Synopses & Reviews
A definitive compilation of Mexican-American literature from both sides of the border introduces a landmark array of stories, essays, poetry, and criticism by Alfonso Reyes, Rudolfo Anaya, Gloria Anzalda, Xavier Villaurutia, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, and Ruben Martinez, among others. Original. 20,000 first printing.
Synopsis
"A marvelous introduction to some of the most luminous and illuminating voices to be found in the Chicano/a and Mexican literary traditions, offering a fascinating and resonant dialogue among them."
-Rafael P rez-Torres, Professor of American Literature and Chicano Studies, UCLA As the descendants of Mexican immigrants have settled throughout the United States, a great literature has emerged, but its correspondances with the literature of Mexico have gone largely unobserved. In Bordering Fires, the first anthology to combine writing from both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border, Cristina Garc a presents a richly diverse cross-cultural conversation.
Beginning with Mexican masters such as Alfonso Reyes and Juan Rulfo, Garc a highlights historic voices such as "the godfather of Chicano literature" Rudolfo Anaya, and Gloria Anzaldoea, who made a powerful case for language that reflects bicultural experience. From the fierce evocations of Chicano reality in Jimmy Santiago Baca's Poem IX to the breathtaking images of identity in Coral Bracho's poem "Fish of Fleeting Skin," from the work of Carlos Fuentes to Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo to Octavio Paz, this landmark collection of fiction, essays, and poetry offers an exhilarating new vantage point on our continent-and on the best of contemporary literature.
About the Author
Cristina García was born in Havana and grew up in New York City. Her first novel, Dreaming in Cuban, was nominated for a National Book Award and has been widely translated. Ms. García has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University, and the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award. She lives in Napa with her daughter and husband.
Table of Contents
IntroductionPrelude: SAMUEL RAMOS excerpt from “The Use of Thought”
EARLY INFLUENCES
ALFONSO REYES
“Major Arandas Hand”
RAMÓN LÓPEZ VELARDE
“My Cousin Agueda”
“In the Wet Shadows”
JUAN RULFO
excerpt from Pedro Páramo
XAVIER VILLAURRUTIA
“L.A. Nocturne: The Angels”
CHICANO/A VOICES I
GLORIA ANZALDÚA
“How to Tame a Wild Tongue”
RICHARD RODRIGUEZ
“India”
JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA
“Mediations on the South Valley: Poem IX”
RUDOLFO ANAYA
“B. Traven Is Alive and Well in Cuernavaca”
CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN VOICES
CARLOS FUENTES
excerpt from The Death of Artemio Cruz
ELENA POONIATOWSKA
introduction from Heres to You, Jesusa!
OCTAVIO PAZ
“The Day of the Dead”
“I Speak of the City”
ROSARIO CASTELLANOS
excerpt from The Book of Lamentations
CHICANO/A VOICES 2
ANA CASTILLO
“Daddy with Chesterfields in a Rolled Up Sleeve”
SANDRA CISNEROS
“Never Marry a Mexican”
DAGOBERTO GILB
“Maria de Covina”
RUBÉN MARTÍNEZ
excerpt from Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
IGNACIO PADILLA
“Hagiography of the Apostate”
ÁNGELES MASTRETTA
“Aunt Leonor”
“Aunt Natalia”
CARLOS MONSIVÁIS
“Identity Hour or, What Photos Would You Take of the Endless City?”
CORLA BRACHO
“Fish of Fleeting Skin”
Note About the Authors
Permissions Acknowledgments