I was in what must have been one of the first Chicano literature classes ever. You get the idea.) But back to Chicano literature. In an Urban History class, I wrote term papers about “Chicanos in the City,” in sociology classes I wrote papers about “The Sociology of the Chicano Gang Life” and on and on. (In undergraduate school I actually tried to turn all of my regular courses into Chicano studies courses. There were very few courses on Chicano literature. In the early seventies we were in on the ground floor of the development of something called “Chicano studies.” A few classes were beginning to be offered, mostly in politics, sociology and history. For those born after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we have to go into the Way Back Machine for some exposition. I first read Rivera’s quixotic little novel soon after it was published, in 1971. Its actual title is – and it is written in lower case – “…y no se lo tragó la tierra.” The title of the book has been variously translated as “And the Earth Did Not Part” or “…And the Earth Did Not Devour him.” This time around we’re taking a second look at a little jolla of a book that was among the very first books we could actually classify as “Chicano literature.” It’s the legendary gem by Tómas Rivera. In giving a second look at books such as Ernesto Galarza’s “Barrio Boy,” José Antonio Villareal’s “Pocho,” and Rudolfo Anaya’s venerable “Bless Me, Ultima” I was generally delighted to discover that the stories that were told and the textures revealed in the storytelling not only held up but seemed to have ripened with age. ![]() And so when we sit down to read something that we read many years before, we are inevitably reading it through a different prism today. It’s hoped that we’ve learned a bit more about the world – and ourselves – every day we live. We are not the same person today that we were some years before. ![]() Personally, it’s been a worthwhile experience re-reading books that I first read thirty or even forty years ago. Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chroniclesĭuring the last few months we’ve been taking second looks at some of the books that – for one reason or another – are considered classics of Chicano literature.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |