Alejandro Morales Explained

Alejandro Morales is a Mexican-American writer of fiction and poetry. He is an Emeritus Professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He has published seven novels, three novellas, and one collection of poetry.

Morales received the 2007 Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award organizer said of Morales, "he is a true pioneer in Chicano literature and one of the most outstanding, powerful, and innovative writers on the Chicano experience."^[1]

Works

• Caras viejas y vino nuevo (1975) J. Mortiz, Mexico published in English (1981) as Old Faces and New Wine, Maize Press, San Diego
• La Verdad sin voz (1979), published in English (1988) as Death of an Anglo.
• Reto en el paraíso (1983), a mix of Spanish and English.
• The Brick People (1988) Arte Público Press, Houston, Texas
• The Rag Doll Plagues (1992)
• Barrio on the Edge (1997)
• Waiting to Happen (2001) - the first volume of the Heteropia Trilogy
• Pequeña Nación (2005) - three short novels
• The Captain of All These Men of Death (2008) Bilingual Press, Tempe, AZ
• Little Nation and Other Stories (2014). Trans. Adam Spires. Houston: Arte Público Press.
• River of Angels (2014). Houston: Arte Público Press.

Further reading

• Franco, Dean. "Working through the Archive: Trauma and History in Alejandro Morales's The Rag Doll Plagues." PMLA 120.2 (2005): 375-87.
• García-Martínez, Marc. Francisco A. Lomelí. A Critical Collection on Alejandro Morales: Forging an Alternative Chicano Fiction. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2021.
• García-Martínez, Marc. The Flesh and Blood Aesthetics of Alejandro Morales: Disease, Sex, and Figuration. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 2014.
• Gurpegui, José Antonio (ed.). Alejandro Morales: Fiction Past, Present, Future Perfect. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review Press, 1996.
• López López, Margarita. "Heterotopia and the Emergence of the Modern ilusa in Waiting to Happen by Alejandro Morales. A Critical Collection on Alejandro Morales: Forging an Alternative Chicano Fiction. Eds. M. García-Martínez & F. Lomelí. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2021. 39-74.
• López Lozano, Miguel. "The Politics of Blood: Miscegenation and Phobias of Contagion in Alejandro Morales's The Rag Doll Plagues." Aztlán 28 (2003): 39-74.
• Priewe, Marc. "Bio-Politics and the ContamiNation of the Body in Alejandro Morales' The Rag Doll Plagues." MELUS 29.3-4 (2004): 397-412.
• Rosales, Jesús. La narrativa de Alejandro Morales: Encuentro, historia y compromiso social. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.
• Schedler, Christopher. "Bugs in the Capitalist Machine: The Schizo-Violence of Alejandro Morales's The Brick People." MELUS 32.1 (2007): 53-74.
• Spires, Adam. "Brave New Aztlán: Toward a Chicano Dystopia in the Novels of Alejandro Morales." Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 29.2 (2005): 363-78.
• Villalobos, José Pablo. "Border Real, Border Metaphor: Altering Boundaries in Miguel Méndez and Alejandro Morales." Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 4 (2000): 131-40.

Notes and References

1. http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1638 Mario Garcia, "2007 Luis Leal award: Alejandro Morales"