The essays found in Telenovelas covers a broad view of the genre, television's impact in Latino culture, as well as more in-depth discussions of specific telenovelas throughout the Spanish-speaking television audience in the North America.

Series Foreword by Ilan Stavans Preface I PANORAMAS What Is This Thing Called Soap Opera? Laura Stempel Mumford The International Telenovela Debate and the Contra-Flow Argument: A Reappraisal Daniël Biltereyst and Philippe Meers Telenovelas and Soap Operas: Negotiating Reality from the Periphery Christina Slade Romancing the Globe Ibsen Martínez Understanding Telenovelas as a Cultural Front: A Complex Analysis of a Complex Reality Jorge González Opening America? The Telenovela-ization of U.S. Soap Operas Denise D. Bielby and C. Lee Harrington Engaging the Audience: The Social Imagery of the Novela Reginald Clifford II CASE STUDIES Cultural Identity: Between Reality and Fiction: A Transformation of Genre and Roles in Mexican Telenovelas María de la Luz Casas Pérez Fact or Fiction? Narrative and Reality in the Mexican Telenovela Rosalind C. Pearson Whose Life in the Mirror? Examining Three Mexican Telenovelas as Cultural and Commercial Products Laura J. Beard Selected Bibliography Index About the Editor and Contributors

The Ilan Stavans Library of Latino Civilization presents a diverse and representative selection of essays on the most studied topics, people, and issues in high schools and universities across the country. The series, the first of its kind, explores Latino life, culture, and history in the United States in its multiple facets, with its ramifications in the Americas, the Caribbean Basin, and the Iberian Peninsula. Drawing from the most significant articles-including peer-review essays, interviews, and reviews-books in the series bring together the best scholarship on the Latino experience in America. The series offers an expansive breadth of coverage, with topics spanning from religion, politics, and social issues, to cinema, literature, music, cuisine, and social life. Each volume includes an introduction by Ilan Stavans, a chronology of events relating to the topic, and a detailed bibliography to aid students in further research.