Ilan Stavans

Ilan Stavans, El Iluminado and Singer’s Typewriter and Mine: Reflections on Jewish Culture

“El Iluminado is a mystery about the very concept of mystery and our sometimes deadly fascination with it—a tale that reveals the uncomfortable parallels between the Spanish Inquisition and modern academia. Funny and thought-provoking, a graphic novel of anti-heroic proportions.”
John Sayles, author of A Moment in the Sun

"Stavans delivers a moving, detailed take on the profound changes the author has observed in Jewish American identity through language and literature."
Kirkus

Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture and Five-College Fortieth Anniversary Professor at Amherst College. He is the author of Latino USA: A Cartoon History, editor of The FSG Book of 20th Century Latin-American Poetry, and other anthologies, novels, and essay collections.. His work has been translated into a dozen languages and adapted into theater and film. Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and of many international prizes and honors, he lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. (ablachly)… (more)

When young Rolando Pérez falls to his death from a cliff outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the mysteries immediately begin to accumulate. Was he pushed or did he jump? What are the documents that Rolando was willing sacrifice himself to protect from his family, the police, and the Catholic Church? And what does a colorful concha pastry have to do with any of this? In the midst of the investigation, Professor Ilan Stavans arrives in Santa Fe to give a lecture about the area's long-buried Jewish history. He's looking forward to relaxing afterwards with an evening of opera, but his presentation on "crypto-Jews" attracts unexpected attention, and soon Ilan is drawn into a desperate race to find the long-lost documents that might hold the key to Rolando's death. Ilan's detective work leads him to taco joints, desert ranches, soaring cathedrals, and, finally, deep into the region's past, where he encounters another young man: Luis de Caravajal, aka "El Iluminado," a sixteenth-century religious dissenter. In a tale of martyrdom that eerily echoes Rolando's, Caravajal fled Spain for colonial Mexico at the height of the Spanish Inquisition, searching for his religious heritage-a hunt for which he, like Rolando, would pay the ultimate price. In El Iluminado, esteemed literary critic Ilan Stavans and author and illustrator Steve Sheinkin present a secret history of religion in the Americas, showing how thousands of European refugees have left a trail of ghostly footprints-and troves of mysteries-across the American Southwest.

Location: Street: 4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW City: Albuquerque, Province: New Mexico Postal Code: 87107-3157 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Ilan Stavans reads from Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Early Years.

Latino literary hero (Becoming Americans, Spanglish) and Amherst College professor Ilan Stavans visits the Booksmith in honor of his long-awaited biography of the late, great Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The first of a two-volume biography, the book covers Marquez’s life until the publication of 100 Years of Solitude. (lemontwist)… (more)

Ilan Stavans

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. ~ O Ano Em Que Meus Pais Saírem de Férias - The Year My Parents Went on Vacation Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. ~ Nuestros Desaparecidos - Our Disappeared Admission Price: $6 General, $5 Skirball Members and Full-Time Students. Advance tickets available online at www.skirball.org, at the Skirball Cultural Center or by phone at (877) SCC-4TIX or (877) 722-4849. General information: (310) 440-4500 or http://www.skirball.org/ The Skirball Cultural Center presents Latin Jewish Life in Film, featuring screenings of three thought-provoking recent films - from Mexico, the dramatic comedy My Mexican Shivah (Morirse está en Hebreo, 2007); from Brazil, the touching coming-of-age story The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (O ano em que meus pais saírem de férias, 2008); and from Argentina, the deeply personal documentary Our Disappeared (Nuestros Desaparecidos, 2008). After the screening of Our Disappeared, on Sunday, June 14, Inés Kuperschmit, one of the film’s subjects, will share insights into the film and talk about her life experiences. Latin Jewish Life in Film is presented as part of the Skirball’s ongoing Viva! initiative, exploring the connections between Jewish and Latin American cultures through lectures, conversations, and performing, visual, and media arts. “Film has become an increasingly important medium for Jewish artists in Latin America to express themselves,” notes Jordan Peimer, Skirball Director of Programs. “We’re excited to present three compelling examples of contemporary Latin cinema. Each film gives voice to a unique and fascinating aspect of the Jewish experience in Latin America, where the encounter between tradition and contemporary culture produces three very different Jewish stories”. About the Films MY MEXICAN SHIVAH MORIRSE ESTÁ EN HEBREO Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m. When Moishe (Sergio Kleiner) passes, his family and friends sit shivah, the seven-day Jewish mourning ritual. The spirit angels Aleph and Bet observe what the mourners say about the deceased to calculate which angel will accompany Moishe’s soul to the afterlife. Set in Polanco, the Jewish quarter of Mexico City, My Mexican Shivah is a dramatic comedy about how the death of a man results in the celebration of his life. Based upon a short story by acclaimed Mexican-Jewish writer and cultural critic Ilan Stavans. (Mexico, 2007, 98 min. No MPAA rating. In Spanish, Yiddish, and Hebrew with English subtitles.) THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION O ANO EM QUE MEUS PAIS SAÍRAM DE FÉRIAS Thursday, June 4, 7:30 p.m. Set in Brazil during the 1970 World Cup, this poignant coming-of-age story thrusts twelve-year-old Mauro (Michel Joelsas) into a maelstrom of political and personal upheaval. When his left-wing parents are forced underground, Mauro is left in the care of his Jewish grandfather’s neighbor (Germano Hauit) in São Paulo and forced to create an ersatz family from the diverse, colorful population of his new neighborhood. (Brazil, 2008, 105 min. Rated PG. In Portuguese with English subtitles.) OUR DISAPPEARED NUESTROS DESAPARECIDOS Sunday, June 14, 2:00 p.m. Through a casual Google search, Argentine director Juan Mandelbaum finds out that Patricia, a long-lost girlfriend, was among the thousands kidnapped and tortured by the military in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with family and friends of the victims, Our Disappeared chronicles Mandelbaum’s grievous journey to find out what happened to Patricia and other friends who were “disappeared.” (Argentina, 2008, 99 min. No MPAA rating. In English and Spanish with English subtitles.) Visiting the Skirball The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049 (exit Skirball Ctr Dr off the 405). Parking is free. The Skirball is also accessible by Metro Rapid Bus 761. Museum hours: Tuesday–Friday, 12:00–5:00 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays. Museum admission: $10 General; $7 Seniors, Full-Time Students, and Children over 12; $5 Children 2–12. All exhibitions are free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. Exhibitions are free to the public on Thursdays. The Skirball is also home to Zeidler’s Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting and Audrey’s Museum Store, which sells books, contemporary art, music and more. For general information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit http://www.skirball.org/. About the Skirball The Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It welcomes and seeks to inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity. Guided by our respective memories and experiences, together we aspire to build a society in which all of us can feel at home. The Skirball Cultural Center achieves its mission through educational programs that explore literary, visual, and performing arts from around the world; through the display and interpretation of its permanent collections and changing exhibitions; through an interactive family destination inspired by the Noah’s Ark story; and through outreach to the community. (pjbosc)… (more)

Ilan Stavans discusses Resurrecting Hebrew (Jewish Encounters).

Tickets are $20 | $15 for Spertus members | $10 for students. Call 312.322.1773. Resurrecting Hebrew The stirring story of how Hebrew was transformed from a dead language to the living tongue of a modern nation, Ilan Stavans' quest begins with a dream featuring a beautiful woman speaking an unfamiliar language. The language is Hebrew, and he sets out in search of the man who revived it at the end of the 19th century, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. Stavans raises important questions about the role language plays in Jewish survival, questions that explore the origins of Israel and the idea of a promised land. (lilithcat)… (more)