Writing the Southwest - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452273943 ISBN 13: 9780452273948

Publisher: Plume, 1995

Synopsis

A region where dances for rain and prayers to the santos mix with New Age and high-tech jargon has produced some of the most exciting writing in America today. The common thread that links such writers as Edward Abbey, Tony Hillerman, Joy Harjo, Barbara Kingsolver, and Terry McMillan is an understanding of the interplay between humans and the earth. This compelling collection offers outstanding selections of contemporary Southwestern literature along with a biographical profile, a bibliography, and an original interview with each of the fourteen authors included. Here are the words of rangy Frank Waters, who at ninety-three is still the "dean of Western writers"; the rhythms of Navajo songs, in the poetry of Native American Luci Tapahonso; the political, highly charged prose of John Nichols, in his classic The Milagro Beanfield War; and the magical realism of Rudolfo Anaya, one of the founders of Chicano literature. Diverse in style and focus, the authors of the Southwest are united by a sense of place and an awareness of the heritage and textures of this multicultural, multilingual land.

About this title

Reviews

Writing the Southwest is much more than an ordinary compilation of regional short stories. Like the radio series of the same name, each selection begins with a biographical piece about the author with interview material and excerpts from various works. The book begins with one of the best known of recent Southwestern authors, Edward Abbey. His background speaks volumes about his enigmatic life and controversial, fiercely independent attitudes. Rudolfo Anaya, who also wrote the foreword, describes his connection to the Southwest. "To be moved into the real of the characters of the story means to feel the place, the food, music, language and history of the character's surrounding. Taken a step further, the power of literature is to transport the reader into the very core of the mythic and poetic world of the story." Tony Hillerman jokingly defines "regional" authors as "everybody except New York writers" but notes that the vast, often lonely landscape of the Southwest is what unites its writers. Terry McMillan travels through Arizona in the excerpt from Waiting to Exhale and wonders at the irony that Mexicans are now picking cotton in the fields. Frank Waters, the native Coloradan who has been writing about this area for decades, talks about the environment and Anglo-English exploitation of it. A vivid composite of the region's best-known writers, Writing the Southwest is an excellent sampling of unique viewpoints and deep roots.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0452273943
• ISBN 13: 9780452273948
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Dunaway David King