Although Spanish-American literature first came to the attention of a world-wide audience in the 1960s, it enjoys a continuous tradition stretching back to the Conquest; this new introduction to the Spanish-American literary canon retraces that history. It contains sections on the major literary writers and works of Spanish America from the Conquest to the present day, ranging from the Popol Vuh, the Bible of the Mayas, to Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits, a novel on contemporary Chile. The book treats authors in considerable depth, and addresses in particular the social value of the literary work and the ways in which it functioned in the society which gave it life. Dr STEPHEN M. HART is Reader in the Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies atUniversity College London; from 1991 to 1998 he was professor in the department of Spanish and Italian, and Director of the Latin American Studies Program, at the University of Kentucky. Read Less