Part of a new phase of post-1960s U.S. Latino literature, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros both engage in unique networks of paratexts that center on the performance of latinidad. Here, Ellen McCracken re-envisions Gerard Genette's paratexts for the present day, arguing that the Internet increases the range, authorship, and reach of the paratextual portals and that they constitute a key element of the creative process of Latino literary production in 21st century America. This smart and useful book examines how both novelists interact with the interplay of populist and hegemonic multiculturalism and allows new points of entry into these novels.

This volume analyzes the Serial podcast, situating it in the trajectory of other popular crime narratives and contemporary cultural theory. Contributors focus on topics such as the ethics of the use of fiction techniques in investigative journalism, the epistemological overlay of postmodern indeterminacy, and the audience's prolific activity in social media, examining the competing narrative strategies of the narrators, characters, and the audience. Other topics considered include the multiplication of narratives and the longing for closure, how our minds work as we experience true crime narratives, and what critical race theory can teach us about the program's strategies.

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, U.S. Latina writers have made a profound impact on American letters with fiction in both mainstream and regional venues. Following on the heels of this vibrant and growing body of work, "New Latina Narrative" offers the first in-depth synthesis and literary analysis of this transethnic genre. Focusing on the dynamic writing published in the 1980s and 1990s by Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and Domincan American women, "New Latina Narrative" illustrates how these writers have redefined the concepts of multiculturalism and diversity in American society. As participants in both mainstream and grassroots forms of multiculturalism, these new Latina narrativists have created a feminine space within postmodern ethnicity, disrupting the idealistic veneer of diversity with which publishers often market this fiction. In this groundbreaking study, author Ellen McCracken opens the conventional boundaries of Latino/a literary criticism, incorporating elements of cultural studies theory and contemporary feminism. Emphasizing the diversity within new Latina narrative, McCracken discusses the works of more than two dozen writers, including Julia Alvarez, Denise Chavez, Sandra Cisneros, Cristina Garcia, Graciela Limon, Demetria Martinez, Pat Mora, Cherrie Moraga, Mary Helen Ponce, and Helena Maria Viramontes. She stresses such themes as the resignification of master narrative, the autobiographical self and collective identity, popular religiosity, subculture and transgression, and narrative harmony and dissonance. "New Latina Narrative" provides readers an enriched basis for reconceiving the overall Latino/a literary field and its relation to other contemporary literary and cultural trends. McCracken's original approach extends the Latina literary canon--both the works to be studied and the issues to be examined--resulting in a valuable work for all readers of women's studies, contemporary American literature, ethnic studies, communications, and sociology.

This is a study of more than 50 glossy publications for women in the United States today, including the beauty and fashion titles, the service and home magazines, those aimed at minority readership, new female workers, and women with special-interests and spending power. The analysis focuses on the strategies by which the commercial structure shapes the cultural content, the magazines' repetitive attempts to secure a consensus about the feminine that is grounded in consumerism and the contradictory semiotic structures at work within and between purchased advertisements, covert advertisements and editorial features.

This volume analyzes the Serial podcast, situating it in the trajectory of other popular crime narratives and contemporary cultural theory. Contributors focus on topics such as the ethics of the use of fiction techniques in investigative journalism, the epistemological overlay of postmodern indeterminacy, and the audience's prolific activity in social media, examining the competing narrative strategies of the narrators, characters, and the audience. Other topics considered include the multiplication of narratives and the longing for closure, how our minds work as we experience true crime narratives, and what critical race theory can teach us about the program's strategies.

Winner of the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association As a teenager, Manuel Chavez (1910-1996) left his native New Mexico for over a decade of study at the St. Francis Seraphic Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other midwestern institutions. Included in his curriculum was an introduction to literature and the arts that piqued an interest that would follow him the remainder of his life. Upon returning to New Mexico, he was ordained Fray Angelico Chavez and would become one of New Mexico's most important twentieth-century writers. In The Life and Writing of Fray Angelico Chavez, Ellen McCracken provides a literary biography that includes a deep look into the intellectual and cultural contributions of this Renaissance man. McCracken moves chronologically through a substantial body of work that includes fiction, poetry, plays, essays, spiritual tracts, sermons, historical writing, translation, painting, church renovation, and journalism. From the prolific creativity of the years of his first assignment in Pena Blanca to the decades he spent researching Hispano genealogy in New Mexico, McCracken traces Chavez's complex and changing identity as an ethnic American and religious subject who was also an historian, artist, creative writer, and preservationist. The year 2010 will mark the centenary of Fray Angelico Chavez's birth, and this volume will serve as a fitting tribute.

Fray Angelico Chavez was an American Franciscan priest, historian, researcher, author, poet, and painter. This rare collection of writings combines Chavez's early fiction with his little-known novel "Guitars and Adobes", originally published in 1931-32 in serialised form. The novel presents an alternative Hispano vision to Willa Cather's famed "Death Comes for the Archbishop".

New Mexico's first Franciscan priest, Fray Angelico Cheavez (1910-1996) is known as a prolific historian, a literary and artistic figure, and an intellectual who played a vital role in Santa Fe's community of writers. The original essays collected here explore his wide-ranging cultural production: fiction, poetry, architectural restoration, journalism, genealogy, translation, and painting and drawing. Several essays discuss his approach to history, his archival research, and the way in which he re-centers ethnic identity in the prevalent Anglo-American master historical narrative. Others examine how he used fiction to bring history alive and combined visual and verbal elements to enhance his narratives. Two essays explore Chavez's profession as a friar. The collection ends with recollections by Thomas E. Chavez, historian and Fray Angelico's nephew. Readers familar with Chavez's work as well as those learning about it for the first time will find much that surprises and informs in these essays. "A wonderful tribute to a great man."--Rudolfo Anaya "UNM Press is to be congratulated on the publication of this long-awaited work on Fray Chavez. His fiction, his poetics, and his art work are fully detailed by a select group of both young and seasoned scholars."--Rolando Hinojosa-Smith Part of the Paso por Aqui Series on the Nuevomexicano Literary Heritage ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Ellen McCracken is professor of Spanish at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also the author of New Latina Narrative: The Feminine Space of Postmodern Ethnicity and Decoding Women's Magazines: From Mademoiselle to Ms. ACCLAIM " . . . I cannot imagine a better introduction to Chavez] than this volume." -- St. Anthony Messenger "Ellen McCracken has constructed an excellent collective endeavor." -- The Journal of Arizona History "One can only hope for further explorations into this remarkable man's life, thought, and expression." -- Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology