THE DIVERSITY OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN LATINX LITERATURE by Edgard Alexis Amaro Martínez APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: __________________________________________ Charles Hatfield, Co-Chair __________________________________________ Manuel Martínez, Co-Chair __________________________________________ Shilyh Warren __________________________________________ René Prieto Copyright 2020 Edgard Alexis Amaro Martínez All Rights Reserved To María, Esteban, Glenn, and Anna THE DIVERSITY OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN LATINX LITERATURE by EDGARD ALEXIS AMARO MARTINEZ, BA, MA DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HUMANITIES THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS December 2020 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to begin by expressing my deepest gratitude to Dr. Charles Hatfield. Thank you for making this process seem easier than it was, as well as for your patience and not giving up on me. To Dr. Manuel Martínez, thank you for creating a space ideal for artistic creation. Dr. Stephen Rabe, it has been an honor to be in your presence. Dr. René Prieto and Dr. Shilyh Warren, thank you for the valuable feedback. Moises Matos, thank you for reminding me that anything is possible. Finally, to Christopher Neary, I am eternally grateful for your support and your sharp eye for details. November 2020 v THE DIVERSITY OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN LATINX LITERATURE Edgard Alexis Amaro Martínez, PhD The University of Texas at Dallas, 2020 Supervising Professors: Charles Hatfield, Co-Chair Manuel Martínez, Co-Chair There are two major components in this dissertation. First, you will find an analysis of specific texts written by authors I consider having the most significant influence on my writing. In addition, you will find a collection of short stories that have been inspired by my life as a child growing in a Hispanic working-class family in Newark, New Jersey in the late 1970s. The academic or scholarly portion of this dissertation, as I have stated, focuses on authors and the texts that for some reason—whether it be their style, themes, as well as their personal views and positions on social structures, race, gender, and politics—have in some way molded my own interests and positions. Among these authors are Junot Díaz, Ana Lydia Vega, Piri Thomas, and Thomás Rivera. I try to assess the significance and importance of these authors and their texts in Latinx literature tradition. More importantly, I try to establish parallels between my work and their works. By examining these works that capture the realities of Latinx experiences, I discovered how my work, regardless of how I want to frame or portray it, is inevitably Latinx. As hard as I tried to categorize my work as “universal” and intended to appeal to a broader readership, a reflection on the works of these authors, with whom I share similar lived experiences and seemingly the same purpose for writing, has influenced my views on my own vi work. The second portion of the dissertation is a collection of short stories. These stories are inspired by childhood experiences in the context of a racially and socially heterogeneous environment. They reflect the impact distorted notions of gender and masculinity have on young minds. I think the value of these stories resides in the way they portray how the adults in the lives of these children embody these notions of gender and masculinity and how the children manage the potential psychological and emotional trauma of these distorted notions. Not all stories can be or should be viewed through this lens, however. There are also stories about the realities of urban life in the United States in the late seventies and early eighties in underserved communities. Among these social challenges are the AIDS epidemic, drug addiction, crime, and prostitution. As an individual who as a child lived and experienced firsthand these realities, I have always felt the need to document these stories and make their protagonists visible. I have especially felt the need to make the women—mothers, grandmothers, sisters, teachers—of these communities visible. As the pillars of these communities, I feel they have remained invisible and underrepresented for far too long. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING LATINX LITERATURE........................................................9 CHAPTER 2 INSPIRATION ........................................................................................................19 CHAPTER 3 BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE EVOLUTION OF LATINX LITERATURE ...........64 CHAPTER 4 A PLACE IN LATINX LITERATURE ..................................................................83 CHAPTER 5 DANIEL’S WOMEN ....................................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 6 SUNDAYS WITH ABUELO ....................................................................................... 132 CHAPTER 7 PROMISE ME ................................................................................................................ 149 CHAPTER 8 CHAVELA ...................................................................................................................... 162 CHAPTER 9 ANNA .............................................................................................................................. 178 CHAPTER 10 CLAUDIA ..................................................................................................................... 189 CHAPTER 11 CARLITO’S WAVE .................................................................................................... 200 CHAPTER 12 ELMI .............................................................................................................................. 214 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................................................... 224 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH................................................................................................................. 230 CURRICULUM VITAE viii INTRODUCTION Writing about personal experiences is seemingly easy. In essence, it is couching a detailed personal account about life. It could end there. On the other hand, it could be the first step in the process of creating an inspirational and contemplative tale about the most memorable and significant of life experiences. Which part represents the greatest challenge? Scavenging through the trove of memories one has buried to the depths of one’s consciousness and choosing the ones that best suits one goal? Or choosing how one intends to use the chosen memory to elaborate the inspirational and contemplative account itself? I would say they both offer distinct challenges. I decided to write a collection of short stories inspired by my dearest and most treasured memories. Choosing the memories that inspired these stories was indeed a challenge. It entailed a balancing act between the best (or the most poignant) and what I would prefer to share with my readers. The result should be a cross between these two notions. By worth telling, I am referring to an experience that is moldable and adaptable and offers the opportunity to take creative liberties while at its heart it remains factual. By creative liberties I mean I can play with the intensity of the conflict, hoping that readers feel vested enough to crave a resolution. When I speak of memories that I feel I want to share I am talking about memories that are the most meaningful to me. However, the memories that I at times want to share are not necessarily the memories that are worthy of sharing or telling. Here is when the balancing aspect comes into play. The memories that I feel I want to share must have the intensity needed to create a memorable literary experience. 1 The stories that follow are inspired by childhood memories I have deemed worthy of telling and sharing. They are not exclusively autobiographical but inspired by deeply cherished personal experiences. My goal initially was to write a series of texts inspired by a community whose members had a meaningful impact on the way I viewed the world for a long time. I say viewed, in the past, because I have come to the realization that not everything I learned as a young member of said community was beneficial or correct. Nonetheless, it is precisely due to the apparent flaws of this community, which I discovered later in life as I occasionally looked back to reminisce about what I believed to be happier times, that I consider these stories worthy of telling (worthwhile and important) and I feel the responsibility to tell them. I feel the responsibility to tell them because they capture an important moment in time of a community that is so often overlooked or erased from the national narrative. I consider these stories worthy of telling and I feel the responsibility to tell them. I feel the responsibility to tell them because they capture an important moment in time of a community that is so often overlooked or simply erased from the national narrative. This is where my initial