¡Ay Tú! Critical Essays on the Life and Work of Sandra Cisneros

Literary scholars celebrate the life, work, and activism of Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros in these astute essays. Georgina Guzmán argues that Cisneros’s creative evolution from the “significantly less ethnic, minimalist style” of her 1984 novella, The House on Mango Street, to the “oppositional Mexican American maximalism” of 2002’s sprawling Caramelo signifies how Cisneros “learned to take up more space” and stop fretting over the judgments of literary critics and “dominant society.” Several writers emphasize Cisneros’s contributions to the development of Chicana literature. For instance, Sara A. Ramírez draws on Cisneros’s correspondence with feminist poet Norma Alarcón to recount how the two friends founded the Third Woman journal and Third Woman Press in 1979 to promote the writings of women of color. The selections make excellent use of Cisneros’s archives (Olga L. Herrera’s examination of how The House on Mango Street recasts Cisneros’s Chicago upbringing is largely based on Cisneros’s childhood diaries), and a wide-ranging concluding interview between journalist Macarena Hernández and Cisneros sheds light on the author’s formative years (Cisneros recounts how growing up with six “hypercritical” brothers led her to become a ruthless editor of her own work). It’s a fitting tribute to a beloved author. (Oct.)