With her machete in her hand : reading Chicana lesbians / by Catrióna Rueda Esquibel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Esquibel, Catrióna Rueda, 1965-

Series:

Chicana matters series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lesbians' writings, American--History and criticism.

Lesbians' writings, American.

American literature--Mexican American authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--Mexican American authors.

American literature--Women authors--History and criticism.

Mexican American lesbians--Intellectual life.

Mexican American lesbians.

Mexican American women--Intellectual life.

Mexican American women.

Women and literature--United States.

Women and literature.

Mexican American women in literature.

Mexican Americans in literature.

Lesbians in literature.

Intellectual life.

American literature--Women authors.

United States.

Physical Description:

xvi, 245 pages ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Tex. : University of Texas Press, [2006]

Summary:

With the 1981 publication of the landmark anthology This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua ushered in an era of Chicana lesbian writing. But while these two writers have achieved iconic status, observers of the Chicana/o experience have been slow to perceive the existence of a whole community-lesbian and straight, male as well as female-who write about the Chicana lesbian experience. To create a first full map of that community, this book explores a wide range of plays, novels, and short stories by Chicana/o authors that depict lesbian characters or lesbian desire.

Catriona Rueda Esquibel starts from the premise that Chicana/o communities, theories, and feminisms cannot be fully understood without taking account of the perspectives and experiences of Chicana lesbians. To open up these perspectives, she engages in close readings of works centered around the following themes: La Llorona, the Aztec Princess, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, girlhood friendships, rural communities and history, and Chicana activism. Her investigation broadens the community of Chicana lesbian writers well beyond Moraga and Anzaldua, while it also demonstrates that the histories of Chicana lesbians have had to be written in works of fiction because these women have been marginalized and excluded in canonical writings on Chicano life and culture.

Contents:

Prologue: A Chicana Lesbian Scholar's Tale xiii

Introduction: History 1

1 Chicana Lesbian Fictions 9

2 The Mystery of the Weeping Woman 22

3 Black Velvet Fantasies: "The" Aztec Princess in the Chicana/o Sexual Imagination 42

4 Sor Juana and the Search for (Queer) Cultural Heroes 66

5 Memories of Girlhood: Chicana Lesbian Fictions 91

6 Shameless Histories: Talking Race/Talking Sex 128

7 Queer for the Revolution: The Representation of Politics and the Politics of Representation 145

8 Conclusion: With Her Machete in Her Hand 176

Appendix Toward a Chronological Bibliography of Chicana Lesbian Fictions, 1971-2000 183.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0292709714

0292712758

OCLC:

62532570