Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems combines literary theory with the personal engagement of a prominent Chicano scholar. Recalling his experiences as a student in Texas, José Limón examines the politically motivated Chicano poetry of the 60s and 70s. He bases his analyses on Harold Bloom's theories of literary influence but takes Bloom into the socio-political realm. Limón shows how Chicano poetry is nourished by the oral tradition of the Mexican corrido, or master ballad, which was a vital part of artistic and political life along the Mexican-U.S. border from 1890 to 1930.
Limón's use of Bloom, as well as of Marxist critics Raymond Williams and Fredric Jameson, brings Chicano literature into the arena of contemporary literary theory. By focusing on an important but little-studied poetic tradition, his book challenges our ideas of the American canon and extends the reach of Hispanists and folklorists as well.
Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems History and Influence in Mexican-American Social Poetry
About the Book
Reviews
"José Limón is one of our most interesting and important commentators on Chicano culture. . . . [This book] will help strengthen an important style of historically and politically accountable cultural analysis."—Michael M. J. Fischer, co-author of Debating Muslims: Cultural Dialogues in Postmodernity and TraditionTable of Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE POLITICS, POETICS, AND THE RESIDUAL PRECURSORS, 1848-1958
1. Borders, Bullets, and Ballads: The Social Making of a Master Poem
2. Americo Paredes, Tradition, and the First Ephebe: A Poetic Meditation on
the Epic Corrido
3. With His Pistol in His Hand: The Essay as Strong Sociological Poem
PART TWO SOCIAL CONFLICT, EMERGENT POETRY, AND THE NEW EPHEBES
4. Chicano Poetry and Politics: The Later Recognition of the Precursor
5. My Old Man's Ballad: Jose Montoya and the Power Beyond
6. The Daemonizing Epic: Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales and the Poetics of Chicano Rebellion
7. Juan Gomez-Quinones: The Historian in the Poet and the Poetic Form of Androgyny
Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendixes
A. Harold Bloom: An Exposition and Left Critique
B. Juan Gomez-Quiniones, "Canto al Trabajador"
C. Juan Gomez-Quiniones, "The Ballad of Billy Rivera"
Notes
References
Index