Van Delden (U. of Southern California) and Grenier (St. Francis Xavier U.) combine their respective disciplinary perspectives of comparative literature and political science in order to explore the interfaces between literature and politics in Latin America. They examine the role of literature in forging Latin American national identities, focusing on the work and legacy of Cuban poet and revolutionary José Martí and historiographical representations of the figure of La Malinche (the female interpreter for and mistress of Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of Mexico). They also explore conceptions of modernity in the work of Mexican intellectual Octavio Paz and the politics of Mexican author Carlos Fuentes and the role of aesthetics in shaping his political views. Finally, they present case studies concerned with the tensions between private passion and public responsibility in the work of Mario Vargas Llosa, between literary visions and journalistic agendas in the work of Garbriel García Márquez, and between modernist literary devices and political denunciation in the works of Clarible Alegría and Ricardo Piglia. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)