El corrido de Dante. (The Ballad of Dante)

Reviewed by Anne C. Barnhart, Univ. of California Lib., Santa Barbara -- Críticas, 11/15/2006

González Viaña [Los sueños de América, Alfaguara, 2000; (American Dreams, Arte Público, 2005)], winner of the Juan Rulfo prize in 1999 for his story “Siete noches en California” (“Seven Nights in California”), here sends illegal immigrant Dante Celestino on a journey from his home in Oregon throughout the Southwest in search of his runaway daughter Emmita. Dante spends three years in his quixotic quest with a donkey as his silent companion. Along the way he reminisces about his wife and his life in Mexico while meeting several characters (including many other illegal immigrants) who share their histories, especially the stories of their passages to the United States. Eventually, Dante plays the accordion in a corrido band that becomes famous. (Corridos are Mexican ballads that narrate important events such as the Mexican revolution and migration to the United States.) After a slow start, the pace picks up and the book becomes much more entertaining. González Viaña uses absurd moments in Dante’s life to illustrate the immigrant experience in the United States and to criticize the way immigrants are treated. He also introduces elements of magical realism, but sometimes his exaggerations exceed even the most patient reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. Nevertheless, this latest work is surely a significant contribution to U.S. Hispanic/Latino literature; recommended for bookstores and public and academic libraries.