INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Com pany 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9325554 Transformations in Rolando Hinojosa’s “Klail City Death Trip Series” Mejia, Jaime Arinin, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1993 Copyright ©1993 by Mejia, Jaime Armin. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. ZeebRd Ann Aibor, MI 48106 TRANSFORMATIONS IN ROLANDO HINOJOSA'S KLAIL CITY DEATH TRIP SERIES DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jaime Armin Mejia, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1993 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Andrea Lunsford Barbara Hill Rigney Adviser Daniel R. Bam es Department of English Copyright 1993 This work is dedicated to three women, dear to my heart, who have had and continue having an uncommonly large influence on my life: Guadalupe Cortez Mejfa Leonor Mejfa Perez Carmen Mejfa Gorena The latter two senoras, mis tias, son verdaderas y poderosas mujeres del Valle y la primera, del principio and always, una m exicana: mi Madre Que Dios las cuide y las bendiga para siempre ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have supported my efforts to complete my education and this project. First of all, I wish to acknowledge my parents and brothers: Jose Armin Mejia and Guadalupe Cortez Mejfa, and Isaac Mateo and David Gerardo Mejfa. Also, I have to thank my primo hermano, Rudy Gorena, whose support in Texas was above and beyond the call of a brother’s duty. Without their support, this work could not have been possible. All along my college education, I have had support from mentors who guided me when my path seemed obscure: Jerry Polinard (PAU), L. Robert Stevens (NTSU), Juan Rodriguez (TLC), and especially Josue Cruz and Andrea Lunsford (Ohio State). I also wish to acknowledge Dan Barnes and Barbara Hill Rigney who, initially, agreed to support this dissertation when no one else was willing. At Southwest Texas State University, Jaime Chahfn and Nancy Grayson supported me when support was sorely needed. I also wish to acknowledge my “partners in crime and brothers in arms"—Home-boys: Alfredo (Freddie) Cruz, Ponciano (Chano) Martinez, and Arturo (Art) Martinez. Finally, I wish to acknowledge two friends who’ve been with me in mind and spirit, through hard times and good times, and who’ve taught me much in the way of what being a compassionate human being is all about. Words can not begin describing what I've learned from you. These men are no other than my Londoners-an East-ender and a griego, more Chicano than most: Vangelis Calotychos and Andy spencer VITA February 14,1955 ....................................... Born -- Edinburg, Texas 1978 .............................................................. B. A., North Texas State University, Denton, Texas 1985 ............................................................ M. A., Pan American University, Edinburg, Texas 1986-1990..................................................... Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University 1990-1993..................................................... Lecturer, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas PUBLICATIONS —. Rev. of Alburaueraue by Rudolfo Anaya. Southwestern American Literature. 18.1 (Spring 1993): 108-109. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION......................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................ iii VITA..................................................................................................................... iv PREFACE........................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. THE ENGAGEMENT OF CANONS 3 II. HINOJOSA’S CULTURAL CODES: THE LAND, LANGUAGE, AND THE FAMILY 37 Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in Hinojosa’s Series 37 The Early Criticism 47 Serial Readings from The Rolando Hinojosa Reader 62 Other Recent Readings of the Series 91 III. THE “SERIES” 112 IV. LITERARY RESPONSES TO VALLEY HISTORY 141 V. COMPOSITION PEDAGOGY AND CHICANO ACADEMIC DISCOURSE 188 WORKS CITED................................................................................................. 213 v PREFACE This dissertation examines Rolando Hinojosa’s Klail City Death Trip Series and the transformations it has undergone as well as caused in various literary and academic domains. Chapter One begins by introducing Chicano texts like Hinojosa’s into the North American literary landscape and showing how this inclusion transforms this established literature by breaking up linguistic and historical aesthetic criteria previously used for establishing poetic value, thereby broadening the national literary canon. Chapter Two continues by examining several Chicano critical texts treating the Series as it unfolds (with the addition of new texts and different language renditions). These critical texts change to accommodate additional post­ structuralist issues necessary for a comprehensive analysis of Chicano texts like Hinojosa’s. This criticism, however, consistently fails to incorporate Hinojosa’s renditions, which add narrative information not found in the “original” texts. A reading of the Series is therefore offered that incorporates the “renditions,” renditions which account for the most significant transformations of the Series. Chapter Three presents the Series’ publication history, showing how it has been transformed as Hinojosa expanded on his serial project. Because the Series has been published in a non-sequential order by minority presses and because it offers different language renditions for “original” serial texts, an explanation is given to guide readers along the extended serial narrative. Chapter Four of this study then situates Texas Mexican texts like Americo Paredes and Hinojosa’s next to the works of Larry McMurtry and the “Big Texas Three” (Oobie, Bedichek, and Webb) and further shows how the Series transforms the Southwestern literary landscape by responding to early Valley narratives by Cleo Dawson and Paredes. As responses to early Valley historical narratives, the Series expands and brings Valley narratives up to more contemporary settings. When set alongside Southwestern literature, this genealogy of Texas Mexican texts further reveals how minority Southwestern texts have been excluded from this body of regional literature. In the last chapter, the Series is placed in a college composition setting. Because English language pedagogies have historically worked to assimilate Texas Mexicans through English-only lessons that fail to take students’ bicultural and bilingual backgrounds into consideration, this study proposes applying a post-structuralist composition pedagogy and using Hinojosa’s serial texts as subjects for extra-textual analysis. Teachers and students of composition can then use the Series to begin developing literacy skills in more than one language (biliteracy), thus transforming the English-teaching profession in ways that require considering non-English backgrounds. Chapter I The Engagement of Canons The European university must yield to the American university. The history of America, from the Incas to the present, must be taught letter perfect, even if that of the Argonauts of Greece is not taught. Our own Greece is preferable to that Greece that is not ours. We have greater need of it. National politicians must replace foreign and exotic politicians. Graft the world onto our republics, but the trunk must be that of our republics. And let the conquered pedant be silent: there is no homeland of which the individual can be more proud than our unhappy American republics. ~Jos§ Marti. The study of [North]1 American literature is problematized today by diverging views about which literary texts should be considered part of the North American literatary canon. The inscription of value occurring when literary texts become canonized, however, continues to seem almost inevitable, even though the inscription occurs among especially