Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives
<p>Though “revolutionary” acts and attitudes were frequently claimed in various civil rights–era movements in the US, this article considers the specific meaning of the term in a Mexican-Chicano context through a simultaneous examination of Sandra Cisneros’s <em>The House on Mango Street...
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doaj-6ea5576425a045c791efb694266bdadc2020-12-15T08:16:47ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaJournal of Transnational American Studies1940-07642015-03-0161ark:13030/qt8dm6d1fzCampobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist NarrativesGeneva M. Gano0Antioch College<p>Though “revolutionary” acts and attitudes were frequently claimed in various civil rights–era movements in the US, this article considers the specific meaning of the term in a Mexican-Chicano context through a simultaneous examination of Sandra Cisneros’s <em>The House on Mango Street</em> (1984) and Nellie Campobello’s <em>Cartucho: relatos de la lucha en el norte de México</em> (1931). By way of a formal allusion to Campobello’s revolutionary text, Cisneros forces her readers to reconsider <em>Mango Street</em> from a hemispheric perspective, prompting new readings of her work. Most broadly, it resituates the text within a broader Latino tradition of the modern <em>testimonio</em>, which demands recognition of its sociopolitical significance. More specifically, the formal connection Cisneros forges insists on a similarity between the violent spaces of the post-WWII barrio and revolutionary Durango. Thus Cisneros collapses national and temporal distinctions that would assure US readers (Cisneros’s main audience) that poverty, violence, and revolution cannot happen here. To Gano, this radical use of form threatens not just literary conventions (this is not simply an assertion of “revolutionary style”) but also contains the suggestive threat that the barrio is a potential site of revolution, inseparable from violent acts. That this is a woman-centered story is significant: Cisneros’s kindling world is comprised largely of women and children who are inundated with daily episodes of violence. Often dismissed as political actors, these individuals are transformed in Cisneros’s work into potential revolutionaries.</p>http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dm6d1fzsandra cisnerosnellie campobellotestimoniofeminismmexican revolutionchicana/o |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Geneva M. Gano |
spellingShingle |
Geneva M. Gano Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives Journal of Transnational American Studies sandra cisneros nellie campobello testimonio feminism mexican revolution chicana/o |
author_facet |
Geneva M. Gano |
author_sort |
Geneva M. Gano |
title |
Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives |
title_short |
Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives |
title_full |
Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives |
title_fullStr |
Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives |
title_full_unstemmed |
Campobello’s <em>Cartuchos</em> and Cisneros’s Molotovs: Transborder Revolutionary Feminist Narratives |
title_sort |
campobello’s <em>cartuchos</em> and cisneros’s molotovs: transborder revolutionary feminist narratives |
publisher |
eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
series |
Journal of Transnational American Studies |
issn |
1940-0764 |
publishDate |
2015-03-01 |
description |
<p>Though “revolutionary” acts and attitudes were frequently claimed in various civil rights–era movements in the US, this article considers the specific meaning of the term in a Mexican-Chicano context through a simultaneous examination of Sandra Cisneros’s <em>The House on Mango Street</em> (1984) and Nellie Campobello’s <em>Cartucho: relatos de la lucha en el norte de México</em> (1931). By way of a formal allusion to Campobello’s revolutionary text, Cisneros forces her readers to reconsider <em>Mango Street</em> from a hemispheric perspective, prompting new readings of her work. Most broadly, it resituates the text within a broader Latino tradition of the modern <em>testimonio</em>, which demands recognition of its sociopolitical significance. More specifically, the formal connection Cisneros forges insists on a similarity between the violent spaces of the post-WWII barrio and revolutionary Durango. Thus Cisneros collapses national and temporal distinctions that would assure US readers (Cisneros’s main audience) that poverty, violence, and revolution cannot happen here. To Gano, this radical use of form threatens not just literary conventions (this is not simply an assertion of “revolutionary style”) but also contains the suggestive threat that the barrio is a potential site of revolution, inseparable from violent acts. That this is a woman-centered story is significant: Cisneros’s kindling world is comprised largely of women and children who are inundated with daily episodes of violence. Often dismissed as political actors, these individuals are transformed in Cisneros’s work into potential revolutionaries.</p> |
topic |
sandra cisneros nellie campobello testimonio feminism mexican revolution chicana/o |
url |
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dm6d1fz |
work_keys_str_mv |
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