Spanish Perspectives on Chicano Literature

“This is an important and unique contribution to the fields of Chicano and Latino literature. It allows for both Spanish and American criticism to exist in the same book, and it includes the voices of people that have been left out of the narrative of influence of theorists like Anzaldúa. This transnational book enriches the field of Chicano literature and criticism tremendously.” —Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, author of Communal Feminisms: Chicanas, Chilenas, and Cultural Exile

“The contributors navigate successfully through different historical moments to illustrate the persistent yet flexible maneuverings of Chicana/o literature.” —Ellie Hernández, author of Postnationalism in Chicana/o Literature and Culture

In their comprehensive study Spanish Perspectives on Chicano Literature: Literary and Cultural Essays, editors Jesús Rosales and Vanessa Fonseca provide a fresh set of perspectives on the field of Chicano literary and cultural studies. Composed of essays by scholars who live and work in the United States in addition to those who work primarily in Spain, the book examines how Spanish literary critics view and study Chicano literature. In general, these critics demonstrate a deep interest in Chicano culture in relation to its American, Mexican, and Spanish identities, or multiple cultural mestizajes.

For Chicanos this interest is intriguing, for they see Spain’s vision of the Chicano both with inviting enthusiasm and justifiable reservation—enthusiasm because this interest shows a humanistic concern in understanding their social issues (national identity, bilingualism, immigration, feminism, and so on) in relation to Spain’s own, and reservation because there still prevails an “open wound” from their historical connection with that country. In other words, a lingering Spanish colonial presence still exists in the Chicano psyche. These Spanish perspectives are important to consider as Chicano literature reflects on its place in twenty-first-century America and its transnational and global aspirations.

Jesús Rosales is Associate Professor of Chicano literature at Arizona State University. He is the author of Thinking en español: Interviews with Critics of Chicana/o Literature. Vanessa Fonseca is Assistant Professor of English at Arizona State University. Her articles have appeared in journals such as Puentes, Chicana/Latina Studies, and Chiricú, among others.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD - From La Mancha to Aztlán: Spanish Approaches in Chicano Literature
FRANCISO A. LOMELÍ

INTRODUCTION
JESÚS ROSALES AND VANESSA FONSECA

PART I - SPANISH PERSPECTIVES DE ACÁ

CHAPTER 1 - Reading, from Don Quijote de La Mancha to The House on Mango Street: Chicano/a Literature, Mimesis, and the Reader
MANUEL M. MARTÍN-RODRIGUEZ

CHAPTER 2 - Mestizaje in Afro-Iberian Writers Najat El Hachmi and Saïd El Kadaoui Moussaoui through the Borderland Theories of U.S. Third World Feminisms
CARMEN SANJUÁN-PASTOR

CHAPTER 3 - Toward a Transnational Nos/otr@s Scholarship in Chican@ and Latin@ Studies
RICARDO F. VIVANCOS-PÉREZ

CHAPTER 4 - Tempted by the Words of Another: Linguistic Choices of Chicanas/os and Other Latinas/os in Los Angeles
ANA SÁNCHEZ-MUÑOZ

CHAPTER 5 - The Cultural Border, Magic, and Oblivion in Bless Me, Ultima (2013), Obaba (2005), and Un embrujo (1998)
JUAN PABLO GIL-OSLE

CHAPTER 6 - El Malcriado (1964-1975): La voz impresa del campesino y su impronta
VÍCTOR FUENTES

PART II - SPANISH PERSPECTIVES DE ALLÁ

CHAPTER 7 - Tendiendo puentes, compartiendo conocimientos: The International Conference on Chicano Literature in Spain (1998–2016)
JULIO CAÑERO

CHAPTER 8 - Women’s Literary Gardens as Eco-Spaces: Word Gathering with Anzaldúa and Hurston
CAROLINA NÚÑEZ-PUENTE

CHAPTER 9 - La Tierra: Sense of Place in Contemporary Chicano Literature
CARMEN LYDIA FLYS JUNQUERA

CHAPTER 10 - La Narraciõn de los linchamientos de los méxicoamericanos en el suroeste de los EEUU en el siglo XIX y principios del XX
ARMANDO MIGUÉLEZ

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX