Now available for the first time in paperback, The Memories of Ana Calderón is the fictional memoir of a talented woman, born in tradition-bound rural Mexico, who comes to the United States and greater opportunity only to find that here, too, society, family, and religion seem to conspire to hold her back. In order to succeed Ana must give up all that she holds dear. She must remake herself into a rootless and obsessed individual. But even after accomplishing this, fate still conspires to wound her. Ana Calderón has will, guts, and intelligence, but her battle against family, church, and the justice system shakes our belief in the ability to forge our own destinies. The Memories of Ana Calderón is a second novel by the writer who The New York Times Book Review hailed as one who "leaves the reader with that special hunger that can be created only by a newly discovered writer. Ms. Limón's prose is self-assured and engrossing."
An Aztec princess describes the Spanish conquest of Mexico. She is Huitzitzlin, 82, of the court of Montezuma and she tells her tale to a priest so history will know who the Aztecs really were. By the author of The Memories of Ana Calderon.
There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of narrative work published by Chicana and Latina authors in the past 5 to 10 years. Nonetheless, there has been little attempt to catalog this material. This reference provides convenient access to all forms of narrative written by Chicana and Latina authors from the early 1940s through 2002. In doing so, it helps users locate these works and surveys the growth of this vast body of literature. The volume cites more than 2,750 short stories, novels, novel excerpts, and autobiographies written by some 600 Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, Dominican American, and Nuyorican women authors. These citations are grouped in five indexes: an author/title index, title/author index, anthology index, novel index, and autobiography index. Short annotations are provided for the anthologies, novels, and autobiographies. Thus the user who knows the title of a work can discover the author, the other works the author has written, and the anthologies in which the author's shorter pieces have been reprinted, along with information about particular works.
This collection attends to western women's struggles within Roman Catholicism by examining how women throughout the centuries have attempted to reconcile their unruliness with their Catholic backgrounds or conversions.
Adriana Mora, a Latina photojournalist haunted by childhood memories of her parents' death, abuse and displacement, journeys south to Chiapas, Mexico, in search of images to record on film. Mora's path crosses that of Chan K'in, the aged Lacandon shaman and interpreter of his people's mysticism. In this village, Adriana meets Juana Galvan, a woman whose own heroism mirrors that of the women that Chan K'in describes. Adriana follows Juana into the mountains where she is drawn into the tumultuous events of 1994 and the stories of the insurgents who fight for freedom. This compelling novel portrays forbidden love set against the backdrop of a complicated war.
It's 1852 in Cholula, Mexico, and three sisters, indigenous girls of the Chontal people, seek work at the Hacienda La Perla. They rapidly make their way from dish washers to the cook's assistants before entering the house as servants to the wealthy Acuña family. But when the youngest sister is viciously raped by a family member, they flee the estate, after taking their revenge, only to be caught up in the historic Battle of Puebla, where native Mexicans defeat invading French troops. Fearful that the Acuña family will not rest until the sisters are found and punished, they keep moving, ultimately finding work as servants at the National Palace in Mexico City, where the French have recently taken control. There, the sisters' fortunes become intertwined with that of the Empress Carlota. Both beautiful and extremely intelligent, she dedicates herself to the empire, chastising Napoleon when he reneges on his promise to send troops and antagonizing the Church by proposing that the empire secularize at least part of its holdings. But her love for Mexico's people is not reciprocated, and soon the sisters have to decide whether to stay behind without the empress' protection or to accompany her to Europe. Weaving the story of Mexico's indigenous peoples with that of the tragic Belgian princess who became the wife of the Austrian Archduke Maximillian von Hapsburg, acclaimed author Graciela Limón once again explores issues of race, class and women's rights. She skillfully crafts a gripping novel about a smart, wealthy woman who is not afraid to challenge powerful men, and re-imagines the story behind Empress Carlota's descent into madness and eventual imprisonment in a remote European castle.
During the last two decades of the twentieth century, U.S. Latina writers have made a profound impact on American letters with fiction in both mainstream and regional venues. Following on the heels of this vibrant and growing body of work, New Latina Narrative offers the first in-depth synthesis and literary analysis of this transethnic genre. Focusing on the dynamic writing published in the 1980s and 1990s by Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and Domincan American women, New Latina Narrative illustrates how these writers have redefined the concepts of multiculturalism and diversity in American society. As participants in both mainstream and grassroots forms of multiculturalism, these new Latina narrativists have created a feminine space within postmodern ethnicity, disrupting the idealistic veneer of diversity with which publishers often market this fiction. In this groundbreaking study, author Ellen McCracken opens the conventional boundaries of Latino/a literary criticism, incorporating elements of cultural studies theory and contemporary feminism. Emphasizing the diversity within new Latina narrative, McCracken discusses the works of more than two dozen writers, including Julia Alvarez, Denise Ch‡vez, Sandra Cisneros, Cristina Garcia, Graciela Lim—n, Demetria Mart’nez, Pat Mora, Cherr’e Moraga, Mary Helen Ponce, and Helena Mar’a Viramontes. She stresses such themes as the resignification of master narrative, the autobiographical self and collective identity, popular religiosity, subculture and transgression, and narrative harmony and dissonance. New Latina Narrative provides readers an enriched basis for reconceiving the overall Latino/a literary field and its relation to other contemporary literary and cultural trends. McCracken's original approach extends the Latina literary canonÑboth the works to be studied and the issues to be examinedÑresulting in a valuable work for all readers of women's studies, contemporary American literature, ethnic studies, communications, and sociology.
From East L.A. to the barrios of New York City and the Cuban neighborhoods of Miami, Latino literature, or literature written by Hispanic peoples of the United States, is the written word of North America's vibrant Latino communities. Emerging from the fusion of Spanish, North American, and African cultures, it has always been part of the American mosaic. Written for students and general readers, this encyclopedia surveys the vast landscape of Latino literature from the colonial era to the present. Aiming to be as broad and inclusive as possible, the encyclopedia covers all of native North American Latino literature as well as that created by authors originating in virtually every country of Spanish America and Spain. Included are more than 700 alphabetically arranged entries written by roughly 60 expert contributors. While most of the entries are on writers, such as Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Oscar Hijuelos, and Piri Thomas, others cover genres, ethnic and national literatures, movements, historical topics and events, themes, concepts, associations and organizations, and publishers and magazines. Special attention is given to the cultural, political, social, and historical contexts in which Latino literature has developed. Entries cite works for further reading, and the encyclopedia closes with a selected, general bibliography. Entries cite works for further reading, and the encyclopedia closes with a selected, general bibliography. The encyclopedia gives special attention to the social, cultural, historical, and political contexts of Latino literature, thus making it an ideal tool to help students use literature to learn about history and cultural diversity.
Creative Watercolor offers beginners a fun, modern, and practical approach to a timeless medium with instructions on how to paint simple motifs and lettering and embellish projects beautifully. In Creative Watercolor, popular watercolor artist and workshop instructor Ana Victoria Calderon shares her step-by-step techniques for painting modern motifs in this classic medium. Through a series of easy tutorials and projects, you will: Get an overview of basic materials and tools, plus options for embellishing your paintings Master essential techniques, starting with easy warm-up activities, learning to layer, and getting into the flow with watercolor, plus an introduction to scanning and digital editing for making multiples Learn to paint a variety of simple, beautiful motifs: flowers and leaves, butterflies and critters, fruits and vegetables, and delightful lettering Use what you've learned to create unique, stylish stationery, including beautiful invitations, place cards, menus, monograms, recipe gift cards, thank you notes—any project you can imagine, for any kind of event you can think of! There's never been a better time to dive into the world of watercolor, so why wait? Grab a brush and get painting! Perfect for creative beginners, the books in the Art for Modern Makers series take a fun, practical approach to learning about and working with paints and other art mediums to create beautiful DIY projects and crafts.
Although the social reality is stark for progressive scholars who engage in scholarly activities or are committed to guiding their students to develop a social-just praxis in the circles of higher education, some scholars have found fissures amid the alienating, often hostile academic world to learn, grow, and create transformative communities. Up to this date, however, their stories have not been captured. Therefore, the purpose of this volume is to highlight alternative narratives generated by transformative scholars who have maintained their oppositional identity to the structures that oppress the vast majority of citizens. By bringing together these narratives, we focus on those who have joined with likeminded colleagues to teach, engage in activism, and conduct emancipatory forms of research, learning to negotiate and survive academic and corporate realities in spite of restrictive climates. Not only are these stories vital for helping students, academics, and the wider community understand how commercialized forces are impacting the professional lives of critical scholars in the academy, they have the power to help current and future critical pedagogues define (and redefine) themselves in a social world which is continually “promoting a narrow and intellectually stifling agenda for the role of education and turning the public against the very idea of a critical education” (McLaren, 2006). As stated by Bruner (1986) stories give “a map of possible roles and possible worlds in which action, thought, and self-definition are possible (or desirable)” (p. 2, cited in Collins & Cooper, 2005). These possibilities for definition and redefinition are what we seek to present, explore and understand.
