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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The unsung stream : the ethnic continuum in U.S. literature and film, from John Rollin Ridge to John Sayles Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6f71q953 Authors Torres, Linda Renee Torres, Linda Renee Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Unsung Stream: the Ethnic Continuum in U.S. Literature and Film, From John Rollin Ridge to John Sayles A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Linda Renee Torres Committee in Charge: Professor Rosaura A. Sánchez, Chair Professor John D. Blanco Professor David Gutierrez Professor Shelley Streeby Professor Nicole Tonkovich 2012 Copyright Linda Renee Torres, 2012 All Rights Reserved The Dissertation of Linda Renee Torres is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii Dedication: In Loving Memory of My Father Who Taught Me to Hold Fast In the Face of Strife and bother… Hector Torres 3-6-27 to 3-2-12 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ………………………………………………………….… iii Dedication………………………………………………………………… iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………….. v Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………... vi Vita…………………………………………………………………………. vii Abstract…………………………………………………………………….. viii Introduction ………………………………………………………………... 1 Chapter 1: Subjectivity and Assimilation in Ethnic Literature…………….. 20 Chapter 2: Historical and Literary Foundations ……………………………. 80 Chapter 3: The Continuum as Reconfigured Space: One-Eyed Jacks ……… 142 And Lone Star Works Cited ………...……………………………………………………….. 195 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to acknowledge a great example of womanhood, my mother, Lupe Torres. The greatest gift was hers to me: the love of books and learning. Thank you, Mom. Adele, my sister, whose love and warmth sustains me always – thanks for listening for what must seem like eternity sometimes – you are a truly wonderful woman, who inspires me with your courage and strength – and most important, who makes me laugh and believe again. Jake and Jason: You brought me books, and you both know how and when to keep a secret – Homer, thank you for taking care of Princess Cleopatra Kitty and getting her out of Kitty jail. I won‘t soon forget baseball at Petco and Karaoke in Ensenada. Lastly, Rosaura, please forgive my embarrassingly shopworn clichés here…but the simple truth is that without your years…years! Of patience and support I really, truly, would not have finished this process. I only hope that someday I can live up to your incredible example as a teacher and a scholar; a great woman. vi VITA Education University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA. Ph.D. Literature Dissertation: The Unsung Stream: the Ethnic Continuum in U.S. Literature and Film, From John Rollin Ridge to John Sayles Master Degree, Literatures in English, December, 2003. Thesis: ―And...leaving his name impressed upon...this State.”: John Rollin Ridge and The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, the celebrated California bandit California State University, Fresno, Fresno, CA. Bachelor of Arts, English; Second Major, Chicano Studies, May 2000. (President‘s/Dean‘s list 1998-2000) Fresno City College. Fresno, CA. Associate of Science: Associate Degree of Nursing, May 1993. San Joaquin Delta College. Stockton, CA. Associate of Science: Licensed Vocational Nurse/Licensed Psychiatric Technician, May 1981. Teaching Experience. January 2008 – Present University of California, Merced Freshman reading Merritt Writing Program and composition. General Ed January 2008 – Fall 2010 University of California, Merced Lecturer: Literature: full responsibility course construction and teaching. vii January 2009-June 2009 Instructor, Supplemental Reading Workshop UCM Merritt Writing Program: formulating and teaching reading and composition series for at- risk freshman students. June 2008 – August 2008 University of California, San Diego Visiting Lecturer, Literature August 2004- September 2006 Southwestern Community College Composition Instructor September 2002 – May 2006 UC San Diego, Warren College Writing Program, Composition Instructor – full responsibility Teaching Apprentice: course formulation and teaching. Warren Writing Program, Program Tutor 1/2003 to 4/2003 Courses Authored and Taught Literature: American Women Writers: Captivity, Identity, and Representations of Disability American Indian Literature and Culture Shakespeare‘s Plays World Literature and Culture: Oral Traditions British Women Writers World Literature and Culture: Spain to the ―New‖ World: Literature of the Americas British Gothic Literature California Fault Lines: From the Gold Rush to Surf Crime World Literature and Culture: Civilians and Soldiers: War and the Individual. Topics in Composition: Globalization: The U.S., the Border and Tijuana Globalization in the Pacific Rim viii Music and Subculture The Warren Court: Writing Argument Ethnic Stereotypes in Popular Culture (Authored Course) California in the West: History and Cultural Geographies (Authored Course) Composition: CORE: The World at Home: Interdisciplinary general education course. Reading and Composition: Exposition and Argumentation. Academic Writing 1. Computer Laboratory: Writing and Research. Presentations ―Particularities of Space and Identity in Guy Garcia‘s Skin Deep.” Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, U of Chicago, IL, April 2005. ―On John Rollin Ridge and Joaquín Murrieta: The Life and Adventures of the Celebrated California Bandit.‖ American Studies Association, Atlanta, GA. November, 2004. McNair Program Graduate Student Orientation Panel: ―Refining the Personal Essay.‖ California State University, Fresno, Summer, 2002. ―From the Valley‖ Reading from unpublished manuscript, California State University, Fresno; Summer Arts Program Festival 2000. ―For Ye Know the Heart of a Stranger:‖ Consciousness, Moral Integrity and Moses in Joseph Conrad‘s ―The Secret Sharer.‖ Ronald E. McNair Program Research Symposium, California State University, Fresno, September 2000. ―5 Poems‖ Reading: California State University, Fresno; Summer Arts Program Festival 1999. ix Publication ―Chicano Viet Nam Veterans: Missing at Home.‖ Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, Asian Pacific Studies Homepage, online: http:mcel.pacu.edu/papers/scholars/torres.html. 2000. Awards/Support University of California, San Diego Department of Literature; Dissertation Fellowship, 2005 California State University Pre Doctoral Program (competitive loan award) 2002-2004 University of California, San Diego, San Diego Fellowship, 2000-2002 California State University, Fresno, McNair Scholar, 1999-2000 University Service University of California, Merced: Mentor: two senior students in Ronald E. McNair Scholarship program, Spring, 2009. University of California, San Diego: Department of Literature, Graduate Student Council 2001- 2002 Peer Mentor; Incoming Graduate Students Cohort 2002 California State University, Fresno. Peer Tutor, Writing. Reentry Program 1998-2000 Reentry Student Council. Secretary 1999-2000 Professional Membership Modern Language Association American Studies Association Society for the Study of Multi-ethnic Literature of the United States x ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Unsung Stream: the Ethnic Continuum in U.S. Literature and Film, From John Rollin Ridge to John Sayles By Linda Renee Torres Doctor of Philosophy in Literature University of California, San Diego, 2012 Professor Rosaura Sánchez, Chair The Unsung Stream: the Ethnic Continuum in U.S. Literature and Film, From John Rollin Ridge to John Sayles challenges the historical position of ethnic literature as perennially marginal and resistant. It traces a continuum in the historical construction of U.S. crime/western texts and their theoretical connections to specific contemporary aspects of the genre. It finds that critical concepts of identity and cultural adaptation applied to much ethnic cultural production today are not only outdated and static, but lead to the critique of ethnic productions from a disproportionate sociological optic at the expense of its historical-literary value. My argument reexamines the concept of assimilation as well as paradigms that construct pathological identity, namely double consciousness, hybridity xi and mestizaje. I posit an alternative framework of a fluid subjectivity that does not take for granted ethnic subject identities striving toward unification of multiple selves, but sees multiplicity as equilibrious in many U.S. ethnic subject identities. I question long-accepted critical views of Ridge, arguing that he and his work have been consistently misread – Ridge as a bigoted ―assimilationist,‖ his work as conservatively apologist for U.S. imperial practices, and Joaquín Murieta as a work of little literary merit. Some commonly held critical assertions regarding Ridge‘s material striving and his family‘s uncomplicated ―assimilative‖ agenda are questioned. I examine Ridge‘s use of literary conventions and the tropes therein that share continuity