America Unbound: Encyclopedic Literature and Hemispheric Studies by Antonio Barrenechea (review)

In an era of multitasking and short attention spans, Antonio Barrenechea's critical analysis of the encyclopedic novel in the Americas is an outstanding model of the benefits of deeply studying long books. Several thematic and formal threads tie these works together: each novel explores the era before the American continent was separated by the imperial languages of Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese and divided into nations; each novel also features contemporary protagonists who critique the results of those divisions. [...]the works all have a "masterful performance inscribed within them" that self-consciously takes the entire American continent as its muse (10). In the Francophone Poulin's Volkswagen Blues, two characters embark on a road trip through Canada and the United States, visiting sites that underscore the interconnected histories of the Québécois, Hispanic, and indigenous peoples of the Americas (such as the travelers who struggled on the California and Oregon Trails).