DOCSLIB.ORG

Thresholds of Text and Identity in US-Mexico Border Literature

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thresholds of Text and Identity in US-Mexico Border Literature Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2010 In the Margins: Thresholds of Text and Identity in U.S.-Mexico Border Literature Allison E. Fagan Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation Fagan, Allison E., "In the Margins: Thresholds of Text and Identity in U.S.-Mexico Border Literature" (2010). Dissertations. 169. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/169 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2010 Allison E Fagan LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO IN THE MARGINS: THRESHOLDS OF TEXT AND IDENTITY IN U.S.-MEXICO BORDER LITERATURE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN ENGLISH BY ALLISON E. FAGAN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2010 Copyright by Allison E. Fagan, 2010 All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of the people who were involved in helping me through the process of writing this dissertation, truly a social text. My committee has been invaluable to me: in a course taught over the summer of 2006, Dr. Paul Jay encouraged me to explore a field of literature that was almost entirely brand new to me – border literature – and I have been lost in that world ever since. Similarly, I caught Dr. Steve Jones’s enthusiasm for textual studies, and he provided a wealth of opportunities for me to develop my own textual materialist approach to the literature. And finally, Dr. Suzanne Bost has been a source of inspiration, both in her depth of knowledge of Chicana/o literary history and in her persistent asking of the really tough questions. I will take the friendships I have developed with each of these professors, as well as the confidence they instilled in me, wherever I go. I would also like to thank all of the professors in the Department of English whom I’ve gotten to know, as well as Loyola University Chicago as a whole for providing me with the opportunity to learn and grow with them. Assistantships, the Toomey-Surtz scholarship, travel stipends, and Fourth Year Fellowship funding made it possible for me to live and work in the city I’ve always loved. But in particular, Catherine Fitzgerald, Dr. Harveen Mann, and Dr. Badia Ahad taught me to take pride in my teaching; Marcela Gallegos, Dr. Jessica Horowitz, Dr. Patricia Mooney-Melvin and Dean Samuel Attoh iii taught me to see beyond my discipline; Graduate Program Director Dr. Pamela Caughie taught me to value persistence. Thank you to my department family: Natalie Kalich, Erin Holliday-Karre, Faith Bennett, Lacey Conley, and Julia Daniel provided endless hours of laughter, commiseration, a few tears, and that weapon of all weapons, friendship. Lisa and Mike Herbeck offered their longstanding kindness, and Kate Goddard and Ryo Yamaguchi supplied such lovely meals. My immediate family – my parents, sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews – reminded me of life outside of the dissertation, and Marty always kept me company. And finally, to my very best friend, Brian Klima, thank you is never enough. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Section One: Chicana/o Borderlands and the Geography of Identity 5 Section Two: The Borders of Border Texts: Textual Scholarship in/of the Margins 14 CHAPTER TWO: “A TOUCH-UP HERE AND THERE: EMBRACING BORDER TEXTUALITY IN REVISIONS OF ROLANDO HINOJOSA AND ANA CASTILLO 30 Section One: Rolando Hinojosa and The Valley 38 Section Two: Ana Castillo and Sapogonia 60 Part One: “The Most Neglected One”: Tracing the Production, Publication, And Reception of Sapogonia 60 Part Two: “Someone Who Dominates”: The Effects of Revision on Interpretation 67 CHAPTER THREE: TRANSLATING IN THE MARGINS: THE SHAPING FORCES OF THE GLOSSARY AND TYPOGRAPHY 83 Section One: “The Gloss Indeed Destroys the Text” 98 Section Two: Normalizing Spanish 128 CHAPTER FOUR: “MY BOOK HAS SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY”: RECOVERY PROJECTS AND THEIR PARATEXTS 146 Section One: Recovering Ruiz de Burton 153 Section: Two Recovery and Translation 173 Part One: Aristeo Brito 176 Part Two: Margarita Cota-Cárdenas 185 CHAPTER FIVE: WRITING IN THE MARGINS: THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET 205 Section One: Cisneros and the Borderlands 209 Section Two: Margins as Borderlands 215 Section Three: The Margins of Mango Street 228 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION 257 BIBLIOGRAPHY 272 VITA 288 v List of Figures Figure Page 1. Image of annotations in “Michigan” copy of The House on Mango Street 23 vi CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In 1981, Chicana writers Gloria Anzaldúa and Cherríe Moraga published This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, an anthology of essays now considered one of the foundational texts of U.S. third world feminism. They describe their intentions for the book as follows: “We want to express to all women – especially to white middle-class women – the experiences which divide us as feminists” (xxiii). The often ambivalent way in which the writers included in this anthology discuss serving as a bridge between the theories of white feminists and the experiences of women of color reflects a reluctant embrace of the border spaces that characterize their lives. But furthermore, the narrative of their ambivalence is made material in the story of their anthology’s struggle to stay in print. A close look at the opening of the text, particularly the 1983 edition, reveals evidence of the conflict and tensions surrounding the material text. One of the first pages of the second edition reads, in fine print halfway down the page: When Persephone Press, Inc, a white women’s press of Watertown, Massachusetts and the original publishers of Bridge, ceased operation in the Spring of 1983, this book had already gone out of print. After many months of negotiations, the co-editors were finally able to retrieve control of their book, whereupon Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press of New York agreed to republish it. The following, then, is the second edition of 1 2 This Bridge Called My Back, conceived of and produced entirely by women of color. Before readers have even read the introduction, they are presented with hints of struggle; Kayann Short explains, “There is a story here, and like all tales of struggle, it speaks of power, pain, and loss. Yet there is also pride in the words ‘conceived of and produced entirely by women of color,’ and a final sense of restitution, celebration, and homecoming” (3). The story of Anzaldúa and Moraga’s efforts to stay in print is told from the very textual margins of a collection that details the struggles for survival of women of color, reminding readers that the book they hold in front of them is part of that struggle.1 In many works of border literature, the margins or borders of the material text serve to underscore the narratives of struggle – for autonomy, civil rights, history, identity – their writers set out to tell. Textual margins, also defined as “paratexts” and “bibliographic codes,” include those material elements that make up the border between the text and the world – cover pages, prefaces, glossaries, introductions, bibliographies, typography, and even the white space of the margins – and shape our understanding of those texts. The appearance of the brief publishing history supplied at the opening of This Bridge Called My Back appears in the textual margins – along with multiple forewords, prefaces, and other epigraphic materials – and conditions our understanding of 1 And that struggle continues for Anzaldúa and Moraga’s anthology: in 2002, once again after years of being out of print, Norma Alarcón’s Third Woman Press brought out a third edition. This most recent edition appends new forewords by the editors and an updated bibliography as well as introduces visual artwork into the mix, but it also went out of print in 2008. In addition to a 1988 Spanish translation, Esta Puente, mi espalda: Voces de mujeres tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos (edited by Cherríe Moraga and Ana Castillo), a companion volume entitled This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation and edited by Anzaldúa and AnaLouise Keating was also published in 2002. The versions and related texts proliferate across decades as the “original” continues to fight to stay in print. 3 and expectations for the text it precedes. Sometimes the writers themselves speak from the textual margins, as when Moraga and Anzaldúa describe “retriev[ing] control of their book,” though in each of its versions and editions, they can never entirely control how or where it is marketed, sold, read, or reviewed. Just as often the borders between the text and the world are a site in which publishers and readers manipulate the meanings of narratives, selecting attractive cover pages or literally filling the margins with their own words. The literal borders of the text function as a space where the interests and desires of authors, publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers contest for control over its meaning, and in works of border literature, they serve as a site from which to explore the instability common to identity and the social lives of texts. By “social lives” I mean to invoke the work of social text theorists like D.F. McKenzie and Jerome McGann to describe the circulations throughout and interactions with the world of texts in various forms, constructed by the competing discourses, intentions, and expectations of authors, publishers, editors, critics, and readers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Quest for Identity in the Select Chicano Fiction
    Int. J. Eng. INTERNATIONALLang. Lit & Trans. Studies JOURNAL (ISSN:2349 OF ENGLISH-9451/2395 LANGUAGE,-2628) Vol. 4.LITERATURE Issue.1., 2017 (Jan-Mar.) AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR) A QUARTERLY, INDEXED, REFEREED AND PEER REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL http://www.ijelr.in KY PUBLICATIONS RESEARCH ARTICLE Vol. 4. Issue.1., 2017 (Jan-Mar.) QUEST FOR IDENTITY IN THE SELECT CHICANO FICTION PANDURANG S. ATHAWALE Assistant Professor Dept. of English Nehru Maha. Ner (Pt.) Dist. Yavatmal, Maharashtra, India, Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT Chicano literature is comparatively recent development in the field of literature has only recently been acknowledged as a significant and worthwhile section of American literature: nevertheless, as Ronoldo Hinojosa states in his essay “Mexican- American: Toward an Identification,” ‘there is a long literary tradition behind what is produced today.’ It has several in intricate and diverse facets. Its main characteristic, fundamental for this body of literature is that deals with ethnic identity, therefore they raised their voices against discrimination. Particularly, the novels state their quest for identity, in their novels as Acosta, Oscar, Zeta, Sandra Cisneros and Candelaria Nash. Keywords: Chicano/a, discrimination, ethnicity, identity, quest ©KY PUBLICATIONS Introduction The problem of identity is one of the most crucial in the development of each and every society. Identity is about belonging and existence of everyone in the society. In American literature this essential problem becomes obvious through the many forms of narratives of the quest for a private, inner identity as a major human experience. Moreover, Chicano literature has several intricate and diverse facets and within its complexity are content distinct strata and orientations.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge Companion to Latin A/O American Literature Edited by John Morán González Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04492-0 - The Cambridge Companion to Latin A/O American Literature Edited by John Morán González Index More information INDEX Abingdon Square (María Irene Fornés Alliance for Progress, 75 1988), 101 All-Union Day of the Shock Worker, The abolition, 13 , 19 (Edwin Torres 2001), 138 “Absence” (Pedro Juan Soto 1956), 50 – 51 Almaguer, Tomás, 182 , 189 Acardi, Millicent, 158 Alurista, xx , 64 , 104 , 148 , 154 Acevedo, David Caleb, 190 Alvarado, Lisa, 152 Acevedo, John “Chance,” 152 Alvarez, Julia: and 1990s, xxxi ; and Acheson, Dean, 72 , 73 bicultural, bilingual selves, 170 ; on Acosta, Grisel, 158 class and immigration, 119 ; and Cold Acosta, Oscar “Zeta,” xix , 60 , 168 , 176n2 War themes, 79 – 80 , 81 , 82 , 86 , 87 ; Across a Hundred Mountains (Reyna and education, 94 ; fi ction of, xx ; and Grande 2006), xxi , 240 , 242 – 243 invisibility, 124 – 125n41 ; and migration Acuña, Rudy, 153 narratives, 231 , 235 – 236 , 237 , 239 , 243 ; administrative colonialism, xxviii , 52 and multicultural canon, 111 ; personal Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas, The essays of, 172 – 173 ; poetry of, 149 (Rodolfo Anaya 1985), 107 Alvarez de Toledo, José, 4 aesthetics of politics, 58 , 64 . See also cultural Always Running (Luis Rodriguez 1993), xxi , nationalism 171 – 172 affi rmative action, 108 – 109 Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing African Americans, 37 , 131 , 195 – 196 (2011), 190 African American women, xxx American Dream: Latina/o perspectives Afro-Latinos, 152 , 196 , 199 , 205 on, 26 – 29 ; and migration narratives, Agosin, Marjorie, 149 234 , 236 – 237 , 238 – 242 , 243 , 244 ; Agüero Sisters, The (Cristina García and minority literature, 231 – 232 ; and 1997), 84 1990s, 119 ; and Puerto Rican diaspora, AIDS crisis, xxx , 77 – 78 , 93 , 108 , 206n3 45 , 48 – 49 ; and reverse migration, 168 ; Alarcón, Francisco X., 157 – 158 underside of, 108 ; and U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Chicano Literature: Expanding the Bare of American Literature, Bibliography and Resources
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 392 056 CS .215 221 AUTHOR Gonzalez-T., Cesar A.; Salgado, Jose TITLE Chicano Literature: Expanding the Bare of American Literature, Bibliography and Resources. PUB DATE 10 Nov 95 NOTE 18p.; Paper presented at the National Conference of the Community Colleges Humanities Association (Washington, DC, November 9-11, 1995). PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Reference Materials Bibliographies (131) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Bibliographies; *Cultural Context; Higher Education; *Literary History; *Mexican American Literature; United States History IDENTIFIERS *Chicar Literature; Chicano Studies; *Leal (Luis); Lomeli \Francisco A); Mexican American Studies ABSTRACT This paper has 2 parts:(1) an overview of the history and chronology of Chicano literature; and (2) a review of bibliographies of Chicano literature. Chicano literature can be divided into pre-Chicano literature (1535-1959) and contemporary Chicano literature (1959 to the present). Colonial literature is that written between 1542 and the Mexican declaration of independence from Spain in 1810--this literature includes "relaciones," that is, accounts of explorations, histories, dramas, poetry, and writings of a religious nature. Luis Leal, the dean of Chicano studies, designates the period of breaking away from Spain (1810) and the United States takeover (1848) as that of moving "toward literary autonomy." Up to the 1950s, Chicano literature remained an "in-house" phenomenon, ignored by the mainstream. The 1960s was a period of uprising, described by Francisco Lomeli as the "breaking of social barriers." A.major group of writers in the late 1970s became known as "the isolated generation of 1975"--characterized by their moving in disparate and innovative ways.
    [Show full text]
  • CUNY COMMON CORE Course Nomination Form
    CUNY Common Core Course Submission Form Instructions: All courses submitted for the Common Core must be liberal arts courses. Courses may be submitted for only one area of the Common Core. All courses must be 3 credits/3 hours unless the college is seeking a waiver for a 4-credit Math or Science course (after having secured approval for sufficient 3-credit/3-hour Math and Science courses). All standard governance procedures for course approval remain in place. College York Course Number 250 Course Title Ethnic America Department(s) Social Sciences Discipline Anthropology Subject Area Enter one Subject Area from the attached list. U.S. Experience in its Diversity Credits 3 Contact Hours 3 Pre-requisites Anth 101 and Eng 125 Catalogue Description The United States as well as almost all countries in the Americas is multi-cultural and multi-racial. This course studies the influence of the major ethnic and cultural migrations to the Americas. What skills did they bring with them that allowed for varying acculturation success? What influence have they had on American culture? This course is a fully online asynchronous course. This course is Writing Intensive. Syllabus Syllabus must be included with submission, 5 pages max February 24, 2012 Draft 1 Indicate the status of this course being nominated: X current course revision of current course a new course being proposed CUNY COMMON CORE Location Please check below the area of the Common Core for which the course is being submitted. (Select only one.) Required Flexible English Composition World Cultures and Global Issues Individual and Society Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning X US Experience in its Diversity Scientific World Life and Physical Sciences Creative Expression Learning Outcomes In the left column explain the assignments and course activities that will address the learning outcomes in the right column.
    [Show full text]
  • LOPEZ-DISSERTATION.Pdf
    Copyright by Christina Garcia Lopez 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Christina Garcia Lopez Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production Committee: Cary Cordova, Supervisor José E. Limón, Co-Supervisor Nhi Lieu Domino Perez James Cox Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production by Christina Garcia Lopez, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Dedication This work is dedicated to my parents, who taught me discipline, integrity, and the value of hard work, and to my son, Joaquin, to whom I dedicate everything. Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge José E. Limón for his patience, generosity, and guidance throughout the entire process of writing this dissertation. Further, I extend my sincere appreciation to every member of my committee, each of whom contributed invaluable expertise and perspective. v Social Violence, Social Healing: The Merging of the Political and the Spiritual in Chicano/a Literary Production Christina Garcia Lopez, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisors: José E. Limón and Cary Cordova This dissertation argues that spiritual and religious worldviews (i.e. Mexican Catholicism, indigenous spiritualities, and popular religion) have historically intersected with social and political realities in the development of Mexican origin communities of the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Francisco Jimã©Nez Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c84m99x6 Online items available Guide to the Francisco Jiménez Papers MSS.2010.03.29 Archives & Special Collections, Santa Clara University Library © 2015 Santa Clara University. All rights reserved. Santa Clara University Library 500 El Camino Real Santa Clara, California 95053-0500 Email: [email protected] URL: https://www.scu.edu/library/asc/ Guide to the Francisco Jiménez MSS.2010.03.2990 1 Papers MSS.2010.03.29 Language of Material: English Contributing Institution: Archives & Special Collections, Santa Clara University Library Title: Francisco Jiménez Papers creator: Jiménez, Francisco Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2010.03.29 Identifier/Call Number: 90 Physical Description: 26.6 linear feet(43 boxes) Date (inclusive): 1962-2010 Abstract: The Francisco Jiménez Papers, 1962-2010, document Jiménez's achievements as a writer and university professor. Jiménez's written works, primarily collections of short stories, document his childhood and adolescence as the son of migrant farm workers. He recounts his personal and academic journey, from working alongside his parents while living in abject poverty and struggling to learn English at school, to eventually receiving his BA at Santa Clara University, as well as his MA and Ph.D. at Columbia, and returning to SCU as a professor, where he would teach for more than four decades. The collection ranges from paper materials and correspondence from his teaching career; to letters, certificates, plaques, and newspaper articles concerning his written works; to art projects and letters from students after reading his books. This collection is arranged into seven series: Series I. Academic Activities, 1962-2009; Series II.
    [Show full text]
  • 2015 Program Draft Boston, MA Westin Copley Place May 21- 24
    2015 Program Draft Boston, MA Westin Copley Place May 21- 24, 2015 This on-line draft of the program is designed to provide information to participants in our 26th conference. Audio-Visual Equipment: This on-line program lists the audio-visual equipment that has been requested for each panel. Please note that it will more than likely be impossible to add audio-visual equipment if it was not requested in the proposal. The ALA normally provides a digital projector and screen to those who have requested it at the time the panel or paper is submitted. Individuals will need to provide their own laptops, and those using Macs are advised to bring along the proper cable to hook up with the projector. A couple of panels have also asked for DVD players, and these are provided where noted. If you can use a digital projector and your laptop instead, please do so and let us know as soon as possible. Please note that we no longer provide vcrs or overhead projectors or tape players. Registration and Hotel: Participants should have pre-registered for the conference. If you have not done so, you should register as soon as possible by going to the website at www.americanliterature.org and either completing on line-registration which allows you to pay with a credit card or completing the registration form and mailing it along with the appropriate check to the address indicated. Please note that we will not be able to accept credit cards at the hotel. It is important that you make your reservation soon since we normally fill up our room block by early April.
    [Show full text]
  • Chicanonautica: Altermundos: Latinoid Culture Goes Speculative
    La Bloga: Chicanonautica: Altermundos: Latinoid Culture Goes Speculative La Bloga Las Blogueras Los Blogueros Click to email a writer. Denver CO • Pasadena CA • The San Fernando Valley CA • Eagle Rock CA • Lincoln NE • Glendale AZ • Santa Barbara CA • Lincoln Heights CA • Kansas City MO • Santa Monica CA La Bloga Archive Thursday, April 27, 2017 Authors ▼ 2017 (90) A.E. Roman ► May 2017 (2) Aaron A. Abeyta ▼ April 2017 (21) Chicanonautica: Altermundos: Latinoid Culture Goes Aaron Michael Morales More New Non-Fiction Abelardo Lalo Delgado (Plus) Speculative Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. Chicanonautica: Altermundos: Aldo Alvarez Latinoid Culture by Ernest Hogan Alejandro Morales Goes... Look out, world! Here's a manifestation of La Cultura that will give Alex Espinosa Premio Campoy-Ada a obras de literatura the President's absurd performance art, the design contest for the Alex Segura infantil y... Border Wall, and the Mother of All Bombs some serious Alfredo Véa Reflecting on NHCC. competition: Altermundos: Latin@ Speculative Literature, Film, Alicia Gaspar de Alba Bless Me, Ultima and PopularCulture edited by Cathryn Josefina Merla-Watson and Opera Sets Da... Alisa Valdes B.V. Olguín. It's got a cover that riffs on a classic Jesús Helguera Alma Flor Ada Tia Chucha's 12th painting, making it into sexy space opera. The UCLA Chicano Annual Celebrating Alma Luz Villanueva Words Festiva... Studies Research Center calls it “The first collection engaging Alvaro Huerta Don't You Love Good Chicana/o and Latina/o speculative cultural production.” And it's over 500 pages. News! Amelia M.L. Montes Américo Paredes Remembering: The You can even order it from Target for a 32% discount.
    [Show full text]
  • 4 Nivel20261 North American Literature Dra. Carol
    PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL ECUADOR FACULTAD DE COMUNICACIÓN, LINGÜÍSTICA Y LITERATURA ESCUELA DE LINGÜISTICA PROGRAMA DE ESTUDIO: Asignatura: North American Literature Código: 20261 Profesor: Carol Severino Semestre: Segundo Semestre 2007-2008 Créditos: 4 Nivel: Cuarto Paralelo: A DESCRIPCIÓN DE LA MATERIA: Students will read, analyze, and write about short stories and chapters of novels by authors who are writing from and about the ethnic minority experience in the U.S., including African American, Native American, Jewish American, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Asian American perspectives. Los estudiantes estudiarán, analizarán y redactarán informes sobre diferentes capítulos de novelas y cuentos cortos de autores quienes escriben sobre sus experiencias como miembros de minorías etnicas, incluyendo a las perspectivas afroamericanas, judías, mejicanas, puertoriqueñas y orientales. OBJETIVO(s) GENERAL: To analyze the U.S. as a multicultural society; to learn about and identify with minority and immigrant experiences; to compare and contrast these different experiences as portrayed in the literature. OBJETIVOS ESPECÍFICOS : to compare and contrast the literary techniques of different authors; to learn to write a literary analysis paper; to increase the facility with which students speak and write about literature and culture by increasing their fluency, their vocabulary (both literary and non-literary), and syntactical repertoires. CONTENIDOS: Selections from three anthologies of U.S. Multicultural Literature: Imagining America, Growing Up Ethnic in America, and Identity Lessons as well as excerpts of novels by Julia Alvarez, Junot Diaz, and Cristina Garcia. The films Joy Luck Club and Smoke Signals will be shown and discussed as well as videotaped interviews with the featured authors.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2005
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2005 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Growing up Ethnic in America
    GROWING UP ETHNIC IN AMERICA Contemporary Fiction About Learning to Be American QXd EDITED BY MARIA MAZZIOTTI GILLAN AND JENNIFER GILLAN , SUB Gottingen 7 211 487 643 2000 A 9231 Penguin Books Contents Introduction • ix PERFORMING E. L. Doctorow • The Writer in the Family J • 3 Amy Tan • Rules of the Game • 18 Gary Soto • Looking for Wor\ • 32 Bebe Moore Campbell • The Best Deal in America • 39 Nash Candelaria • The Day the Cisco Kid Shot John Wayne • 45 Darryl Pinckney • The New Negro • 64 Tiffany Midge • A Half-Breed's Dream Vacation • 68 Kathryn Nocerino • Americanism • • 76 Frank Chin • Railroad Standard Time • 83 CROSSING Judith Ortiz Cofer • American History • 93 Louise Erdrich • The Red Convertible • 103 Toni Morrison • from The Bluest Eye • 115 Lynne Sharon Schwartz • Killing the Bees • 122 Mary Bucci Bush • Drowning • 136 Liz Rosenberg • Magic • 149 Daniel Asa Rose • The Cossacks of Connecticut • 156 Sandra Cisneros • . Mericans • 169 viii I CONTENTS NEGOTIATING Gish Jen • What Means Switch • 175 Laura Boss • Myrna and Me • 197 Bruce A. Jacobs • Dinner with Father • 200 Beena Kamlani • Brandy Cake • 205 Enid Dame • Drowning Kittens • 227 Diane Glancy • Portrait of the hone Survivor • 238 Joseph Geha • Holy Toledo • 242 . Maria Mazziptti Gillan • Carlton Frederick and My Mother • 260 Afaa Michael Weaver • Honey Boy • 268 BRIDGING Sherman Alexie • This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona • 287 . • Veronica Chambers • from Mama's, Girl • 302 Diane di Prima • from Recollections of My Life as a Woman • 307 Naomi Shihab Nye • Red Velvet Dress • 312 Fred L. Gardaphe • Grandpa's "Chicaudies" • 320 Roshni Rustomji • Thanksgiving in a Monsoonless Land • 326 Simon J.
    [Show full text]