American in Translation: A Novel in Three Novellas

the Vietnam era to the present. Each novella represents a pivotal time in the life of
Inmaculada, a young Spanish woman who has recently immigrated to the United
States. American in Translation is Concha Alborg's first novel written in English.
"Marine Corps Wife" is told from Inma's point of view during the year when her
husband is fighting in Vietnam while she is in a small midwestern college town
with their newborn daughter. Much has been written about the Vietnam conflict
from the point of view of the soldiers, but little from the female perspective
of the wife who, like Inma, is left behind, trying to keep her family together.
"Spanish Daughter," told in a different voice, begins with the death of Inma's mother,
which reveals tensions and betrayals within her own family. In contrast with the
more liberated 1970s of American culture, Spain was suffering from growing pains
after decades of a repressive government. Ironically, the personal and the political
become one since Franco is dying at the same time, and in the same hospital, as Inma's
mother.
Inma's true liberation comes in the third novella, "American Woman," told through
her journals while traveling in Europe and the States and in direct conversations with
her therapist, who is helping Inma find the strength to divorce her husband. Finally,
Inma emerges as a fully realized woman: at the personal level through a sexual and
emotional awakening and at the professional level through her work and her writing.
The "Translation" in the title becomes emblematic of her transformation and the
complexities of American life.