L'écriture de Patricia Engel explore les complexités des liens familiaux et de l'identité culturelle, tissant souvent des récits qui s'étendent à la fois à l'Amérique latine et aux États-Unis. Ses histoires abordent des thèmes profonds de déplacement, d'amour et de recherche d'appartenance, touchant les lecteurs par leur profondeur émotionnelle. La prose d'Engel se distingue par une perspicacité psychologique aiguë et une qualité lyrique qui plonge intimement le lecteur dans la vie de ses personnages. Elle relie magistralement les expériences personnelles à des préoccupations sociétales plus larges, offrant une voix singulière dans la fiction contemporaine.
A collection of ten haunting short stories linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.
For readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, this urgent and lyrical novel explores the struggles of a Colombian family fractured by deportation, providing an intimate perspective on a shared experience. At the turn of the millennium, Colombia is ravaged by decades of violence. Elena and Mauro meet as teenagers, their love blossoming amid the brutality of Bogotá. With the birth of their first daughter and bleak economic prospects, they set their sights on the United States. They move to Houston, sending wages back to Elena’s mother while grappling with the decision to overstay their tourist visas or return home. As their family grows and they relocate repeatedly, their choice to ignore exit dates plunges them into the precarious world of undocumented status, with the constant threat of discovery looming over their strained lives. When Mauro is deported, Elena faces a difficult decision that eases her burdens but further fractures the family. Award-winning author Patricia Engel, a daughter of Colombian immigrants, gives voice to Mauro, Elena, and their children—Karina, Nando, and Talia—each navigating a divided existence. Rich in Bogotá’s urban life and steeped in Andean myth, this story reveals the complexities of a mixed-status family, where every triumph is intertwined with regret and each dream pursued carries the weight of dreams deferred.
Edited by Penelope Banou, Georgios Boudalis, Patricia Engel, Stephen R. Hill, Joseph Schirò, and Jedert Vodopivec Tomažic, this volume explores the question of why artists select specific papers for their creations. It examines whether this choice is influenced by availability and cost or driven by artistic motivation. The book features examples from artists such as Nikolai Astrup, Micheline de Bellefroid, Auguste Beuret, Johann Martin Schmidt, and Henri Cueco, alongside insights from Danish and Belgian artist groups, as well as traditions from India, Turkey, Japan, and the Aztecs. It also presents both traditional and cutting-edge methodologies for analyzing paper as a medium. The research highlights how a scribe's or printer's choice of paper reflects the local paper-making craft, availability of materials, trade practices, and cultural habits, while also incorporating the artist's intent. This comprehensive examination is significant for both art history and conservation, emphasizing the relevance of paper selection from the Renaissance to the present. The insights aim to encourage further interdisciplinary studies that merge conservation research with art history.