translation represents cultural appropriation. He defines modernity as "a translated way of life".[24]

Conversations about literature

In 2005, in a series of interviews with

anti-Semitism and anti-Hispanic sentiment
.

In Love and Language (2007), Stavans and translator Verónica Albin

Bible as a work of literature in With All Thine Heart (2010). Steven G. Kellman published The Restless Ilan Stavans: Outsider on the Inside (2019), the first book-length study of the author and his work (Latinx and Latin American Profiles, Pittsburgh).[26]

Books

  • 1993 - Imagining Columbus: The Literary Voyage.
  • 1994 - Tropycal Synagogues.
  • 1995 - The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity in America.
  • 1995 - Bandido. Oscar 'Zeta' Acosta and the Chicano Experience.
  • 1996 - The One-Handed Pianist and Other Stories.
  • 1996 - Art and Anger: Essays on Politics and the Imagination.
  • 1998 - The Riddle of Cantinflas: Essays on Popular Hispanic Culture.
  • 2000 - Latino U.S.A.: A Cartoon History, illustrations by Lalo López Alcaraz.
  • 2000 - The Essential Ilan Stavans.
  • 2001 - The Inveterate Dreamer: Essays and Conversations on Jewish Literature.
  • 2001 - Octavio Paz: A Meditation.
  • 2001 - On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language.
  • 2003 - Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language.
  • 2003 - Lotería!, art by Teresa Villegas, essay and riddles by Ilan Stavans.
  • 2005 - Conversations with Ilan Stavans (with Neal Sokol).
  • 2005 - Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion.
  • 2006 - The Disappearance: A Novella and Stories.
  • 2007 - Love and Language (with Verónica Albin).
  • 2008 - Knowledge and Censorship (with Verónica Albin).
  • 2008 - Mr. Spic Goes to Washington, illustrations by Roberto Weil.
  • 2008 - Resurrecting Hebrew.
  • 2009 - A Critic's Journey
  • 2010 - Gabriel García Márquez: The Early Years.
  • 2010 - With All Thine Heart: Love and the Bible (with Mordecai Drache).
  • 2011 - What is la hispanidad?: A Conversation (with Iván Jaksic).
  • 2011 - José Vaconcelos: The Prophet of Race
  • 2012 - Return to Centro Historico: A Mexican Jew Looks for His Roots.
  • 2012 - El Iluminado (with Steve Sheinkin)
  • 2013 - Golemito' Juvenile fiction hardcover, illustrated by Teresa Villegas
  • 2014 - A Most Imprefect Union (with Lalo Alcarez)
  • 2015 - Quixote: The Novel and the World
  • 2020 - Poets, Philosophers, Lovers: On the Writings of Giannina Braschi (with Frederick Luis Aldama and Tess O'Dwyer)
  • 2020 - "Popol Vuh: A Retelling"

Television

Conversations with Ilan Stavans (PBS, La Plaza)[27]

Films

Morirse está en hebreo / My Mexican Shivah (2006) Directed by Alejandro Springall.[28]

Bibliography

  • Vidal, África (2022). Ilan Stavans, traductor (in Spanish). Comares.

References

  1. ^ a b "Fallece el actor y director teatral Abraham Stavans". Diario Judío México. 2019-03-06. Archived from the original on 2019-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-07.
  2. ^ a b c "Ilan Stavans." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors. Gale, 2021. Retrieved via Gale In Context: Biography database, 2023-09-06.
  3. ^ "Stavans, Ilan | Faculty & Staff | Amherst College". www.amherst.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
  4. ^ [1], The Common
  5. ^ "Fellows – Ilan Stavans". John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. gf.org. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  6. ^ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  7. ^ Poets, Academy of American. "2020 Featured Fall Books | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  8. ^ Glinter, Ezra (2009-12-09). "Seduced by Stavans" [review of Ilan Stavans, A critic's journey]. The Forward. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
  9. S2CID 144762425
    .
  10. ^ Post, Teresa Wiltz, The Washington (3 March 2003). "Que pasa? Spanglish is popping up everywhere". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  12. JSTOR 20140947
    .
  13. ^ Lambert, Josh; January 13 (13 January 2020). "The Endurance of Yiddish: A Conversation Between Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert | Jewish Book Council". www.jewishbookcouncil.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "INTERVIEW WITH ILAN STAVANS by Agnes Marx and Ernesto Escobar Ulloa". www.barcelonareview.com. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  15. ISBN 978-1-349-53962-8
    .
  16. ISBN 9781589012134
    .
  17. ISBN 978-0-393-08007-0
    .
  18. JSTOR 41300630
    .
  19. ^ Ilan, Stavans. "The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature". Library Journal. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  20. ^ Jong, Erica. "Norton Anthology of Latino Literature by Ilan Stavans: Book Jacket Commentary". www.powells.com. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  21. ISBN 978-0-374-53318-2
    .
  22. S2CID 170596341
    .
  23. ^ "On Dictionaries: A Conversation with Ilan Stavans". translationjournal.net. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  24. S2CID 146576042
    .
  25. ^ Albín, Verónica (2009). "Language and Empire, A Conversation with Ilan Stavans". Camino Real. 1: 207–226.
  26. ^ "The Restless Ilan Stavans". University of Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  27. ^ "Conversations with Ilan Stavans". The University of Arizona Press. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  28. ^ "MY MEXICAN SHIVAH [DVD]". Queens Library. Retrieved 18 January 2017.

External links

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