SANDRA CISNEROS: FURTHER READING

Biography

Cisneros, Sandra, Feroza Jussawalla, and Reed Way Dasen-brock. "Sandra Cisneros." In Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-CenturyAmerican Women Writers, edited by Susan Cahill, pp. 459-68. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.

Cisneros discusses political, economic, and social concerns, racial issues, and her literary influences.

Criticism

Brunk, Beth L. "En otras voces: Multiple Voices in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street." Hispanofila, no. 133 (September 2001): 137-50.

Analyzes Cisneros's narrative style in The House on Mango Street and the underlying reasons behind these narrative techniques.

Cisneros, Sandra, and Gayle Elliot. "An Interview with Sandra Cisneros." Missouri Review 25, no. 1 (2002): 95-109.

Cisneros explains her political and social motivations, her use of short story and full novel forms, and the importance and power of language.

Curiel, Barbara Brinson. "The General's Pants: A Chicana Feminist (re)Vision of the Mexican Revolution in Sandra Cisneros's 'Eyes of Zapata'." Western American Literature 35, no. 4 (winter 2001): 403-27.

Examines Cisneros's demythologizing of Emiliano Zapata by retelling history through the eyes of Ines, his lover. Through this retelling, Cisneros provides a voice to the many voiceless and almost anonymous women throughout history.

——. "Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. "In Reading U.S. Latina Writers: Remapping American Literature, edited by Alvina E. Quitana, pp. 51-60. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Discusses the major themes in the stories in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, and analyzes Cisneros's dual role as feminist writer and Latina/o culturist.

Doyle, Jacqueline. "More Room of Her Own: Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street." MELUS 19, no. 4 (winter 1994): 5-53.

Evaluates the differences between majority, white feminism and the feminism of minorities by studying differences between Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own and Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Also analyzes feminist ideas of claiming language and space as tools for empowerment.

——. "Haunting the Borderlands: La Llorona in Sandra Cisneros's 'Woman Hollering Creek'." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 16, no. 1 (15 May 1996): 53-70.

Chronicles the struggles of Cleofilas, the protagonist in the short story "Woman Hollering Creek." Cleofilas attempts to control her destiny in a male-dominated society; she is haunted by and grateful to the women in history who shaped her life and have fought within and against the patriarchal system.

Ganz, Robin. "Sandra Cisneros: Border Crossings and Beyond." MELUS 19, no. 1 (spring 1994): 19-29.

Provides biographical information about Cisneros and examines her body of work, noting its poetic prose, medley of narrative voices, and representation of marginalized and silenced people.

González, Myrna-Yamil. "Female Voices in Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. "In U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers, edited by Harold Augenbraum and Margarite Fernández Olmos, pp. 101-11. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Provides discussion of Esperanza's feminist empowerment in The House on Mango Street, examining her taking control of language, home, and her body in the book.

Herrera, Andrea O'Reilly. "'Chambers of Consciousness': Sandra Cisneros and the Development of the Self in the BIG House on Mango Street." In Having Our Way: Woman Rewriting Tradition in Twentieth-Century America (Bucknell Review Series, Vol. 39, No. 1), edited by Harriet Pollack, pp. 191-204. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1995.

Explores the symbolic aspects of space, room, and home in Cisneros's The House on Mango Street.

Herrera-Sobek, Maria. "The Politics of Rape: Sexual Transgression in Chicana Fiction." Americas Review 15, no. 3-4 (fall-winter 1987): 171-81.

Details the use of rape scenes in contemporary Chicana literature as a theme that reinforces the lack of power women experience in a male-dominated society.

Randall, Margaret. "Weaving a Spell." Women's Review of Books 20, no. 1 (October 2002): 1-3.

Provides a positive assessment of Caramelo.

Rangil, Viviana. "Pro-Claiming a Space: The Poetry of Sandra Cisneros and Judith Ortiz Cofer." MultiCultural Review 9, no. 3 (September 2000): 48-51.

Analyzes the dual marginality of Latinas, and uses examples of poetry by Cisneros and Ortiz Cofer to highlight the difficulties faced by women who must fight for both cultural and sexual identity.

Rojas, Maythee G. "Cisneros's 'Terrible' Women: Recuperating the Erotic as a Feminist Source in "Never Marry a Mexican' and 'Eyes of Zapata'." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 20, no. 3 (1999): 135-57.

Studies Cisneros's female protagonists' physical and sexual journeys from male receptacles and possessed objects to self-directed, non-subordinate bodies, and explores the mental and spiritual changes that accompany these efforts.

Saldivar-Hull, Sonia. "Mujeres en Lucha/Mujeres de Fuerza: Women in Struggle/Women of Strength in Sandra Cisneros's Border Narratives." In Feminism on the Border: Chicana Gender Politics and Literature, pp. 81-123. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Illuminates the many borders that appear in Cisneros's poems and short stories, such as physical boundaries, economical chasms, and gender-based demarcations—and her protagonists' attempts to not only cross, but erase these borders.

Szadziuk, Maria. "Culture as Transition: Becoming a Woman in Bi-ethnic Space." Mosaic 32, no. 3 (September 1999): 109-29.

Examines the works of Cisneros, Esmeralda Santiago, and Cherríe Moraga, and explores the authors' similar themes of displacement, their characters' quests for identity, and women's interrelationships.

de Valdes, Maria Elena. "In Search of Identity in Cisneros's The House on Mango Street." Canadian Review of American Studies 23, no. 1 (fall 1992): 55-72.

Examines the connecting themes that run throughout the stories in The House on Mango Street, demonstratesthe poetic quality of Cisneros's writing, and chronicles the protagonist's development toward self-possession.

Wyatt, Jean. "On Not Being La Malinche: Border Negotiations of Gender in Sandra Cisneros's 'Never Marry a Mexican' and 'Woman Hollering Creek'." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 14, no. 2 (fall 1995): 243-71.

Stresses Cisneros's protagonists' efforts to break away from the traditional stereotypical portraits of Mexican woman—typically either as mother/wife or manipulator/whore. Wyatt asserts that the characters attempt to claim sexuality, freedom, and personal space without being labeled or defined by men.

Yarbo-Bejarano, Yvonne. "Chicana Literature from a Chicana Feminist Perspective." Americas Review 15, no. 3-4 (fall-winter 1987): 139-45.

Illustrates the importance of writing as an instrument for liberation for Chicanas, providing a voice for previously silenced and marginalized women.

OTHER SOURCES FROM GALE:

Additional coverage of Cisneros's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: American Writers Supplement, Vol. 7; Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Vols. 9, 53; Contemporary Authors, Vol. 131; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vols. 64, 118; Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vols. 69, 118; Contemporary Women Poets; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 122, 152; DISCovering Authors Modules: Multicultural; DISCovering Authors 3.0; Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Ed. 3; Exploring Novels; Feminist Writers; Hispanic Literature Criticism; Hispanic Writers, Eds. 1, 2; Latino and Latina Writers, Vol. 1; Literature and Its Times, Vol. 5; Literature and Its Times Supplement, Ed. 1; Literature Resource Center; Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, Ed. 2; Major 20th-Century Writers, Ed. 2; Novels for Students, Vol. 2; Poetry Criticism, Vol. 52; Reference Guide to American Literature, Ed. 4; Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Ed. 2; St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers; Short Stories for Students, Vols. 3, 13; Short Story Criticism, Vol. 32; and World Literature and Its Times, Vol. 1.