New Mexico writer Rudolfo Anaya and his wife Patricia have donated a number of original manuscripts to the Center for Southwest Research /Special Collections /Special Collections at the UNM General Library. The manuscripts include various versions of his novels, “Alburquerque, Zia Summer, A Chicano in China , Tortuga , Rio Grande Fall” and others, as well as letters between Anaya and his publishers, and other papers. Of special potential interest to scholars is an unpublished manuscript - his first novel.
The Center for Southwest Research/Special Collections /Special Collections has mounted an exhibit to celebrate the donation. “Escrituras y Honenaje: Ruldolfo A. Anaya” opens today, March 15, and runs through August. It will contain one of the original manuscripts for “Bless Me Ultima” as well as portions of manuscripts, articles and translations of Anaya's work into Japanese, German, Italian and other languages. The exhibit will be in the CSWR Gallery of Zimmerman Library.
Anaya is generally hailed as the first writer who wrote about the coming-of-age experience from a Chicano perspective. He was born in 1937 in the small village of Pastura , New Mexico , the fifth of seven children. Anaya graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He also received a Master of Arts degree in 1968 in English and a M.A. degree in guidance and counseling in 1972. Throughout the 1960's Anaya was a public school teacher in Albuquerque , before moving on to become a counselor at the University of Albuquerque , then joining the UNM faculty in 1974. He taught in the English Department until his retirement in 1993. He now has emeritus status at UNM continues to write.
Anaya has received numerous awards, including the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities' Excellence in the Humanities in 1995, the Mexican Medal of Friendship in 1986, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Fellowship in 1983, the Award for Achievement in Chicano Literature of the Hispanic Caucus of the National Conference of Teachers of English in 1983, and honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the University of Albuquerque in 1981, and the Governor's Award for Literature in 1980.
The exhibit will be in the CSWR Gallery of Zimmerman Library. Anaya's papers are now being inventoried by General Library archivists and are expected to be opened to the public in early fall. “This donation is a gold mine to scholars interested in New Mexico writers and to Chicano literature,” says Teresa Marquez , co-curator of the exhibit. “It will allow scholars to see how the manuscripts changed over time as Anaya worked on them.”
Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627
Posted by kwentworth at March 15, 2004 04:43 PM