My Father Was a Toltec: and Selected Poems [Paperback]

Ana Castillo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2004 | ISBN-10: 140003499X | ISBN-13: 978-1400034994 | Edition: Bilingual

Mixing the lyrical with the colloquial, the tender with the tough, Ana Castillo has a deserved reputation as one of the country’s most powerful and entrancing novelists, but she began her literary career as a poet of uncompromising commitment and passion. My Father Was a Toltec is the sassy and street-wise collection of poems that established and secured Castillo's place in the popular canon. It is included here in its entirety along with the best of her early poems.

Ana Castillo’s poetry speaks—in English and Spanish—to every reader who has felt the pangs of exile, the uninterrupted joy of love, and the deep despair of love lost.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“If you have read Ana Castillo’s work before, you will not be disappointed. If you have not read Castillo before—where have you been?” —Houston Chronicle

“Ana Castillo is immensely insightful in every sense of the word. Her work…must be read if one is to gain understanding of the landscape of the soul.” —Clarissa Pinkola Estes

About the Author

Ana Castillo is the author of the novels Peel My Love Like an Onion, So Far from God, The Mixquiahuala Letters, and Sapogonia. She has written a story collection, Loverboys; the critical study Massacre of the Dreamers; the poetry collection I Ask the Impossible; and the children’s book My Daughter, My Son, the Eagle, the Dove. She is the editor of the anthology Goddess of the Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe, available from Vintage Español (La diosa de las Américas). Castillo has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Book Award, a Carl Sandburg Award, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Chicago. Find out more about Castillo at her homepage: www.anacastillo.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; Bilingual edition (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140003499X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400034994
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #854,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and sensual journey for the mind....., October 3, 2005

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D. Pawl "Dani" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: My Father Was a Toltec: and Selected Poems (Paperback)

I was first introduced to Ana Castillo, when I read her marvelous novel, "So Far From God" ("Tan Lejos de Dios"), which was a journey through magical realism, Chicana identity and the experience of people who have lived and cultivated the land as far back as ten generations. This was a true example of the indigenous experience in the United States. Totally beautiful and powerful......

"My Father Was a Toltec" doesn't fail to disappoint. This collection of poems looks at the Chicana/indigenous Mexican/female experience in the United States, and in Mexican culture. Ana writes in English, Spanish, Spanglish and sprinkles it with words in Toltec (the culture of her father). Castillo, an avid writer and practicioner of santeria (a mixture of the Catholic and indigenous ritualistic beliefs), truly has a connection to this duel (even triple) identity. Castillo grew up in a Mexican neighborhood, in the South side of Chicago, and finally took a trip with her mother to their native Mexico, when she was older (this is captured in her poetry).

I definitely reccomend this book. Ana Castillo is an auther more readers should know about!! This is such an important example of Latina literature. Those from the culture will identify with her, and those non-Latinos and non-Spanish speakers will definitely receive an education.