Miguel Méndez
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Miguel Méndez (June 15, 1930 – May 31, 2013) was the pen name for Miguel Méndez Morales, a
Mexican American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...
author best known for his
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
''Peregrinos de Aztlán'' (''Pilgrims in
Aztlán Aztlán (from or romanized ''Aztlán'', ) is the ancestral home of the Aztec peoples. The word "Aztec" was derived from the Nahuatl a''ztecah'', meaning "people from Aztlán." Aztlán is mentioned in several ethnohistorical sources dating from t ...
''). He was a leading figure in the field of
Chicano literature Chicano literature is an aspect of Mexican-American literature that emerged from the Chicanismo, cultural consciousness developed in the Chicano Movement. Chicano literature formed out of the political and cultural struggle of Chicano, Chicana/os ...
.


Biography


Early life

Méndez was born in the border town of
Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson, Arizona, Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 United States census, ...
, on 15 June 1930. His father, Francisco Méndez Cárdenas, was from a town called
Bacoachi Bacoachi is a small town in Bacoachi Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. The area of the municipality is 487 square miles (1,260.65 km2) and the population (rural and urban) was 1,475 in 2020.The elevation of the munici ...
, in the state of Sonora, Mexico; his mother, María Morales Siqueiros, was from
Arizpe Arizpe (or Arispe) is a small town and the municipal seat of the Arizpe Municipality in the north of the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located at 30°20'"N 110°09'"W. The area of the municipality is 2,806.78 sq.km. The population in 2020 was ...
, Sonora. During the nineteen thirties, the United States government urged Mexicans and Mexican-Americans to leave the United States and go to Mexico, even if they were American citizens, largely due to the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. As a result of this policy, Méndez' parents moved to El Claro, Sonora, where he grew up. Méndez attended elementary school in el Claro and Arizpe, but left school after the fifth grade in order to work in his father's small corn and cotton plot. Even though El Claro was a small, isolated town, his parents had boxes full of books and newspapers, and it was during those early years that he developed his love of literature.


Return to the U.S.

In 1944, Méndez moved to
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. He has asserted that one of the reasons that pushed him to move to the U.S. was the desperation he felt when, in 1939, two of his younger sisters died of pneumonia. This was due in part to the isolation of El Claro, which had no hospital or clinic. Once in Tucson, despite his young age, Méndez found a job in construction. During those years, he continued to read, mostly at night. He used to buy books in a bookstore called "Librería Hermanos Pulido" that carried books and magazines in Spanish.


Life as a writer and professor

In the 1960s, Méndez was still working in construction, but had not stopped reading. By this time he had started to write more seriously. "Tata Casehua", his first short story, appeared in 1968. Throughout the years, Méndez had developed a relationship with teachers and professors at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. In 1970, he was subjected to an examination by a group of university professors, and was awarded a teaching position in
Pima Community College Pima Community College (PCC) is a Public university, public community college in Pima County, Arizona. It serves the Tucson, Arizona, Tucson metropolitan area with a community college district consisting of five campuses, four education centers, ...
. In 1974, he started teaching at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
, and was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 1984. His most famous novel, ''Peregrinos de Azltán'', was published in 1974. In 2000 he retired as a
Full Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...
. He was an Emeritus Professor at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
until his death in 2013. A
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
in his honor was published in 1995, ''Miguel Mendez in Aztlan: Two Decades of Literary Production.'' Méndez has been described as “one of the principal voices of socially committed Chicano fiction” by the editors of ''Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide'' and as "one of '' hicano literature's' finest and most sensitive writers" in ''The Dictionary of Literary Biography’s Chicano Writers First Series.'' His papers are now archived at the
California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of primary source documents from the history of minority ethnic groups in California. The documents, which include manuscripts, slide photograp ...
at
UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...
. Mendez died on May 31, 2013, at his Tucson home.


''Pilgrims in Aztlán''

This novel is set in 1960s-era
Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
and reflects both the time of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
and the space of the
Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...
. The central character of Loreto Maldonado, an old man reduced to washing cars in his final days, also allows Méndez to flashback to the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
. Méndez introduces characters from a variety of backgrounds in order to illustrate the multiple cultures that exist on the border—not just Chicano, but Mexican, Yaqui and US as well. Méndez does not provide a straightforward plot for the novel, but uses the encounters between characters to reveal their histories and thus to trace out the history and culture of the border region.


Published works


"Tata Casehua"
and "Taller de Imagenes" (
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
), published in ''El Espejo/The Mirror'' (1969) * ''Los criaderos humanos: épica de los desamparados y Sahuaros'' (poems; 1975) * ''Cuento para niños precoces'' (1980) * ''The Dream of Santa Maria de las Piedras'' (1989) * ''Pilgrims in Aztlán'' (1992) * ''Entre Letras y Ladrillos'' (1996), trans. as ''From Labor to Letters : A Novel Autobiography'' (1997)


Awards

*
José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature (Spanish: Premio Nacional de Literatura José Fuentes Mares or simply Premio José Fuentes Mares) is a Mexican literary award that has been presented annually since 1985 by the Universidad Autónoma ...
(1991)


See also

*
List of Mexican American writers The following is a list of Mexican-American writers. A-C *Oscar Zeta Acosta *José Acosta Torres, author of collection ''Cachito Mía'' (1973)Marc Zimmerman, ''U.S. Latino Literature: An Essay and Annotated Bibliography'', MARCH/Abrazo, 1992. ...


References


Further reading

* Alarcón, Justo S. "Lo esperpéntico en ''Peregrinos de Aztlán'' y ''Criaderos humanos'', de Miguel Méndez," ''Relaciones Literarias entre España e Iberoamérica'' (1988), pp. 785–795. available online a
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel D. Cervantes
(accessed March 2008) * –––. "Estructuras narrativas en ''Tata Casehua'' de Miguel Méndez," ''Confluencia'' Vol. 1, n.º 2 (1986) 48–54, available online a

(accessed March 2008) * –––."La aventura del héroe como estructura mítica en ''Tata Casehua'' de Miguel Méndez," ''Explicación de textos literarios'' Vol. XV, n.º 2 (1987) 77–91. available online a

(accessed March 2008) * Alurista. "Myth, Identity and Struggle in Three Chicano Novels: Aztlán ... Anaya, Méndez and Acosta." ''Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland.'' Ed. Rudolfo A. Anaya, and Francisco A. Lomeli. Albuquerque: Academia/El Norte; 1989. pp. 219–229 * Bruce-Novoa, Juan D. "Righting the Oral Tradition." ''Denver Quarterly'' 16.3 (1981): 78–86. * Cárdenas, Guadalupe. "El arquetipo de la madre terrible en ''Peregrinos de Aztlán'' de Miguel Méndez M." México, Alta Pimeria Pro Arte y Cultura, 1990. available online a
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel D. Cervantes
(accessed March 2008) * Ekstrom, Margaret V. "Wanderers from an Aztec Land: Chicano Naming Devices Used by Miguel Méndez." ''Literary Onomastics Studies'' 12 (1985): 85–92. * Somoza, Oscar U. "The Mexican Element in the Fiction of Miguel Méndez." ''Denver Quarterly'' 17.1 (1982): 68–77. * Villalobos, José Pablo. "Border Real, Border Metaphor: Altering Boundaries in Miguel Méndez and Alejandro Morales." ''Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies'' 4 (2000): 131–140.


External links


Guide to the Miguel Mendez Papers
at the
California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of primary source documents from the history of minority ethnic groups in California. The documents, which include manuscripts, slide photograp ...
(accessed March 2008)
Answers.com Bio
(accessed March 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Miguel 1930 births 2013 deaths People from Bisbee, Arizona American writers of Mexican descent University of Arizona faculty 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Hispanic and Latino American novelists Hispanic and Latino American autobiographers American autobiographers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Arizona 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American Spanish-language writers