The existence of a distinctive "border literature" pertaining to the north of Mexico is a relatively recent phenomenon. As recently as a decade ago, little was known about what Mexican border writers intended to portray in their narratives. Now, however, thanks to a recent surge of excellent writers, and the fact that the border region has gained greater economic and political importance over the last few years, we know more about this literary movement.

This thesis examines different ways of defining the recent surge of excellent border literary works from northern Mexico, and proposes, through a comparative analysis of three short story collections, that the parallel topics found in them are the shared concerns of the border writers. Some of these topics include immigration, marginalization, tension and identity crisis. It also explores the unresolved conflicts between the United States and Mexico lingering from the 1846-1848 War, which has become a prevalent topic in Border Literature written in Spanish. The selected works are written by authors with different narrative styles and diverse literary backgrounds: Tierra de Nadie (No Man's Land) by Eduardo Antonio Parra, La Frontera de Cristal (The Crystal Frontier) by Carlos Fuentes, and Instrucciones para Cruzar la Frontera (Instructions for Crossing the Border) by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite.