Rudolfo A. Anaya (Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya) Biography

Chicano novelist, poet, dramatist, and writer, born in New Mexico, educated at the University of New Mexico of which he became Professor of English in 1988. He is best known for the trilogy Bless Me, Ultima (1972), Heart of Aztlán (1976), and Tortuga (1979). Anaya's narrative technique weaves together the historical with the mythical, the imaginative or fantastic, and the ritual aspects of Chicano life to explore the conflict between ethnic and Anglo-American cultures. Whether dealing with life in rural New Mexico or in the urban ghettos of modern America, Anaya's enduring concern is with the richness of Chicano culture and the possibilities that are available for Chicano cultural identity. This concern with racial identity and the conflicts involved in the cross-cultural environment of modern America pervades Anaya's work, including the poetry collection The Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas (1985), The Silence of the Llano: Short Stories (1982), the novel Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzalcoatl (1987), the travel narrative A Chicano in China (1986), and the play The Season of la Llorona (1979). Anaya has edited the anthologies Cuentos/Tales of the Hispanic Southwest (1980) and Cuentos Chicanos: A Short Story Anthology (1984), Voces/An Anthology of Nuevo Mexicano Writers (1987), and, with Francisco Lomeli, Aztlan: Essays on the Chicano Homeland (1989). See Latino/Latina Literature in English.