U.S. Latino Literature

A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers

Margarite Fernandez Olmos, Margarite Fernández Olmos, Harold Augenbraum

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780313311376
• eBook ISBN: 9780313088629
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

In the past ten years, literature by U.S. Latinos has gained an extraordinary public currency and has engendered a great deal of interest among educators. Because of the increase in numbers of Latinos in their classrooms, teachers have recognized the benefits of including works by such important writers as Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, and Rudolfo Anaya in the curriculum. Without a guide, introducing courses on U.S. Latino literature or integrating individual works into the general courses on American Literature can be difficult for the uninitiated. While some critical sources for students and teachers are available, none are dedicated exclusively to this important body of writing. To fill the gap, the editors of this volume commissioned prominent scholars in the field to write 18 essays that focus on using U.S. Latino literature in the classroom. The selection of the subject texts was developed in conjunction with secondary school teachers who took part in the editors' course. This resultant volume focuses on major works that are appropriate for high school and undergraduate study including Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Latin Deli, Piri Thomas' Down These Mean Streets, and Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. Each chapter in this Critical Guide provides pertinent biographical background on the author as well as contextual information that aids in understanding the literary and cultural significance of the work. The most valuable component of the critical essays, the Analysis of Themes and Forms, helps the reader understand the thematic concerns raised by the work, particularly the recurring issues of language expression and cultural identity, assimilation, and intergenerational conflicts. Each essay is followed by specific suggestions for teaching the work with topics for classroom discussion. Further enhancing the value of this work as a teaching tool are the selected bibliographies of criticism, further reading, and other related sources that complete each chapter. Teachers will also find a Sample Course Outline of U.S. Latino Literature which serves as guide for developing a course on this important subject.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Literary Strategies in Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s: The Account
• 2 Trials and Tribulations: The Life and Works of María Amparo Ruiz de Burton
• 3 Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets: Writing as a Nuyorican/Puerto Rican Strategy for Survival
• 4 Un Mundo Entero: Tomás Rivera and His World
• 5 Historical and Magical, Ancient and Contemporary: The World of Rudolfo A. Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima
• 6 The Self as Cultural Metaphor: Oscar “Zeta” Acosta’s: The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo
• 7 Adapting, Not Assimilating: Edward Rivera’s Family Installments
• 8 Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory and the Rejection of the Private Self
• 9 Teaching Oscar Hijuelos’ Our House in the Last World
• 10 Female Voices in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street
• 11 The Dominican-American Bildungsroman: Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
• 12 In Context: Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
• 13 Writing a Life: When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
• 14 Judith Ortiz Cofer’s: The Latin Deli
• 15 Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban: The Contested Domains of Politics, Family, and History
• 16 Junot Díaz’s Drown: Revisiting “Those Mean Streets”
• 17 Using Latina Poetry in the Classroom
• 18 Borders and Birthrights: Watching Cheech Marin’s Born in East L.A.
• Appendices: Other Areas of Study for U.S. Latino Authors
• Index
• About the Editors and Contributors