First published 2008
Dagoberto Gilb brings together the voices that shaped Mexican American literature in Texas across five centuries. This collection opens with Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca's sixteenth-century exploration narrative and moves through generations of writers whose work deserves broader recognition. Gilb includes prose from Américo Paredes, Jovita González, Rolando Hinojosa, Tomás Rivera, Estela Trambley Portillo, and Sandra Cisneros. Poetry comes from Ricardo Sánchez, Carmen Tafolla, Angela de Hoyos, and Abelardo "Lalo" Delgado. The anthology also features corridos from the early 1900s and lyrics from musical legends Lydia Mendoza, Santiago Jiménez Sr., Freddy Fender, and Selena. Emerging voices like Christine Granados, Erasmo Guerra, and Tonantzin Canestaro-Garcia represent the future of Tejano literature. Read together, these selections form a cultural and historical narrative that captures the community's land, history, sorrows, joys, anger, humor, and pride.
Genres: anthologies, american-fiction, 20th-century, american, 21st-century, cultural
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: diverse-voices, found-family
Setting: Texas, Mexico
Period: 16th Century, 20th Century, 21st Century
544 pages · Paperback · UNM Press