Post-Revolutionary Chicana Literature: Memoir, Folklore and Fiction of the Border, 1900–1950

by Sam Lopez

This book examines how Chicana literature in three genres―memoir, folklore, and fiction―arose at the turn of the twentieth century in the borderlands of the United States and Mexico. Lopez examines three women writers and highlights their contributions to Chicana writing in its earliest years as well as their contributions to the genres in which they wrote. The women -- Leonor Villegas de Magnón, Jovita Idar, and Josefina Niggli―represent three powerful voices from which to gain a clearer understanding of women’s lives and struggles during and after the Mexican Revolution and also, offer surprising insights into women’s active roles in border life and the revolution itself. Readers are encouraged to rethink Chicana lives, and expand their ideas of "Chicana" from a subset of the Chicano Movement of the 1960s to a vibrant and vigorous reality stretching back into the past.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the intro, conclusion, and first two chapters--which were relevant to my current research project. I also skimmed the third chapter and conclusion out of curiosity. The only chapter I didn't explore was Chapter 4.

Chapter 1 describes Laredo, Texas, as a unique site of border consciousness at the turn of the twentieth century. I found the chapter most interesting for its review of the Spanish-language newspapers that proliferated in the region at that time. Lopez concentrates on the women journalists and editors involved with these radical independent papers, finding in their social circles some of Chicanisma's earliest antepasadas.

Chapter 2 provides analysis of Leonor Villegas de Magnón's memoir of the Mexican Revolution, "La Rebelde," one of very few surviving autobiographical accounts of women's roles during the revolution. (Villegas de Magnón founded a nursing brigade that served anti-Diaz troops, La Cruz Blanca.)

As an interesting sidenote, I was delighted to find this dissertation was written by a fellow South Texan who studied at the University of Iowa like I did, presumably with the same experience of culture shock.

[Sara G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellently written and very informative! I enjoyed it a lot. And now I have a handful of things to put on my "to check out" list, too.