Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. His latest books are A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the United States (Basic, with Lalo Alcaraz) and, forthcoming in 2015, Reclaiming Travel (Duke, with Joshua Ellison) and Quixote: The Novel and the World (Norton).
My father was there, the photograph says to me directly. But he was also not there. Not only not visible in the photograph—which, taken from the wing, shows no hunched shoulder or flying cap to indicate the person pressing the firing button—but not there at all. Concentrating, yes; in fear for his life, yes. Supremely there, of course, while the shipboard German gunners sprayed flak at him and he dropped his powerful twin-engine airplane into a dive. But also absent, in a reverie.
When it comes to seed selection, a million heads are better than one. The process of farmer plant improvement is general right across the rice-growing region in West Africa, and keeping planting material in play through constant use and selection allows for a myriad of adaptation decisions.
Threats and fans have followed Ilan Stavans ever since he announced on Barcelona radio in 2002 his intention to translate Cervantes into Spanglish. This time, it's for real.