A Critical Collection On Alejandro Morales

Alejandro Morales is a pioneer of Chicana and Chicano literature and the author of groundbreaking works including The Brick People, The Rag Doll Plagues, and River of Angels. His work, often experimental, was one of the first to depict harsh urban realities in the barrios—a break from much of the Chicana and Chicano fiction that had been published previously. Morales’ relentless work has grown over the decades into a veritable menagerie of cultural testimonies, fantastic counterhistories, magical realism, challenging metanarratives, and flesh-and-blood aesthetic innovation. The fourteen essays included in this compendium examine Morales’ novels and short stories. The editors also include a critical introduction; an interview between Morales, the editors, and fellow author Daniel Olivas; and a new comprehensive bibliography of Morales’ writings and works about him—books, articles, book reviews, online resources, and dissertations. A Critical Collection on Alejandro Morales: Forging an Alternative Chicano Fiction is a must-read for understanding and appreciating Morales’ work in particular and Chicana and Chicano literature in general.

This collection reviews the work of Chicano writer Alejandro Morales, whose novel Caras viejas y vino nuevo, is generally recognized as one of the classics of Chicano literature. The contributors are Jose Antonio Gurpegui, Maria Herrera-Sobek, Luis Leal, Francisco A. Lomeli, Antonio C. Marquez, Manuel M. Martin-Rodriguez, Alejandro Morales, Jesus Rosales, and Karen S. Van Hooft.

A comprehensive critical engagement with the work of Chicano author Alejandro Morales. Marc Garcia-Martinez's critical interrogation of Morales's work is dynamic, powerful, and timely; it promises to contribute to American literary studies in deep and profound ways.

A mysterious plague is decimating the population of colonial Mexico. One of His MajestyÍs highest physicians is dispatched from Spain to bring the latest advances in medical science to the backward peoples of the New World capital. Here begins the cyclical tale of man battling the unknown, of science confronting the eternally indifferent forces of nature. Morales takes us on a trip through ancient and future civilizations, through exotic but all-too-familiar cultures, to a final confrontation with our own ethics and world views. In later chapters, the colonial physician finds his successors as they once again engage in life or death struggles, attempting to balance their own hopes, desires and loves with the good society and the state. Book II of the novel takes place in modern-day southern California, and Book III in a futuristic technocratic confederation known as Lamex. In the tradition of Latin American born novelist, Alejandro Morales is one of the finest representatives of magic realism in the English language. In The Rag Doll Plagues, Morales creates a many layered fictional world, taking us on an entertaining and thought-provoking safari thorough lands, times, peoples and ideas never before encountered or presented in this manner. But ultimately, this valuable trip leads to a reacquaintance with our own society and its moral vision.

A poetry collection written by an acclaimed Hispanic-American author with 10 prior book publications in fiction and nonfiction. The book contains 34 free verse poems divided into 3 sections that detail the author's cultural roots, his childhood, family life, his perspective on many sociopolitical and socioeconomic situations affecting everyday people of all cultures. Writings include magical realism, mythology-centered topics, poems inspired by classic literature, numerous poems about strong, traditionally-oppressed women, spirituality, and varied other works that inspire deep thought and reflection on the condition of humanity and society. Also includes touches of humor that inevitably pervade daily life. This book can be understood and enjoyed by high school students, poets and non-poets, university scholars, and mainstream audiences alike.

Three provocative plays by Cuban-American dramatist Alejandro Morales. Mixing gothic horror, humor and Lorquian homages, this collection is a bold look at new US Latino drama's possibilities. Prefaced by interview with award-winning playwright Caridad Svich

This collection of essays and poems examines various recent literary texts and cultural arenas in North America and the Asia and Pacific regions for what they reveal of the ongoing struggles of indigenous people and people of colour for justice and autonomy.

A Study Guide for Alejandro Morales's "The Curing Woman," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

Offers a comparative approach to ethnic literature that begins by accounting for the intrinsic historical, geographical, and political contingencies of different American cultures. This work looks at a range of writing, from novels to literature.

Since the 1980s, a prolific "second wave" of Chicano/a writers and artists has tremendously expanded the range of genres and subject matter in Chicano/a literature and art. Building on the pioneering work of their predecessors, whose artistic creations were often tied to political activism and the civil rights struggle, today's Chicano/a writers and artists feel free to focus as much on the aesthetic quality of their work as on its social content. They use novels, short stories, poetry, drama, documentary films, and comic books to shape the raw materials of life into art objects that cause us to participate empathetically in an increasingly complex Chicano/a identity and experience. This book presents far-ranging interviews with twenty-one "second wave" Chicano/a poets, fiction writers, dramatists, documentary filmmakers, and playwrights. Some are mainstream, widely recognized creators, while others work from the margins because of their sexual orientations or their controversial positions. Frederick Luis Aldama draws out the artists and authors on both the aesthetic and the sociopolitical concerns that animate their work. Their conversations delve into such areas as how the artists' or writers' life experiences have molded their work, why they choose to work in certain genres and how they have transformed them, what it means to be Chicano/a in today's pluralistic society, and how Chicano/a identity influences and is influenced by contact with ethnic and racial identities from around the world.