Entre letras y ladrillos: autobiografía novelada

Miguel Mendez was born in Bisbee, Arizona, in 1930. His voracious reading since childhood and his early incursion into literary fiction helped to shape his writing skills. His first books were based on his experiences as an agricultural and construction worker from 1945 to 1970. Self-taught, he received a doctorate of humane letters honoris causa and is a full professor at the University of Arizona. As a writer he has been praised in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. Among his works are Los criaderos humanos (poetry, 1975), Cuentos para ninos traviesos (1979), El Sueno de Santa Maria de la Piedras (novel, 1986), De la vida y del folclore de la frontera (1986), Que no mueran los suenos (short stories, 1991, winner of the Jose Fuentes Mares National Literature Prize in Mexico), Peregrinos de Aztlan (4th edition, 1991, Bilingual Press), and Los muertos tambien cuentan (novel, 1995).

The first novel by this Chicano author with autobiographical details, Entre letras y ladrillos is interesting not only because it is another novel written in his unique style but because it permits us a glimpse at the real life of the author Miguel Mendez.