HISPANIC WRITERS: A Selection of Sketches from Contemporary Authors.

This is a mixed bag. It reflects the scope of its parent, but not all entrants (Anthony Quinn, Joan Baez, Geraldo Rivera) are writers by vocation. "Hispanic" is defined by ancestry and not necessarily by literary language. The delimiter of the 20th century is death date, hence the moot inclusion of Alas, who died in 1901, and Hostos, in 1903. Personal data seem current, as the recorded deaths of both Alonso and Puig earlier this year attest, though in several cases the addresses of defunct writers remain intact. Glaring omissions from Spain include Baroja, Machado, Matute, and Sastre; 31 modern Spanish-American writers, omitted here, are included in the more selective Latin American Writers ( LJ 11/15/89). The listing of original writings is up to date, but the bibliographies of biographical/critical sources are older, cite other Gale tools heavily, and omit page references for collected works and periodicals. Since the index by country emphasizes the heavy representation from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States, this volume will be immediately useful for tracking down information on contemporary writers from those areas who are not yet covered adequately in English sources. Most of them will probably be included in future volumes of Contemporary Authors. -- Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
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