New Directions in Chicano Scholarship by Ricardo Romo and Raymund Paredes (review)

Reviews 79 the nineteenth century rather well, both chronologically and in terms of literary taste. Coming to America for the first time in 1839, he was to spend twelve years of the remainder of his life on American soil. Despite his physical relocation in the Old World for a large part of his writing career, he remained imaginatively in America. For, as Ms. Steele suggests, it was the image and concept of America which informed his fiction and gave it its vitality; and Reid never forgot the promise of the New Land which he was unable to find in the Old World and about which he was to write so successfully. He earned his place in literary history as a “dime novelist” by penning numerous Western romances, a number of which were published by the firm of Beadle and Adams. While Reid has a tendency to emphasize the detail of setting over plot and characterization in his fiction, a tendency still quite evident in con­ temporary popular Western writers, his work was also pervaded by a roman­ tic vision of mankind’s possibilities. Ms. Steele points out that while Reid has been considered a juvenile writer, a market he certainly did enjoy in his lifetime, she also presents the case for his appeal to adult readers of adventure fiction in both Victorian England and America. The author of The Rifle Rangers (1850), The Scalp Hunters (1851), The White Chief (1855) and The Quadroon (1856) deserves to be re­ membered in literary history and his works deserve to be studied as exam­ ples of a creative imagination, which while not native to the American Experience, was sensitive to its geography and its spirit. MICHAEL T. MARSDEN, Bowling Green State University New Directions in Chicano Scholarship. By Ricardo Romo and Raymund Paredes. (San Diego: University of California, 1978. 268 pages, $5.95) Ricardo Romo and Raymund Paredes have erected a monument to dreams from the sixties, now vital realities of the seventies. New directions are numerous. Chícanos are resolving Corky Gonzalez’ dilemma: Chicano identity and its relation to the past. Chicano social scientists are marshalling relevant research into honest investigation with appropriate respect for reality. New Directions verifies the integrity of Chí­ canos in academic exchanges. It, further, admits others to the secrets of Chicano ironic humor. It recognizes, identifies and evaluates the literature arising from the barrio. New Directions could not have occurred twenty years ago; Chicano publications could not have tolerated Anglo participation, nor would Anglos have been prepared to contribute. Now, hospitality of real Mexican intensity 80 Western American Literature admits Anglos who are prepared to participate. Joseph Sommers proclaims a maturity for Chicano literature which deserves special evaluation. Doris Meyer finds that maturity is no quick summer’s growth, that, indeed, Mexican -American writing history is significant. Besides encouragement to Chicanos, Romo and Paredes provide imper­ ative reading for general America. Raymund Paredes’ exposé of non-Mexican and un-American sources of anti-Mexican prejudices is a good starting place. Americo Paredes’ paper corrects stereotypes based upon those preju­ dices as they insidiously penetrate otherwise objective research. José Limón demonstrates that Chicanos are not culturally defenseless in the face of such predispositions. New Directions in Chicano Scholarship must be considered an essential collection of information and emotion for understanding Chicano civiliza­ tion. As social document, it enlightens non-Latin Americans. To the Chi­ cano, it constitutes a satisfying progress report. Subtly, its proportion of Chicano-to-Anglo authors hints that Southwestern population trends are trends in academic progress too. ROBERT G. LINT, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Triada. By Sam Hamill. (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 1978. 107 pages, $4.50.) The influences on Hamill’s poetry are plain enough: Whitman, Pound, Williams, Snyder, a touch of Eliot, and, a little surprisingly, Dante. All these, except maybe Eliot and Dante, are the proper influences for a younger American poet nowadays. And the accepted thematic matters are there: American involvement in Vietnam was an immorality; capitalism (i.e., avarice) is raping the land; certain old people are noble, others aren’t; Indians have a land knowledge that we must learn; love is the great...