Enchanted Dulcinea

It comes to no surprise that this welcomed English translation of one of Angelina Muniz-Huberman's best known novels, Enchanted Dulcinea (1992), would be part of a book series for Jewish women in the Americas. While a notable part of her prolific publications is focused on Jewish themes, this novel had not been considered, until now, as one of them. In the book's introduction, Rebecca Marquis aptly reveals the themes of Jewish Mysticism that lie beneath the surface of Enchanted Dulcinea's apparent secular plot following three fragmented and intertwined stories about the heroine's journeys and exiles spanning from the Middle ages to WWII. Marquis highlights the underlying mystical themes that run beneath Muniz-Huberman's writing, including echoes of the Shechinah and images from the Hekhalot and Merkavah traditions. Mirroring the author's crypto-Jewish past, this novel includes a hidden, but deeply rooted connection to the Jewish mystical tradition.

-- Ariana Huberman, Haverford College

It is fitting that Angelina Muniz-Huberman's seminal novel Dulcinea encantada be the inaugural volume in Lexington's "Jewish Women in the America's" series. Rendered masterfully into English translation by Rebecca Marquis, Enchanted Dulcinea is a novel that will both delight and confound readers, as the author intended. The translation is published as a critical edition with a scholarly introduction and explanatory footnotes that guide the reader through the complexities of the text. Marquis places the novel in the context of the Jewish mystical tradition, which informs much of the author's literary oeuvre. This version of Enchanted Dulcinea will be beneficial to students, scholars, and readers in general.

-- Darrell B. Lockhart, University of Nevada, Reno