Infinite Divisions: An Anthology of Chicana Literature

By Cherríe L. MoragaCarmen TafollaCleofas M. Jaramillo, et al.

Book Overview

Given the explosive creativity shown by Chicana writers over the past two decades, this first major anthology devoted to their work is a major contribution to American letters. It highlights the key issues, motifs, and concerns of Mexican American women from 1848 to the present, and particularly reflects the modern Chicana's struggle for identity. Among the recurring themes in the collection is a re-visioning of foremothers such as the historical Malinche, the mythical Llorona, and pioneering women who settled the American Southwest from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. Also included are historical documents on the lives, culture, and writings of Mexican American women in the nineteenth century, as well as oral histories recorded by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s. Through poetry, fiction, drama, essay, and other forms, this landmark volume showcases the talents of more than fifty authors, including Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Ana Castillo, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Denise Chávez, Sandra Cisneros, Pat Mora, Cherríe Moraga, and María Helena Viramontes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816513848
• ISBN13: 9780816513840
• Release Date: June 1993
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 387 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

a must-have anthology

Itself divided into the sections Foremothers, Self and Identity, Self and Others, Spaces, Myths and Archetypes, Writers on Language and Writing, Growing Up, and Celebrations, this broadly inclusive anthology includes writers who need no introduction to anyone familiar with Chicana literature: Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Anzaldua, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Alma Villanueva, Cordelia Candelaria...and if you haven't read their poetry or pose, here's your chance.

Review of "Infinite Divisions"

Simply the most comprehensive collection of Mexican-American women's writing --both good and bad-- "Infinite Divisions" has enough jewels to understand why it would be required reading for anyone hoping to delve into Chicana literature. "Little Miracles, Kept Promises" by Sandra Cisneros is a nice sample Mexican-American life condensed into a format so innovative that it merits being read twice... Prayers and petitions to God and all the saints, hopes and fears about sexuality and love and life, the traditional scraps of paper left as a religious offering in church become a touching prose piece. The book thoroughly disects the sometimes-ghost-story, sometimes-feminist-symbol of La Llorona, the crying woman who murdered her children in some stories and who was the reincarnation of La Malinche (Hernan Cortes' lover) in others. "Aztec Princess" and "Malinche's Discourse" make for wonderful discussion pieces, not to mention reading.