Given the current circumstances of political polarization in the country, we have considered highlighting the work of many immigrants in all areas of human endeavor. Therefore, we want to continue this series of columns, which we began with the one dedicated to Mario Vargas Llosa, by bringing to the fore our columnist-writers Luis Alberto Miranda and Martha I. Daza, both graduates in Advanced Spanish from the Instituto Cervantes at the University of Salamanca in Madrid, Spain. We highlight their recognition by literary criticism and the academic world and the importance of their intellectual work in affirming the contribution of immigrants to the cultural and human enrichment of this nation.

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In the diverse and evolving landscape of contemporary Latin American literature in the United States, Luis Alberto Miranda, a South Florida-based writer, stands out as a deeply philosophical and stylistically singular voice. Author of works such as Epicurean Dreams, Geography of the Invisible, and García Márquez, Joyce and I, Miranda constructs a literary universe where the metaphysical and the sensual coexist, and where the art of storytelling becomes both an aesthetic exploration and an existential inquiry.

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At the heart of Miranda's work is a profound commitment to the very act of storytelling. His writing displays a clear literary affiliation that extends from modernist masters like James Joyce to the mythic and magical textures of Gabriel García Márquez, both of whom he explicitly invokes in his metafictional and reflective essays. Miranda isn't content simply to tell stories: he dissects, reconfigures, and reinvents them, blurring the boundaries between memory and fiction, between history and dream, between thought and flesh.

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In "Epicurean Dreams," Miranda explores the dialectic between pleasure and mortality, revisiting classic philosophical themes through deeply poetic prose. The tension between Eros and Thanatos, the vital impulse and the inevitability of death, becomes a recurring motif, imbuing his characters with a remarkable existential urgency and inner complexity. This is not superficial hedonism, but a heightened form of philosophical sensuality: writing as a form of escape and confrontation at the same time.

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His previous works, such as Geography of the Invisible, reveal a linguistic elegance and emotional density that cement Miranda as a true literary craftsman. He constructs narratives that float between reverie and reality, creating a geography of the soul—a cartography of absence, desire, and ephemeral meaning. The “invisible” in the title isn't merely metaphorical: it's a thematic force that runs through the stories, reflecting on memory, uprooting, and the ineffable aspects of the human experience.

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Miranda's philosophical training and mastery of literary tradition give his work a polyphonic quality. His texts are full of allusions, dialogues with other works, and meditations on art, history, and language itself. Yet, despite this intellectual density, his prose never loses its sensual edge. Critics have highlighted his ability to intertwine the philosophical with the erotic, and to explore both abstraction and corporality with equal ease.

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Her use of language is marked by careful lyricism and great tonal versatility. Miranda moves comfortably between melancholy, disenchantment, irony, playfulness, and metaphysical reverie. Her characters are often caught between past and present, between cultural memory and personal trauma—reflecting the hybrid identity of the Latin American diaspora.

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In short, Luis Alberto Miranda has emerged as a formidable literary presence, whose work transcends borders, genres, and conventions. His narratives are both deeply personal and universally resonant, inviting the reader to reflect, feel, and, above all, think. In a literary world increasingly dominated by formula and haste, Miranda's writing offers a rare and valuable experience: one that demands attention, contemplation, and, above all, immersion.

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Martha I. Daza: An Intense and Intimate Voice from South Florida

Martha I. Daza's work stands out for its fusion of the intimate and the social, between a profound exploration of the human soul and a critical awareness of the environments that shape it. Based in South Florida, her literary voice is embedded within the vast fabric of contemporary Hispanic literature, with a particular sensitivity toward the fractures of being, emotional violence, resistance, and memory.

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1. The psychology of evil and denunciation in "El Gringo, dissonant ballad (portrait of a psychopath)"

This story delves into the dark mind of a pathologically disturbing character. Daza constructs an intense narrative that moves between psychological thriller and social critique. The author not only describes the character's brutality but also dissects the society that allows, tolerates, or ignores it. Her direct, uncompromising language forces the reader to confront evil without filters, with an almost clinical perspective.

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1. The aesthetics of the sensorial in "Tattoos on the iris"

This book reveals a more poetic dimension of Daza. Here, the body becomes the space where emotions are written, where the gaze—the iris—is tattooed with experiences. The author articulates a series of deeply sensorial images, with a slow, lyrical rhythm that contrasts with the violence of her previous work. The fragility of human experience, the marks of love, time, and loss, appear subtly yet powerfully.

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1. Lyrical experimentation in "Story poem of permanence"

In this hybrid work, Daza experiments with forms: between short story and poem, between prose and lyrical rhythm. The search for permanence in the face of ephemerality becomes the axis of a meditative writing style that explores the duration of relationships, of words, of life itself. This work is a testament to her versatility as an author, capable of moving between genres with ease and depth.

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1. Overcoming and Memory in "Overcoming Destiny"

Perhaps the most intimate of her works, "Defeating Destiny" traces a path of personal transformation. Here, the narrative becomes almost testimonial, with a confessional tone that explores trauma, loss, and, above all, the inner strength that allows us to overcome them. It is a profoundly human work in which the author demonstrates that literature can also be an act of resistance.

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Martha I. Daza's writing is diverse in form, but coherent in its emotional depth. Her work lies somewhere between acute observation of extreme human behavior and a lyrical interpretation of pain and recovery. With a style that oscillates between the poetic and the narrative, between the testimonial and the symbolic, Daza demonstrates that literature is a form of resistance to oblivion, suffering, and violence.

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His contribution is notable within the Hispanic literary scene in the United States, especially for his ability to combine personal experience, social criticism, and poetic exploration in a corpus that, although still young, is already significant and promising.

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Martha I. Daza is a Colombian-born author (Bogotá) who has developed her literary career in the United States. She holds a degree in Advanced Spanish from the Instituto Cervantes at the University of Salamanca, Madrid, Spain. Her work is part of the Hispanic diaspora and reflects a deep concern with the mechanisms of violence, the transformative power of words, and the emotional scars of exile, both physical and internal. She has participated in cultural gatherings in South Florida and is part of the new wave of Hispanic writers who articulate migrant experiences with unique aesthetic pursuits.

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Martha Daza