Poetry/A-B

POETRY

The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas

Author: Rudolfo Anaya

Price: $5.00

Shipping: $1.25

Rudolfo A. Anaya, the best-selling Chicano novelist, author of the prize-winning Bless Me, Ultima, turns his hand to narrative poetry in this mock-epic Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas. Here the myths and history of Mexico and the Southwest are revisited in this, at times, phantasmagoric marihuana dream peopled by gods, ghosts and, of all things, the neighborhood Pachucos. All of the epic formulae and language styles are satirized in the tongue-in-cheek and adventures of "Johnny Smallfeet." Imagination, legendry, characterization, humor, these are mainstays of Anaya's well-earned reputation and The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas once again provides us with health doses of them all.

Between Two Worlds

Author: Américo Paredes

Price: $9.00

Shipping: $1.50

Between Two Worlds is a life's work in poetry by the famous folklorist, novelist and mentor of at least two generations of Chicano scholars and writers. Between Two Worlds is a selection of Paredes' poetry from the 1930s and 1940s, some of which was published in Texas newspapers. Consequently the poetry has both historical and literary merit. Paredes calls his poems "the scribblings of a 'proto-Chicano' of a half-century ago." He is indeed the one clear forerunner of the flourishing of Chicano literature that occurred in the last two decades; his themes, styles and political stances have all become the mainstays of today's literature and world view.

Américo Paredes is Professor Emeritus of English and Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Best known for his ground-breaking study of Mexican American folklore, With His Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad and Its Hero, which became the basis for the PBS film, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, in 1989, Paredes was awarded the Charles Frankel Prize by the National Endowment for the Humanities for the contributions he has made during his distinguished career in folklore and literature. In 1990 he was awarded the Order of the Aguila Azteca by the Mexican Government for the preservation of Mexican culture in the Estado Unidos.

Borders

Author: Pat Mora

Price: $7.00

Shipping: $1.50

Pat Mora is the winner of the Southwest Book Award for Borders and for her first book of desert incantations, Chants. In Borders, the El Paso native explores borders--political, cultural, social, emotional--that divide people, forming their individual identities while also challenging the very concept of society. As a poet who brings two cultures, two traditions, two languages and nations together, Mora holds a positive, a sane position on an otherwise divisive topic.