AML 5637 - Spring 2025 - Suárez

I know the nature of the beast for I have lived in its belly. —José Martí

This course will cover Latino/a Literature written in English from the emergence of Jose Antonio Villarreal's Pocho in 1947 (the first Chicano/a novel in English) to the present and the exciting work of Sandra Cisneros, Cristina Garcia, and Judith Ortiz-Cofer. Latino/a Literature—which contains thus far the work of Mexican-Americans (Chicano/a), Puerto Ricans (Nuyoricans), and Cuban-Americans (there are a few other groups being represented now, for example Julia Alvarez as a Dominican and Francisco Goldman as a Guatemalan)—is constantly growing, and, like African-American, Asian, and Native American Literatures, has established itself in the panoramic landscape that is American Literature. The work the course will focus on will be introductory in nature and will be unified by the following themes and perspectives: the “Americanization” process and the struggle to define, redefine, and attain the American Dream; the use of cultural myths; language and memory; gender; religion and spirituality; rural versus urban (the barrio) life; ideals and values; the role of Latino/a writers and poets; the question of universality and specificity. The reading load is reasonable and the rationale behind this "list" of required texts is that the student, during his/her student career, will unlikely run into these texts as opposed to those that have become popular. Of course, we will discuss and touch upon them as well.