Invisible Dreamer

Library Journal

"Chile, that long stretch of land that poets have blessed and dictators abused," begins Agosin in this expansive anthology concerning creative writing and human rights. A poet, translator, critic, and advocate of freedom, this Chilean Jewish author is especially attuned to Jewish, feminist, and Latin American writers and the rights of those in exile. She has written some 40 books, and many of the passages here have appeared in various academic journals or were originally parts of speeches delivered throughout the United States. In the early 1970s, Agosin and her family fled Pinochet's regime for the United States, where she entered high school and began what she calls her life as "a person in translation." Having felt like an exile for most of her life (she insists that she is not bicultural), Agosin allows Invisible Dreamer to fulfill her need to speak for the underrepresented. While this book is extremely ambitious in scope, it may be just a little too spread out to do justice to the author's colorful writing, her fascinating life story (and those of her ancestors), and her social consciousness. Each section could have been expanded into a book, and given the author's prolific record, one suspects that they will be. Until then, for the important issues introduced, this is recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Nedra C. Evers, Sacramento P.L. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.