Almost the Same, but Not Quite: The Depiction of Chicanos in Contemporary Mexican Narrative

• In Event: Intertexuality, Identity-Formation, and Literary Engagements between Latina/os and Latin Americans

Abstract

Aside from José Vasconcelos’ comments on Pochos in his autobiography (1936), and the remarks on Pachucos made by Octavio Paz in El laberinto de la soledad (1950) and by José Revueltas in Los motivos de Caín (1957), no other major Mexican writer addressed the experience of the descendants of Mexican immigrants (in the United States) during most of the past century. In recent years, however, Mexican writers have begun to dedicate considerable attention to these subjects, particularly writers from the border region—the so-called fronterizo writers. In this essay I analyze the depiction of Chicanos in selected narratives by fronterizos Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, Heriberto Yépez, and Rafa Saavedra. In the process, I evaluate these writers’ ideological incentives to reincorporate Chicanos as characters within the framework of Mexican literary creations. I argue that beneath mostly negative representations of these individuals by fronterizo writers lies an endeavor to provide new insight into current perspectives regarding the border and the border experience in both the United States and Mexico. Inasmuch as fronterizo writers are convinced that within this geopolitical context most views on the border are motivated by and limited to the Chicano experience, they strive to legitimize their own perspectives as Mexicans on the notion of the border and what makes a border.

Author

• Miguel A Pillado, Lehigh University