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                                                                                                           Annie Delgado

                                                                                                            WM  Studies

                                                                                                            10/23/03

 

SANDRA CISNEROS

 

 

Birth History

 

·        Born December 20, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois.

·        Cisneros was the only daughter among seven children.

·        Sandra moved back and forth between Chicago and Mexico City throughout her childhood. Her father was Mexican and had close ties to his family, while her mother was Mexican-American and had lived her life in Chicago.

Education

·        In addition to writing, Cisneros has taught at the Latino Youth Alternative High School in Chicago and has been a college recruiter and counselor for minority students at Loyala University of Chicago. She served as literature director for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was an artist in residence at the Foundation Michael Karolyi in France. She has been a guest professor at

·        California State University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Irvine, Univerity of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Cisneros is also a member of Mujeres por la Paz, a women's peace group which helps organize.

 

Motivations

·        Her brothers attempts to make her assume a traditional female role is reflected in the feminist strains of her writing, glorifying heroines who dream of economic independence and celebrating the "wicked" sexuality of women.

·        Cisneros' ability to write about these strong characters comes from her childhood experiences. Born in Chicago, growing up in poverty. As the only girl in a family of seven children, Cisneros spent a lot of time by herself. Because her family moved often, she was not able to form lasting friendships.

·        Buddhist-Guadalupana, religion. Did away with Catholicism.

·        Wants to be heard since most Latina women in general have not spoken up in the world

·        Does not believe she’s widening the concept of feminism, but categorizes herself as one. Can not help but think feminist thought due to the overwhelming destruction of women within society.

·        Her work is sometimes upstaged by her biography: articles about her work often
discuss the fact that she is unmarried, though she "likes men a
lot." It has been suggested that the literary world is more
comfortable viewing her as a political activist than as a serious
writer apart from her political affiliations. However, she herself
at times brings her personal views into the spotlight: the 1994
edition of "Mango"

 

Books/Articles

·        The House on Mango Street.

o       In this work, widely celebrated by critics, teachers, adults and adolescents alike, Cisneros introduces the reader to Esperanza- a poor, Latina adolescent who longs for a room of her own and a house of which she can be proud. Although Cisneros is noted primarily for her fiction, and poetry. attention. American Book Award

·        In My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1987),

o       Cisneros writes about her native Chicago, her travels in Europe, and, as reflected in the title, sexual guilt resulting from her strict Catholic upbringing.(Lesbian) A collection of sixty poems, each of which resemble a short story, the work exemplifies one of Cisneros' acclaimed knack for combining and crossing the boundaries of genre.

Cisneros' other works include:

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991), Lannan Foundation Literary Award.

 Poetry collections

Bad Boys and Loose Woman (1994). She has also written a book for juveniles, Pelitos (1994).

 Periodicals

 Including Imagine, Contact II, Glamour, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice and Revista Chicano-Riquena. These works are short in titles but great in fresh literary ideas and cultural experiences, which have made Sandra Cisneros popular. By reaching deep into her Chicana-Mexican heritage and articulating sensations of displacement and longing, Sandra Cisneros has created a lasting tribute to those who must conquer similar battles as she.

Awards

National Endowment for the Arts fellow in 1982 , Paisano Dobie Fellowship Award in 1986, and the MacArthur Fellow Award,1995(most recent).                  

Overall Importance Sandra Cisneros is an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and poet. Cisneros is one of the first Hispanic-American writers who has achieved commercial success. She is lauded by literary scholars and critics for works which help bring the perspective of Chicana women into the mainstream of literary feminism.