Michael Sedano
Last week, Manuel Ramos posted an encouraging list of books about the Chicano Movement. Most cool seeing all these Chicana Chicano academics getting published. Better still, seeing some of them doing interesting research, professing to successive generations of students. I hope the compilation can be seen as an indicator of an increasing raza presence in the academy.
Back in 2002,Armando Navarro, joined a “writer’s panel” held with the 32nd Observance of the Chicano Moratorium. Here, Navarro holds up his La Raza Unida Party : a Chicano challenge to the U.S. two-party dictatorship.
The moderator, in black t-shirt, is Ralph "Rafas" Urbino-Lopez, editor of the movimiento cultural magazine, Con Safos. Rafas and friends are about to launch a blog version of C/S. The panel included Mario T. Garia, Jesus Treviño, Ernesto Vigil, Armando Morales, Raul Ruiz.
In addition to these journalism, history, political science, publications, the movimiento has had a few moments in Chicana Chicano fiction. Lovers of war literature will enjoy Chicano fiction about the Vietnam war. There is some particularly effective work here. Back in 2002, I wrote up a bibliographic essay of sorts that featured Stella Pope Duarte's Let Their Spirits Dance, the first Chicana novel of Vietnam, and also the first novel about el movimiento. The first Chicana to write about Vietnam, Duarte is also the first novelist to feature movimiento organizing. If you navigate to Read! Raza to read the Duarte review, I hope you'll share your own reactions here. Let Their Spirits Dance evokes some strong opinions from some readers.
Here are titles, with ISBN data so your library can order a copy for you, of movimiento work by Chicana Chicano writers. I list books that have a little, or a lot, or only tangentially to do with the movement or related topics.
What are some other Chicana Chicano novels or stories of el movimiento?
Chicana Chicano Vietnam and movement novels.
Duarte, Stella Pope. Let Their Spirits Dance. NY: Harper Collins, 2002. ISBN 0-06-018637-2.
Santana, Patricia. Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility. Albuquerque, 2002. ISBN0-8263-2435-5.
Corpi, Lucha. Eulogy for a Brown Angel: A Mystery Novel. Arte Publico. 2002. ISBN: 1558853561
Ramos, Manuel. Moony's Road to Hell. University of New Mexico Press. 2002. ISBN: 0826329497.
Ramos, Manuel. Blues for the Buffalo. iUniverse.com. 2001. ISBN: 0595200664
(Ramos' Luis Montez character regularly brings up his movimiento experience; the Moony characters echo the era).
Alfredo Vea. Gods Go Begging. E P Dutton. 1999. ASIN: 052594513X.
Ramirez, Juan A. A Patriot After All: The Story of a Chicano in Vietnam. University of New Mexico Press, 1999.
ISBN: 0826319599. ( You can read this as a free trial subscription at http://www.questia.com/aboutQuestia/eventsg.html)
Rodriguez, Michael W. Humidity Moon. Pecan Grove Press. 1998. ISBN: 1877603546 (Some list this as nonfiction.)
Vazquez, Diego, Jr. Growing Through the Ugly: A Novel. Henry Holt. 1998. (Narrator is voice of dead Chicano soldier. Not a war novel per se.) ISBN: 0805057447
Stavans, Ilan. Ed. Oscar 'Zeta' Acosta: The Uncollected Works. Arte Publico. 1996. ISBN: 1558850996.
Cano, Daniel. Shifting Loyalties. Arte Publico.1995. ISBN: 1558851445.
Trujillo, Charley. Dogs from Illusion. Chusma House. 1994. ISBN: 096245365X.
Trujillo, Charley (ed). Soldados: Chicanos in Viet Nam. Chusma House.1993. ISBN: 0962453609.
Garcia, Guy. Skin Deep. Farrar Straus & Giroux. 1989. ASIN: 0374265739
Acosta, Oscar Zeta. Revolt of the Cockroach People. Vintage Books. 1989 Reprint edition ISBN : 0679722122
Acosta, Oscar Zeta. The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo.Vintage Books. 1989 ISBN: 0679722130
Romano, Octavio and Herminio Rios (Eds). El Espejo: The Mirror, Selected Chicano Literature. Berkeley, Quinto Sol, 1969. The first literature anthology with "Chicano" in the title.
Michael:
ReplyDeleteGood list, thanks for posting it. And thanks for including a few of my books. A couple of points - there is a growing literature on Acosta, maybe one day I will focus here on La Bloga on books by and about the Buffalo. I know of at least two other scholarly treatments of Acosta and his writing. All of Corpi's detective novels are Movement-related and pull in themes connected to past activism. These include Cactus Blood, Crimson Moon and Black Widow's Wardrobe. If you look for my Blues For the Buffalo, you should look for the edition published by Northwestern University Press, not iUniverse. And, if I may, I would put The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz on this list (Northwestern University Press)rather than Moony's Road, at least in terms of Movement stories.
This is such a great list! Thank you for posting it.
ReplyDeleteSince I'm not doing any of this work, take my idea with a couple of grains of sal, backed up with a shot of Agavero. Okay?
ReplyDeleteFor a moment here, I thought Ramos and Sedano would be getting into La Bloga's version of Battle of the Band-itos: "That's not a list; this is a list."
"I can outlist your list."
"No, you can't. Look at mine," etcetera.
However, it just looks like vatos doing two good lists.
Got your sal y Agavero ready? Here's my thought.
Add to each entry on Sedano's list a line or two, or whatever's needed to explain why/how it's a "Movimiento book."
Just seems like might be good info for Chicanos to be able to access. Make it as detailed as you want.
That's all the ideas I have this week. Now I'm going back to my Agavero.
RudyG
i say that's a damn good idea. and the thing about comments, too. go ahead, read the books and add the lines!
ReplyDeletei did change the date to tuesday.
check out the latinos v. the war page lately?
http://www.latinoscontralaguerra.org/
did anyone sign rosalio's antiwar petition at
http://www.0101aztlan.net/latinosforpeace.aspx
Shelly York also has a list out on Amazon. I'm not sure how to get to it, but it was very good. Also, George Mariscal's book "Aztlan and Vietnam" has a good deal of info on the Vietnam War and literature. Also see my article in "Dialogo" at: http://condor.depaul.edu/~dialogo/back_issues/issue_7/issue_7_index.htm
ReplyDelete