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Radical Chicana Poetics 1 . Francisco Lomel Í , Teresa M Á Rquez, and Mar Í

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Radical Chicana Poetics 1 . Francisco Lomel Í , Teresa M Á Rquez, and Mar Í Notes Introduction Fearing the “Dangerous Beasts”: Radical Chicana Poetics 1 . Francisco Lomelí , Teresa M á rquez, and Mar í a Herrera-Sobek identify ten Chicana authors whose “landmark works” were pub- lished around those years: Helena Mar í a Viramontes, Cecile Pineda, Sandra Cisneros, Cherrí e Moraga, Denise Chá vez, Pat Mora, Mary Helen Ponce, Laura del Fuego, Gloria Anzaldú a, Margarita Cota C á rdenas, and Ana Castillo (Lomel í , M á rquez, and Herrera-Sobek 290). The publication boom that started in 1985 and continued into the early 1990s included Latina writers in general, not only Chicanas. Puerto Rican Nicolasa Mohr, who started writing in the early 1970s, published six novels between 1985 and 1995. Puerto Rican writers Carmen de Monteflores and Judith Ortiz Cofer started publishing in 1989, and later Esmeralda Santiago in 1993; Dominican-raised Julia Álvarez published her first work in 1991. The phenomenon is analyzed by Ellen McCracken in the context of the interest on “post- modern ethnicities” in the publishing market, studying how Latina writers negotiate their position as “the exotic Other” (McCracken, New Latina Narrative 4). 2 . In 1985, coinciding with this publication boom, Marta E. S á nchez published her first book-lentgh study on Chicana poetry and already pointed out the existence of a feminist “I”. The phenomenon cre- ated great expectations, as noted for example in Chicana critic Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano’s words in her prologue to Helena Mar í a Viramontes’s short story collection The Moth and Other Stories in 1985: The current effervescence of Chicana writers is a tribute to their strength and determination to be heard, given the nature of the obstacles which lie in their past. The Chicana writers share with all women writers the problem of breaking into a male dominated industry, but they must overcome others related to class and race as well. (Yarbro-Bejarano, “Introduction” 9) Also in 1985, in an essay titled “The Maturing of Chicana Poetry: The Quiet Revolution of the 1980s,” Tey Diana Rebolledo 188 NOTES asked herself about the meaning of this multiplication of texts and authors: What does all this ferment, outpouring, and explosion of writings by Chicanas and interest in their work mean? At this moment Chicana literature is coming into its own. The angry writings arising from the bitterness of exclusion have diminished. [ . ] Silent for too long, the excitement of discovering their ability and potential has turned into a quiet revolution of writing. (Rebolledo 145) In her analysis of poems by Angela de Hoyos, Margarita Cota- Cá rdenas, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Bernice Zamora, Beverly Silva, Pat Mora, Evangelina Vigil, Elena Guadalupe Rodrí guez, Lucha Corpi, and Sandra Cisneros, Tey Diana Rebolledo already notices an evolution from “the type of strictly social commentaries about the oppression of the system and of the oppression of the male machista tradition that occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s” to “social judgments [that] are better integrated into the structure of poetic discourse” (146). In other words, Rebolledo points out Chicanas’ increasing preoccupation with literary craftsmanship. Both Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano and Tey Diana Rebolledo are examples of the emer- gence of a feminist literary criticism in the field of Chican@ letters in the 1980s. This alternative trend paid closer attention to Chicana writers’ texts and motivations. Another outstanding example may be the collection of articles Beyond Stereotypes: The Critical Analysis of Chicana Literature (1985), edited by Mar í a Herrera-Sobek as a result of the conference “New Perspectives in Literature: Chicana Novelists and Poets” at the University of California, Irvine, held in 1982. Its title is representative of the beginnings of Chicana feminist literary criticism. The essays focused on how Chicana writings were breaking stereotypes about gender, their rejection of sexist behaviors within the Chicano Movement and, most of all, their interest in the figure of the Chicana writer as a role model within Chican@ communities. 3 . I use the popular edition of I am Joaquí n that Gloria Anzald ú a her- self cites in Borderlands/La Frontera as one of the first Chicano liter- ary texts that she had access to in the 1960s (81, 119). At that time, Gonzales gives voice to the Chicano subaltern within the ethnic internal diversity of the United States, drawing on common patterns in US ethnic literature: the motif of the spiritual journey or pilgrim- age, and the use of the epic genre (Sollors 650, 661). 4 . Appiah follows Ian Hacking’s philosophical investigations on “label- ing theory” as the one “which asserts that social reality is condi- tioned, stabilized, or even created by the labels we apply to people, actions, and communities” (Hacking 226). In referring to identities as “kinds of persons,” Hacking describes the continuous redefinition of roles in society, drawing on Foucault’s conception of the subject and Jean Paul Sartre’s views on individualism. NOTES 189 5 . This social-constructivist conception of identity emerged from stud- ies on social psychology, and became common during the US civil rights movements (Appiah 65). 6 . Luis Arenal (1909–1985) belonged to the group of painters who assisted well-known Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. 7 . The note on this illustration at the end of the book says “Worshiper at the outdoor Easter Mass held at the UFWOC’s headquarters in Delano, California, 1967” (121). 1 Gloria Anzaldúa’s Poetics: The Process of Writing Borderlands/La Frontera 1 . Anzald ú a herself explains how writing is for her an obsession that she tries to dominate and control. It was not until I consulted her papers at the University of Texas, Austin, that I realized the extent of her obsession, and how the proliferation of her writing and her struggle to organize and reorganize her ideas, positioning and repositioning herself, engaging and disengaging, made her consider writing as a “living hell” that she had to go through due to her position as a spokesperson for women of color. 2 . In Borderlands and in other works and interviews, Anzald ú a shows special interest in her Basque origins. 3 . It is clear that Anzaldú a’s poems include a vocabulary that resonates with that of the Spanish mystic tradition. The path of conocimiento can be read vis-a-vis the Spanish mystic tradition as long as we do not lose sight of the different contexts and goals of each of Anzald ú a’s texts. 4 . In a letter dated 23 September 1981, immediately after the publica- tion of This Bridge , Anzaldú a sent the first chapter of her novel in progress “Andrea” to Norma Alarcó n, editor of Third Woman Press. She explained that she was working on three poetry collections, entitled “Tres lenguas de fuego,” “Mito moderno”, and “More len- guas de fuego.” She was also working on a one act play entitled “La Chingada: A Poem-Play with Music, Dance, Song, and Ritual.” In her 1990 interview with H é ctor Torres, Anzald ú a explains how she was putting together some stories that she first wrote in 1974–1976, that she is calling “Entre Guerras, Entre Mundos.” 5 . In one of the latest drafts before publication, the editor wrote a com- ment in the margins expressing her doubts about whether Anzaldú a should include the border as herida abierta. The editor not only ignored the cultural tradition en espa ñ ol that has traditionally used this metaphor for liminal states (Vivancos Pérez, “La frontera es her- ida abierta”), but also the connection that, in Anzaldú a’s writings, this trope has with the process of writing and identity formation, as well as with the preservation of embodiment. 190 NOTES 6 . In order to analyze the “Coyolxauhqui process” involved in writ- ing Borderlands , I also focused on four questions that may deserve further consideration: (1) What poems are only present in the 1985 draft? (2) What poems are only in the 1986 draft? (3) What poems are in the 1985 and 1986 drafts, but not in the published 1987 version? And (4) are there any poems in the final 1987 version that are new?: I. There are 7 poems that appeared only in the April 1985 manu- script: “Entering into the Serpent,” “Poets” (section II), “The Dark Muse” (section II), “The Enemy of the State” (section II), “Encountering the Medusa” (section III), “Wolf” (section III), and “Serpent Woman” (section V) II. 21 poems appear only in the table of contents of the October 1986 manuscript: “herida abierta” (II), “La cuna” (II), “Chistes tejanos/Texas jokes” (III), “Gente de sombra/sin papeles” (III), “Carta a t í o David” (III), “How We Became Nopal” (III), “Alien Voices” (III), “Across the Bridge to Reynosa” (IV), “La mujer que se visti ó de hombre y cruz ó la frontera” (IV), “Breasts with Penis” (IV), “Esta mujer” (IV), “The Occupant” (IV), “Nightvoice” (IV), “Buses Don’t Run On Sundays, Amigo” (IV), “Old Loyalties” (IV), “Ballad of the Imsomniac” (VI), “Senses Drowning” (VI), “Conjuro para provocar amor” (VI), “I Crawl Away From You, Raza” (VII), “Don’t Give It a Name” (VII), and “Meta-Mexicana” (VII) III. 2 poems are included in the 1985 and the 1986 drafts, but not in the published version: “Tihueque” (85, I; 86, VII), and “Del otro lado” (85, II; 86, IV) IV. None of the poems in the published version were added after October 1986 Five of this poems have appeared in the Gloria Anzald ú a Reader: “The Enemy of the State,” “Encountering the Medusa,” “The Occupant,” “Tihueque,” and “Del otro lado.” The first two were previously unpublished. “Tihueque” was Alzald ú a’s first publica- tion in Tejidos in 1974, and “Del otro lado” opened the anthology Compa ñ eras: Latina Lesbians (1994).
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