The Essays

Rudolfo Anaya

Description

Fifty-two essays exploring identity, literature, immigration, and politics by one of the godfathers of Chicano literature

In his essay “The New World Man,” Rudolfo Anaya writes, “I stand poised at the center of power, the knowing of myself, the heart and soul of the New World man alive in me.” Best known for his novel Bless Me, Ultima, which established him as one of the founders of Chicano literature, The Essays illustrates Anaya’s gift for storytelling and his deep connection to the land and its history. These intimate and contemplative essays explore censorship, immigration, urban development, the Southwest as a region, and personal identity. In “Aztlan: A Homeland Without Boundaries,” he discusses the reimagining of the modern Chicano community through ancient myth and legend; in “The Spirit of Place,” he explores the historical connection between literature and the earth. Some essays are autobiographical, some argumentative; all are passionate. A must-have for Anaya fans and readers of Chicano literature, this book will also appeal to anyone eager to explore contemporary America through fresh eyes.

Sujets

• Culture
• Race

Informations

• Publié par: Open Road Media
• Date de parution: 24 novembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• EAN13: 9781480442856
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

PRAISE OF THE WRITING OF RUDOLFO ANAYA
An extraordinary storyteller. - Los Angeles Times Book Review
One of the nation s foremost Chicano literary artists. - The Denver Post
[Anaya s work] is better called not the new multicultural writing, but the new American writing. - Newsweek
One of the best writers in the country. - El Paso Times
The godfather and guru of Chicano literature. -Tony Hillerman, author of The Blessing Way
Poet of the barrio the most widely read Mexican-American. - Newsweek
Alburquerque
Winner of PEN Center West Award for Fiction
Alburquerque is a rich and tempestuous book, full of love and compassion, the complex and exciting skullduggery of politics, and the age-old quest for roots, identity, family There is a marvelous tapestry of interwoven myth and magic that guides Anaya s characters sensibilities, and is equally important in defining their feel of place. Above all, in this novel is a deep caring for land culture and for the spiritual well-being of people, environment, landscape. -John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War: A Novel
Alburquerque portrays a quest for knowledge. [It] is a novel about many cultures intersecting at an urban, power- and politics-filled crossroads, represented by a powerful white businessman, whose mother just happens to be a Jew who has hidden her Jewishness and a boy from the barrio who fathers a child raised in the barrio but who eventually goes on to a triumphant assertion of his cross-cultural self. - World Literature Today
Alburquerque fulfills two important functions: it restores the missing R to the name of the city, and it shows off Anaya s powers as a novelist. -National Public Radio
Anaya is at his visionary best in creating magical realist moments that connect people with one another and the earth. - The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Anaya s prowess shows through on every page. Thumbs up. - ABQ Arts
Tortuga
Winner of the American Book Award
A compelling story of a young man who suffers and learns to make peace with who he is, Tortuga has that touch of magic, of fantastical characters, of dreams as real as sunlight, associated with the best of Chicano literature. - Roundup Magazine
Tortuga is one those rare works that speaks to the human condition across time and space, and it well-deserves to find a new generation of readers. - Southwest Book Views
A highly emotional tale of a young soul who turned from a turtle into a human all in the span of 200 pages. - Reviewers of Young Adult Literature
My Land Sings
Winner of the Tom s Rivera Mexican American Children s Book Award
Rich in traditional Mexican and native American folklore. Every story spins its magic effectively. - Booklist
Haunting. Compelling twists will keep the pages turning. - Publishers Weekly
Anaya champions the reading of a good book or listening to a folktale as an opportunity to insert one s own experiences into the story and, hence, to nurture the imagination. This appealing volume will add diversity to folklore collections. - Booklist
The wide variety of stories demonstrate a mature understanding of life s trappings and dangers, but retain a healthy sense of humor about the human predicament. - Kirkus Reviews
Serafina s Stories
[Serafina s] stories are simple but vivid. There is magic and mystery too. - Los Angeles Times
Anaya s prose offers purity. [ Serafina s Stories ] will restore to all but the most jaded reader a necessary sense of wonder. -National Public Radio
Like Serafina, Anaya is a powerful storyteller whose cuentos and other writings are a balm for the soul. - New Mexico Magazine
It is not hard to predict that Serafina s story will be hypnotic and entertain. With Serafina s Stories Anaya again reminds us of the importance of maintaining an oral tradition. - San Antonio Express-News
Rudolfo Anaya is both a wise man and a gifted storyteller. Serafina s Stories [is] a series of engaging tales. - Santa Fe New Mexican
Anaya s new book is a spellbinding account of a Native American woman who spins tales to enlighten the Spanish governor into setting her people free. Clearly conceived, Serafina s Stories contains 12 folk tales that are as absorbing as the main plot. - El Paso Times
Heart of Aztlan
In Heart of Aztlan , a prose writer with the soul of poet, and a dedication to his calling that only the greatest artists ever sustain, is on an important track, the right one, the only one. - La Confluencia
[ Heart of Aztlan gives] a vivid sense of Chicano life since World War II. - World Literature Today
Mixed with the Native American legends and Hispanic traditions of this wonderful book are the basic human motivations that touch all cultures. It is a rip-roaring good read. - Cibola Beacon
Jalamanta
A parable for out time We are in deep need of simple truths, of rediscovering our ancient teachings, and Jalamanta may provide that opportunity. - The Washington Post Book World
Zia Summer
A compelling thriller Though satisfying purely as a mystery, the novel sacrifices none of Anaya s trademark spirituality-a connectedness to the earth and a deep-seated respect for the traditions of a people and a culture. Read this multicultural novel for its rich language and full-bodied characters. Anaya is one of our greatest storytellers, and Zia Summer is muy caliente ! - Booklist
[Anaya] continues to shine brightest with his trademark alchemy: blending Spanish, Mexican, and Indian cultures to evoke the distinctively fecund spiritual terrain of his part of the Southwest. - Publishers Weekly
Rio Grande Fall
This is a completely entertaining mystery novel, but Anaya offers two parallel lands of enchantment. One is temporal New Mexico; the other is Nuevo Mexicano, a land of santos, milagros , spirits, visions, and even brujas (witches). - Booklist
Shaman Winter
Be aware that if you only skate on the surface, you will miss the depth of the story. You have to dive head-first, literally, into the waves of poetic prose to catch a glimpse of the forces that keep our universe together. - La Voz
The fast-paced story line of Shaman Winter is fascinating and absolutely eerie as the master paints a vivid picture of the spirituality of another culture. - Thrilling Detective
Jemez Spring
Jemez Spring is meant to appeal to readers of conventional mystery novels, but there is nothing conventional about it. It taps into primal and universal fears and longings but plays them out in a uniquely New Mexican setting. And the master tells his tales with worlds and images so rich and strange that it is almost as if he had invented a language of his own. - Los Angeles Times
Jemez Spring again blends the Spanish, Mexican, and Indian cultures that made the three earlier works in the series such good reads. Anaya is at his best when writing about the people of New Mexico, their traditions and their lives and how they clash with the influx of Anglos. - San Antonio Express-News
Anaya takes the reader beyond detective fiction. His mysteries fall into the criminal and the spiritual, which makes them both inspiring and electrifying. - St. Petersburg Times
Unique and exciting Readers thirsty for philosophy and the supernatural will devour this book. - Daily Camera (Boulder)
Anaya, godfather and guru of Chicano literature, proves he s just as good in the murder mystery field. -Tony Hillerman, author of The Sinister Pig
The Essays
Rudolfo Anaya
I dedicate this collection to the writers, artists, teachers, students, community activists, politicians, and all who have worked purposefully and diligently to achieve social and political justice for the Mexican American community.
Our civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s included an outpouring of artistic work. We called our efforts el Movimiento Chicano, the Chicano Movement. We marched and demanded equality in all fields of endeavor from the mainstream society.
I presented many of these essays and lectures at state and national teachers conferences. I read them at community gatherings and in university settings. One of my objectives was achieving equal educational opportunities for Mexican Americans. Looking back, Chicanos and Chicanas involved in the Chicano Movement can say we did make a difference. In many positive ways we influenced this country s relationship to our community. Old prejudices began to fall away as many heard our call and joined the struggle.
Some of my compatriots from those years are dead; some are still working and contributing. We fought for justice, not only for our community, but for all people. Now it s up to new generations to work at making this a better world. Much remains to be done.
Contents
Foreword
Part I. Living Chicano
I m the King: The Macho Image
Requiem for a Lowrider
On the Education of Hispanic Children
Foreword to Growing Up Chicano
The Journal of a Chicano in China
Freedom to Publish-Unless You re a Chicano
Letter to Chicano Youth
Shaman of Words
Part II. Censorship
Take the Tortillas out of Your Poetry
The Censorship of Neglect
The Courage of Expression
Stand Up Against Censorship Anywhere It Occurs
Part III. The Southwest: Landscape and Sense of Place
Mythical Dimensions/Political Reality
A New Mexico Christmas
The New World Man
Bend ceme, Am rica
Martineztown Builds Wall of Memories
Aztl n: A Homeland without Boundaries
Sale of Atrisco Land Grant Means Loss of History, Tradition
The Writer s Sense of Place
The Pueblo on the Mesa Revisited
The Writer s La