Mexican American & Chicano
Literature
A Short Story Unit to Accompany Mexico & The Poetry
Why-you-should-still-care
about the Mexico unit…

University of Washington (2009) 2,155 (5.1% of the
students)

USC (2010) 13% of student population

Santa Clara University (2010) 13% of the students

Brown & Westpoint ~ 8%

Mercer Island High School~ 2 %
Defining “Chicano
Literature”

“Chicano” itself transformed as a term.

Chicano Literature can refer to people of Mexican
ancestry who have resided permanently in the U.S. for
an extended period.

~this makes it synonymous with Mexican American
Literature, and some make the distinction that
“Chicano” connotes a degree of cultural awareness and
political activist.
(Neither Chicano nor Mexican American literature
needs a crystallized definition as a by-product of
Chicano identity & social protest.)
Chicano Literature

The Hispanic Period (up to 1821) marked by
descriptions of explorers (conquistadores were avid
story tellers)

The Mexican Period (1821 – 1848) marked by
unique spiritual struggle between Hispanic Mexicans
remaining loyal to Mexico or fighting for their own
independence

Transition Period ( +/- 1848) after the Mexican
American War

Interaction Period (1910 – 1942) marked by the
large influx of immigrants crossing the border &
birthing American citizens

Chicano Period (1943 – now) ~ a new type of
literature animated with rebellious spirit, Chicano
search for identity (exploring roots and barrio
influence)
Characteristics/Descriptions ~
NOT to be confused with definitions

“possible adventures, thoughts, dream, sensuality are exhibited on
the same plane and analyzed with the same good will.”

“…it’s roots are to be found in the long literary tradition of
Mexico, while its flowers grow for the English or bilingual reader.”
(Leal)

“contain much of that mystic absorption in sensibility as the
ultimate creative force of intelligence…”

“oriented in the struggle toward free thought away from
traditional conclusions”

“visions of more lasting truths – truths, that while being lucid,
wise universal truths, have yet known how to be in their hands so
peculiarly Mexican truths”

“…form of cultural expression by a people who have survived and
grown through responding to conditions of domination.”
(Sommers, Ybarra-Frausto)
Excerpt from Interview of Short
Story Writer & Critic Stuart Evers

“So, the ability to do absolutely anything with a short story is
what appeals to me. It’s also the ability to glimpse small parts
of people’s lives, ordinary people’s lives. Novels tend to centre
on the bigger characters, characters can take you through 300
pages. Short stories can contain a character and a situation
that is appealing and can reveal something. My favourite short
story writers, Raymond Carver, Richard Yates, Grace Paley –
do this magnificently. They tell stories in a way you wouldn’t
think about. One of my favourite stories, ‘Fat’ by Raymond
Carver, starts with a woman describing to another woman a
fat man who came into her restaurant. By the end, though, it’s
not about any of those things. The more I read that story I
think Carver’s doing incredible things under the surface. That’s
an amazing talent to have and it’s only applicable in a short
story context. Then you have Lydia Davis, who can have a
three line short story and it has all the resonance of a 400 page
novel. It’s that freedom of form and knowing you can stop
whenever you like.”
Poetry of Octavio Paz

Use of nature, human relationship with nature

Heavy contrast ~ sky-to-sea, living-dying, fantasyreality, abyss-clarities, etc.

Contrast and paradox

Inclusion of fantastical elements

Cryptic/indirect story telling

Historical acknowledgment

Repetition of words or “anaphora”

Stars, celestial reference

Physical action described through
Poetry of Pablo Neruda

Lack of sequence

Heavy use of metaphors

Bringing things close together and far apart (night
and shadows, stars and feet)

Love described through animals, nature

Gender representations, perhaps sexist or suggestive
of complicated male-female relationships

Weird/disorienting passage of time
Poetry of Gabriela Mistral

Recognition of suffering

Part representing the whole (synecdoche)

Religious interpretations (The Trinity, Genesis)

Relationship with death

Metaphor

Contrast and paradox (sunny poor earth, lovely
revenge)
Daniel Chacon
“Day of the Dead”

Time alteration (opens with the introduction of dead
mother)

History learned later

Courage inspired by history

Sudden, omniscient narration

Rawness, adolescence

Oedipal reference to fate, stalled awareness of
history, bravery
Augusto Monterroso
“The Eclipse”

Don’t mess with culture or ancestry, it=death

Acceptance of Death

Understated reactions, passive ambivalence

Loses control/steps out of his domain

Elitism

Orientalism/underestimates the “old world”

Isolated from others/hero’s path

Indigenous reign triumphant

Humor ~ a twist

Stars, etc.
Luis Alberto Urrea
“The White Girl”

Incorporates a sense of culture into the tone of the passage

Abandons part of himself and discovers a new identity

Values “The White Girl”/allows her to embody his
work/immortalizes her

By spreading “The White Girl’s” image, he releases her from
captivity in the junkyard

Starts in one place, goes to a complete other one

Odd, effective writing

Creepy

Represents inside and outside of it

Light and dark

Transcendence
Alma Luz Villanueva
“People of the Dog”

Reincarnation/dead boys spirit/baby spirit

Paradox of dog

Forgetting-what they thought of

More life prospects that perhaps evident

River as symbolic – Jungian water as life motif

Poetic

Transition between old/new/Mexico city ~ unborn
fetus,

Subordinate/going along with everything
Female, gender, young boy all as dog

Narration Going backwards?

Likened to animals, inference of indigenous

Pre-death vision? Divine

Magical inclusions

Life versus death/circle of life

Eagle, cactus, , snake

Spirit speaking, going to afterlife

Imperfection

Heaven as represented by familiar city

Kid going through passage of life & death

“remembering Will’s birth”

The Short Story Assignment
(Flash Fiction, Latino Literature)

You will write your own short story inspired by one or more
of the short stories and poems we have read (Mistral, Neruda,
Paz, Villanueva, Venegas, Urrea, Monterroso, Chacon).

You can refer to your journal entries, the Powerpoint, or the
texts themselves for characteristics that will inspire your
writing.

“Inspiration” could be the use of a literary or narrative
technique, using nature as a metaphor, feeling of timelessness,
star motif, paradox, etc.

You will write a brief explanation of your inspiration (a
paragraph at most).

Length: +/- one to four pages.

Feel free to draw from your studies of Mexico (lecture, movies,
text).

Due Tuesday the 17th. Typed. Double Spaced. 35 points.