Ph.D. Cornell (1980). Professor of Spanish. Books: Culture and Customs of Cuba (2000); Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Carribean Literature Written in the United States (1997); Literary Bondage: Slavery in Cuban Narrative (1990). Edited and Co-Edited works: "Antología: Poesía hispano-caribeña escrita en los Estados Unidos," Boletín de la Fundación Federico García Lorca (December, 1995); with Ann González, Modern Latin American Fiction Writers, First Series (1994); Modern Latin American Fiction Writers, First Series (1992); with Julio Rodríguez-Luis, Latin America: Culture as Text. Translation Perspectives VI (1991); Voices from Under: Black Narrative in Latin America and the Caribbean (1984); with Edmundo Desnoes Los dispositivos en la flor (1981).

I was born and raised in New York City, but did all of my post-secondary education outside of my immediate environment. I received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton, an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, a second M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

My research interests are nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literature, Contemporary Spanish American, Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, and Latino literatures.

I have taught a variety of courses, including one on literary theory and criticism, and others co-listed with American, Afro-American, and Comparative Literature programs at Dartmouth College, the State University of New York at Binghamton, where I was director of the Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies Program, and Vanderbilt University. I also accepted an invitation to teach at Washington University in St. Louis, and another one to teach at Yale University.