As the descendants of Mexican immigrants have settled throughout the
United States, a great literature has emerged, but its correspondances
with the literature of Mexico have gone largely unobserved. In
Bordering Fires, the first anthology to combine writing from both
sides of the Mexican-U.S. border, Cristina Garc'a presents a richly
diverse cross-cultural conversation. Beginning with Mexican masters such
as Alfonso Reyes and Juan Rulfo, Garc'a highlights historic voices such
as "the godfather of Chicano literature" Rudolfo Anaya, and Gloria
Anzaldoea, who made a powerful case for language that reflects
bicultural experience. From the fierce evocations of Chicano reality in
Jimmy Santiago Baca's Poem IX to the breathtaking images of identity in
Coral Bracho's poem "Fish of Fleeting Skin," from the work of Carlos
Fuentes to Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo to Octavio Paz, this landmark
collection of fiction, essays, and poetry offers an exhilarating new
vantage point on our continent-and on the best of contemporary
literature.