Bibliographies

Multicultural Place-Based Literature

Date:  September 16, 2004
aviella@usa.net

I'm an adult student (46) getting ready to start graduate work in ecocriticism in October.  I'm doing an independent study program through Vermont College/ Union Institute and University.  My specific focus is place-based literature and how literature can impact/change how we feel about the natural world.  I've gotten excellent suggestions for my reading list from my ASLE mentor and from other ASLE members and from the bibliographies on the ASLE website.  One suggestion I received was that I should include some works by writers of different cultural backgrounds, such as African American and Native American.  I've added Alice Walker's "Meridian" to my list, and Linda Hogan's "Solar Storms."  Has anyone read T. C. Boyle's "Tortilla Curtain," and if so would it be appropriate for a study like this?  Or any other Latino literature suggestions?  Although my final thesis will be focusing on works from the Pacific Northwest, I want to begin my studies with an overview of place-based literature from other regions. 

I look forward to meeting many of you in person in Eugene in June at the ASLE
conference.   

Terrie Murray
Portland, Oregon
MA Student, Ecocriticism
Vermont College/Union Institute and University

From:    christensenl@greenmtn.edu
Date:  September 16, 2004 12:03:17 PM CDT

Hi, Terrie--

Greetings from a native Oregonian currently living in Vermont.  I teach Boyle's Tortilla Curtain frequently, and although Boyle is not a Latino author, the novel certainly represents how some ecologically influenced immigration policies can be seen as potentially racist.  It's a great novel, but maybe not quite what you're looking for.  Probably the most frequently used Latino work in environmental literature studies is Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya.  Good luck with your work!

Laird

Dr. Laird Christensen, Chair
Department of English and Communications
Green Mountain College
One College Circle
Poultney, VT 05764
(802) 287-8344
http://www.greenmtn.edu/faculty/christensenl.asp

 From:    jbgamber@hotmail.com
 Date:  September 16, 2004

Terrie,
I'd add:  George Washington Gomez by Americo Paredes, y no se lo trago la tierra/And the Earth Did not Devour Him by Tomas Rivera  (both are important texts in Chicana/o lit.), and Bone Game by Louis Owen (Choctaw/Cherokee/Irish) just off the top of my head.  All have a great deal to do with the specifics of place/landscape on formations of identity and community.

And I like 'em.  Hope you do too.

John Gamber
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara

 From:    jpollock@mminternet.com
 Date:  September 16, 2004

Tortilla Curtain  would be an excellent addition!!

jeri

From: "Quetchenbach, Bernard W" <bquetchenbach@flsouthern.edu>
Date: September 16, 2004

Jimmy Santiago Baca's Black Mesa Poems would also be good.

Bernie Quetchenbach

From: Elizabeth A Henry <ehenry@du.edu>
Date: September 17, 2004

The work of Scott Momaday is also very powerful, on place and native american ethics towards land, both.
Thanks,
Elizabeth Henry