Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream (Texas Writers Series)

Rolando Hinojosa is a Texas writer with his sense of place centered in the Texas Valley, a world in itself and a place recognizable as a discrete community. But Hinojosas work transcends the regional, transcends the Valley, transcends Texas, while it remains rooted in all three. Hinojosa is treated here from the perspective of his place in the mainstream of American literature and with his attempts to write works that speak to a large and more diverse audience, rather than from the perspective of his place within the world of Texas-Mexican literature. Joyce Lee does not neglect the regional aspects of Hinojosa's works, but puts them into the context of what they say about the vitality of American culture at large and about the Mexican culture's variations of the American Dream. Covers Hinojosa's full-length books Dear Rafe , Klail City , The Useless Servants , The Valley , Partners in Crime , and Rites and Witnesses as well as his essays and articles. 1. American Odyssey -- 2. The Rio Grande Valley: A Cultural Marriage -- 3. Marking The Path: The Death Trip In Sequence -- 4. Lying To With Sails Set: The Trip Begins -- 5. A Change In Direction -- 6. The End Of A Journey -- 7. Paradise Lost And Found. By Joyce Glover Lee. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 207-216) And Index.