In the Name of Salome Ny Times Review

American poet, novelist, essayist

Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez
Born	(1950-03-27) March 27, 1950 (historic period 72) New York City, New York, U.Due south.
Language	English language
Alma mater	Connecticut Higher, Syracuse University, Middlebury Higher
Notable works	In the Time of the Butterflies How the García Girls Lost Their Accents Before We Were Gratis A Gift of Gracias A Wedding ceremony in Haiti
Notable awards	National Medal of Arts (2014)[ane]
Spouse	Neb Eichner (1989–present)[2]
Website
world wide web.juliaalvarez.com

Julia Alvarez (born March 27, 1950) is an American New Formalist poet, novelist, and essayist. She rose to prominence with the novels How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), and Yo! (1997). Her publications every bit a poet include Homecoming (1984) and The Adult female I Kept to Myself (2004), and as an essayist the autobiographical compilation Something to Declare (1998). Many literary critics regard her to be one of the most meaning Latina writers and she has achieved critical and commercial success on an international scale.

Julia Alvarez has besides written several books for younger readers. Her first picture show book for children was "The Cloak-and-dagger Footprints" published in 2002. Alvarez has gone on to write several other books for young readers, including the "Tía Lola" volume serial.^[iii]

Born in New York, she spent the first x years of her childhood in the Dominican Democracy, until her male parent's involvement in a political rebellion forced her family to abscond the country. Many of Alvarez's works are influenced by her experiences as a Dominican-American, and focus heavily on issues of immigration, assimilation, and identity. She is known for works that examine cultural expectations of women both in the Dominican Democracy and the U.s.a., and for rigorous investigations of cultural stereotypes. In recent years, Alvarez has expanded her discipline affair with works such as 'In the Name of Salomé (2000)', a novel with Cuban rather than solely Dominican characters and fictionalized versions of historical figures.

In improver to her successful writing career, Alvarez is the current writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.

Biography [edit]

Early on life and education [edit]

Julia Alvarez was built-in in 1950 in New York Urban center.^[iv] When she was 3 months old, her family moved back to the Dominican Republic, where they lived for the next ten years.^[5] She attended the Carol Morgan School.^[six] She grew up with her extended family in sufficient comfort to enjoy the services of maids.^[vii] Critic Silvio Sirias believes that Dominicans value a talent for story-telling; Alvarez developed this talent early on and was "often chosen upon to entertain guests".^[eight] In 1960, the family was forced to abscond to the United States after her begetter participated in a failed plot to overthrow the island's military dictator, Rafael Trujillo,^[9] circumstances which would after be revisited in her writing: her novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, for case, portrays a family that is forced to leave the Dominican Republic in like circumstances,^[10] and in her poem, "Exile", she describes "the night we fled the land" and calls the feel a "loss much larger than I understood".^[11]

Alvarez's transition from the Dominican Republic to the Us was hard; Sirias comments that she "lost well-nigh everything: a homeland, a language, family unit connections, a way of agreement, and a warmth".^[12] She experienced alienation, homesickness, and prejudice in her new surroundings.^[11] In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, a grapheme asserts that trying to raise "consciousness [in the Dominican Republic]... would be like trying for cathedral ceilings in a tunnel".^[13]

Equally one of the few Latin American students in her Catholic school, Alvarez faced discrimination because of her heritage.^[14] This acquired her to turn inward and led to her fascination with literature, which she called "a portable homeland".^[12] She was encouraged by many of her teachers to pursue writing, and from a young age, was certain that this was what she wanted to practice with her life.^[eleven] At the age of thirteen, her parents sent her to Abbot Academy, a boarding school, because the local schools were non considered sufficient.^[xv] As a result, her relationship with her parents suffered, and was farther strained when every summer she returned to the Dominican Republic to "reinforce their identities not merely as Dominicans simply besides as proper young lady".^[16] These intermittent exchanges between countries informed her cultural understanding, the basis of many of her works.^[xv]

After graduating from Abbot University in 1967, she attended Connecticut College from 1967 to 1969 (where she won the Benjamin T. Marshall Poesy Prize) and then transferred to Middlebury College, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa (1971). She then received a master's degree from Syracuse University (1975).^[15]

Career [edit]

After acquiring a master's degree in 1975, Alvarez took a position as a writer-in-residence for the Kentucky Arts Committee. She traveled throughout the state visiting simple schools, high schools, colleges and communities, conducting writing workshops and giving readings. She attributes these years with providing her a deeper understanding of America and helping her realize her passion for teaching. After her work in Kentucky, she extended her educational endeavors to California, Delaware, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington D.C, and Illinois.^[17]

Alvarez was a Visiting Assistant Professor of English language for the University of Vermont, in Burlington, VT for a ii-year appointment in creative writing, 1981–83. She taught fiction and poetry workshops, introductory and avant-garde (for upperclassmen and graduate students) likewise as a class on fiction (lecture format, 45 students).^[xviii]

In add-on to writing, Alvarez holds the position of writer-in-residence at Middlebury College, where she teaches artistic writing on a part-time basis.^[17] Alvarez currently resides in the Champlain Valley in Vermont. She has served as a panelist, consultant, and editor, as a judge for literary awards such as the PEN/Newman'south Own Commencement Amendment Award and the Casa de las Américas Prize,^[xix] and also gives readings and lectures across the state.^[twenty] She and her partner, Bill Eichner, an ophthalmologist, created Alta Gracia, a farm-literacy center dedicated to the promotion of environmental sustainability and literacy and education worldwide.^{[21] [22]} Alvarez and her married man purchased the farm in 1996 with the intent to promote cooperative and independent coffee-farming in the Dominican Republic.^[23] Alvarez is part of Border of Lights, an activist group that encourages positive relations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.^[24]

Literary writing [edit]

"Who touches this poem touches a woman"

Alvarez is regarded as one of the near critically and commercially successful Latina writers of her fourth dimension.^[25] Her published works include five novels, a book of essays, three collections of poetry, four children'southward books, and two works of boyish fiction.^[26]

Amidst her first published works were collections of poetry; The Homecoming, published in 1984, was expanded and republished in 1996.^[2] Poesy was Alvarez'southward first form of creative writing and she explains that her love for poetry has to do with the fact that "a poem is very intimate, heart-to-heart".^[27] Her poetry celebrates nature and the detailed rituals of daily life, including domestic chores. Her poems portray stories of family life and are frequently told from the perspective of women. She questions patriarchal privilege and examines problems of exile, absorption, identity, and the struggle of the lower class in an introspective style. She found inspiration for her work from a modest painting from 1894 by Pierre Bonnard called The Circus Rider.^[28] Her poems, critic Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez suggests, requite voice to the immigrant struggle.^[29]

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, Alvarez'due south start novel, was published in 1991, and was soon widely acclaimed. Information technology is the first major novel written in English language by a Dominican author.^[30] A largely personal novel, the volume details themes of cultural hybridization and the struggles of a post-colonial Dominican Republic.^{[31] [32]} Alvarez illuminates the integration of the Latina immigrant into the U.Due south. mainstream and shows that identity tin can be securely affected by gender, ethnic, and grade differences.^[33] She uses her own experiences to illustrate deep cultural contrasts between the Caribbean area and the United states of america.^[34] So personal was the textile in the novel, that for months after information technology was published, her mother refused to speak with her; her sisters were also non pleased with the book.^[22] The volume has sold over 250,000 copies, and was cited as an American Library Clan Notable Book.^[35]

Released in 1994, her second novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, has a historical premise and elaborates on the decease of the Mirabal sisters during the fourth dimension of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. In 1960, their bodies were found at the lesser of a cliff on the n declension of the island, and it is said they were a part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the oppressive government of the country at the time. These legendary figures are referred to as Las Mariposas, or The Butterflies.^[36] This story portrays women as strong characters who have the power to modify the form of history, demonstrating Alvarez'due south affinity for strong female protagonists and anti-colonial movements.^[37] As Alvarez has explained:

"I promise that through this fictionalized story I will bring acquaintance of these famous sisters to English speaking readers. November 25, the day of their murders is observed in many Latin American countries as the International Day Confronting Violence Toward Women. Evidently, these sisters, who fought one tyrant, have served equally models for women fighting against injustices of all kinds."^[36]

In 1997, Alvarez published Yo!, a sequel to How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, which focuses solely on the character of Yolanda.^[38] Cartoon from her ain experiences, Alvarez portrays the success of a writer who uses her family as the inspiration for her work.^[38] Yo! could be considered Alvarez's musings and criticism of her own literary success.^[39] Alvarez's opinions on the hybridization of culture are frequently conveyed through the employ of Castilian-English malapropisms, or Spanglish; such expressions are especially prominent in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Alvarez describes the language of the grapheme of Laura every bit "a mishmash of mixed-upwardly idioms and sayings".^[40]

In 2001, Julia Alvarez published her first children's pic book, "The Secret Footprints". This book was written by Alvarez, and illustrated past Fabian Negrin. The book was almost the Ciguapas, which are function of a Dominican legend. The Ciguapas are a fictional people that take dark peel, black eyes, with long, shiny pilus that flows down the length their bodies. They have astern feet, so that when they walk their footprints point backward. The main character is named Guapa, and she is described every bit existence bold, and has a fascination with humans to the point that it threatens the secrecy of the Ciguapas. The book features themes such as community, curiosity, difference, gender roles, and folklore.

In the Proper noun of Salomé (2000) is a historical novel based on the lives of Salomé Ureña and of Camila Henríquez Ureña, both Dominican writers and respectively female parent and girl, to illustrate how they devoted their lives to political causes. The novel takes place in several locations, including the Dominican Republic earlier a backdrop of political turbulence, Communist Cuba in the 1960s, and several university campuses across the United States, containing themes of empowerment and activism. Every bit the protagonists of this novel are both women, Alvarez illustrates how these women, "came together in their common honey of [their homeland] and in their faith in the power of women to forge a censor for Out Americas."^[41] This book has been widely acclaimed for its careful historical inquiry and captivating story, and was described by Publishers Weekly every bit "one of the most politically moving novels of the by half century."^[41]

In 2020, Alvarez published her start developed novel in xiv years, Afterlife. Alvarez was lxx-years-old when Afterlife was published; having fabricated her proper noun on poignant coming-of-age stories, Alvarez shifted her focus towards "the disorienting transition into former age." The principal protagonist is grounded in both American and Dominican cultures, reflecting Alvarez'south ain background. Alvarez freely incorporates Spanish words and phrases into the story without the use of italics, quotations, or translations.^[42]

Influence on Latin American literature [edit]

Alvarez is regarded as one of the most critically and commercially successful Latina writers of her time.^[25] Every bit Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez observes, Alvarez is function of a movement of Latina writers that also includes Sandra Cisneros and Cristina García, all of whom weave together themes of the experience of straddling the borders and cultures of Latin America and the U.s.a..^[43] Coonrod Martínez suggests that a subsequent generation of Dominican-American writers, such as Angie Cruz, Loida Maritza Pérez, Nelly Rosario, and Junot Díaz, accept been inspired by Alvarez's success.^[43] Alvarez has admitted that:

"..the bad part of existence a 'Latina Writer' is that people desire to make me into a spokesperson. There is no spokesperson! There are many realities, different shades and classes".^[44]

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is the commencement novel by a Dominican-American woman to receive widespread acclaim and attending in the United States.^[45] The book portrays ethnic identity equally problematic on several levels. Alvarez challenges usually held assumptions of multiculturalism as strictly positive. She views much of immigrant identity as profoundly affected by ethnic, gendered, and class conflict.^[45] According to critic Ellen McCracken:

"Transgression and incestuous overtones may non exist the usual fare of the mainstream's desirable multicultural commodity, simply Alvarez'due south deployment of such narrative tactics foregrounds the axis of the struggle confronting abuse of patriarchal ability in this Dominican American's early contribution to the new Latina narrative of the 1990s."^[46]

Regarding the women's movement in writing, Alvarez explains:

"...definitely, still, there is a drinking glass ceiling in terms of female novelists. If nosotros have a female character, she might be engaging in something monumental simply she's also changing the diapers and doing the cooking, still doing things which get information technology chosen a adult female's novel. You know, a man'southward novel is universal; a woman's novel is for women."^[47]

Alvarez claims that her aim is not simply to write for women, but to also bargain with universal themes that illustrate a more general interconnectedness.^[43] She explains:

"What I try to exercise with my writing is to motion out into those other selves, other worlds. To become more and more of us."^[48]

Equally an analogy of this point, Alvarez writes in English near issues in the Dominican Democracy, using a combination of both English language and Spanish.^[48] Alvarez feels empowered by the notion of populations and cultures around the earth mixing, and considering of this, identifies as a "Denizen of the Earth".^[48]

Grants and honors [edit]

Alvarez has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. Some of her poetry manuscripts now have a permanent home in the New York Public Library, where her work was featured in an exhibit, "The Mitt of the Poet: Original Manuscripts by 100 Masters, From John Donne to Julia Alvarez."^[49] She received the Lamont Prize from the Academy of American Poets in 1974, outset prize in narrative from the Tertiary Woman Printing Honor in 1986, and an honor from the Full general Electric Foundation in 1986.^[50] In 2009, she received the Fitzgerald Honour for Accomplishment in American Literature.

How the García Girls Lost Their Accents was the winner of the 1991 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award for works that nowadays a multicultural viewpoint.^[50] Yo! was selected as a notable volume by the American Library Association in 1998. Before We Were Free won the Belpre Medal in 2004,^[51] and Return to Sender won the Belpre Medal in 2010.^[52] She also received the 2002 Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature.^[53]

Bibliography [edit]

Fiction [edit]

• How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. Chapel Loma, NC: Algonquin Books, 1991. ISBN 978-0-945575-57-three
• In the Time of the Butterflies. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 1994. ISBN 978-ane-56512-038-nine
• Yo!. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-452-27918-half dozen
• In the Name of Salomé. Chapel Colina, NC: Algonquin Books, 2000. ISBN 978-1-56512-276-5
• Saving the World: A Novel. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books, 2006. ISBN 978-1-56512-510-0
• Afterlife: A Novel. Chapel Colina, NC: Algonquin Books, 2020. ISBN 978-1-64375-025-5^[54]

Children'due south and immature adult [edit]

• The Secret Footprints. New York: Knopf, 2000.
• A Cafecito Story. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2001. ISBN 978-1-931498-00-5
• How Tia Lola Came to visit Stay. New York: Knopf, 2001. ISBN 978-0-375-90215-4
• Before We Were Costless. New York: A. Knopf. 2002. ISBN978-0-375-81544-7.
• Finding Miracles. New York: Knopf, 2004. ISBN 978-0-375-92760-7
• A Gift of Gracias: The Fable of Altagracia. New York: Knopf. 2005. ISBN978-0-375-82425-eight.
• El mejor regalo del mundo: la leyenda de la Vieja Belen / The All-time Gift of All: The Legend of La Vieja Belen. Miami: Alfaguara, 2009. (bilingual volume)
• Render to Sender. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2009. ISBN978-0-375-85838-three.
• How Tia Lola Learned to Teach . New York: Knopf. 2010. ISBN978-0-375-86460-five.
• How Tía Lola Saved the Summer. New York: Knopf. 2011. ISBN978-0-375-86727-9.
• Where Do They Become?. New York: 7 Stories Press, 2016. ISBN 978-1-609-80670-5

Verse [edit]

• The Other Side (El Cocko), Dutton, 1995, ISBN 978-0-525-93922-1
• Homecoming: New and Selected Poems, Plume, 1996, ISBN 978-0-452-27567-6 – reissue of 1984 volume, with new poems
• The Woman I Kept to Myself, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2004; 2011, ISBN 978-1-61620-072-v

Nonfiction [edit]

• Something to Declare, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1998, ISBN 978-1-56512-193-5 (collected essays)
• Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the U.s.a.. Penguin. 2007. ISBN978-0-670-03873-two.
• A Wedding in Haiti: The Story of a Friendship. 2012.

See also [edit]

• Caribbean literature
• Latin American literature
• Latino literature

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Palomo, Elvira (ii Baronial 2014). "Julia Álvarez: La literatura ejercita la imaginación y el corazón" (in Castilian). Washington, D. C.: Listín Diario. EFE. Retrieved two August 2014.
2. ^ ^{a b} Trupe 2011, p. 5.
3. ^ SiennaMoonfire.com, Sienna Moonfire Designs: "BOOKS: FOR YOUNG READERS OF ALL AGES." Books for Young Readers of All Ages past Julia Alvarez, www.juliaalvarez.com/immature-readers/#footprints.
4. ^ "Julia Alvarez". Biography.com . Retrieved March 17, 2019.
5. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 135
6. ^ Alvarez, Julia (1987). "An American Childhood in the Dominican Democracy". The American Scholar. 56 (ane): 71–85. Retrieved 2021-06-28 .
7. ^ Alvarez 1998, p. 116
8. ^ Sirias 2001, p. i
9. ^ Solar day 2003, p. 33
10. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 4
11. ^ ^{a b c} Day 2003, p. 40
12. ^ ^{a b} Sirias 2001, p. 2
13. ^ Alvarez 2005, p. 121
14. ^ Julia Alvarez. "About Me:Julia Alvarez". Retrieved 25 Oct 2011.
15. ^ ^{a b c} Sirias 2001, p. 3
16. ^ Johnson 2005, p. eighteen
17. ^ ^{a b} Sirias 2001, p. iv
18. ^ [1] Julia Alverez Vita
19. ^ "Vita". juliaalvarez.com. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
20. ^ Day 2003, p. 41
21. ^ "Café Alta Gracia – Organic Java from the Dominican Republic". Cafealtagracia.com. Archived from the original on 2008-x-21. Retrieved 2008-10-13 .
22. ^ ^{a b} Sirias 2001, p. v
23. ^ Coonrod Martínez 2007, p. 9
24. ^ "Author Julia Alvarez on Having Dual Citizenship". AARP . Retrieved 2018-xi-26 .
25. ^ ^{a b} Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 131
26. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 133
27. ^ Kevane 2001, p. 23
28. ^ "Celebrating The Phillips Collection'due south 90th Altogether". NPR. 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2010-01-04 .
29. ^ Coonrod Martínez 2007, p. eleven
30. ^ Augenbraum & Olmos 2000, p. 114
31. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 137
32. ^ Frey 2006
33. ^ McCracken 1999, p. 80
34. ^ McCracken 1999, p. 139
35. ^ Sirias 2001, p. 17
36. ^ ^{a b} Twenty-four hours 2003, p. 45
37. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 144
38. ^ ^{a b} Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 142
39. ^ Dalleo & Machado Sáez 2007, p. 143
40. ^ Kafka 2000, p. 96
41. ^ ^{a b} Twenty-four hour period 2003, p. 44
42. ^ Francisco Cantú (Apr v, 2020). "In Her Start Adult Novel in fourteen Years, Julia Alvarez Travels Dwelling". New York Times.
43. ^ ^{a b c} Coonrod Martínez 2007, p. viii
44. ^ Sirias 2001, p. 6
45. ^ ^{a b} McCracken 1999, p. 31
46. ^ McCracken 1999, p. 32
47. ^ Qtd. in Coonrod Martínez 2007, pp. half dozen, 8
48. ^ ^{a b c} Kevane 2001, p. 32
49. ^ "Julia Alvarez", Bookreporter.com, The Book Study, retrieved 2008-11-eleven
50. ^ ^{a b} Julia Alvarez Biography, Emory University, retrieved 2008-12-04
51. ^ The Pura Belpré Award winners, American Library Clan, retrieved 2010-09-26
52. ^ 2010 Author Award Winner, American Library Clan, retrieved 2010-09-26
53. ^ "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
54. ^ Millares Immature, Kristen (Apr viii, 2020). "In Julia Alvarez's 'Afterlife,' a widow faces a moral quandary". The Washington Mail service . Retrieved Apr 9, 2020.

References [edit]

• Alvarez, Julia (1998). Something to Declare. .
• Alvarez, Julia (2005). How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Plume. ISBN978-0-452-28707-v. .
• Augenbraum, Harold F; Olmos, Margarite, eds. (2000). U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers . New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-31137-6. .
• Coonrod Martínez, Elizabeth (March–April 2007). "Julia Alvarez: Progenitor of a Movement". Americas. 59 (2): 6–thirteen. Retrieved 2008-11-xv . .
• Dalleo, Raphael; Machado Sáez, Elena (2007). The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Mail service-Sixties Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN978-one-4039-7796-0. .
• Day, Frances A. (2003). Latina and Latino Voices in Literature: Lives and Works (Updated and expanded ed.). New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-32394-2. .
• Frey, Hillary (April 23, 2006). "To the Rescue. Review of Saving the World". The New York Times . Retrieved 2008-eleven-02 . .
• Johnson, Kelli Lyon (2005). Julia Alvarez: Writing a New Place on the Map . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN978-0-8263-3651-4. .
• Kafka, Philippa (2000). "Saddling La Gringa": Gatekeeping in Literature by Contemporary Latina Writers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN978-0-313-31122-two. .
• Kevane, Bridget (2001). "Citizen of the World: An Interview with Julia Alvarez". In Kevane, Bridget A.; Heredia, Juanita (eds.). Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women Writers. Tucson, AZ: Academy of New Mexico Press. pp. nineteen–32. ISBN978-0-8263-1972-ii. .
• Kevane, Bridget (2008). Profane and Sacred: Latino/a American Writers Reveal the Interplay of the Secular and the Religious. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN978-0-7425-4315-7. .
• Machado Sáez, Elena (2015). "Writing the Reader: Literacy and Contradictory Pedagogies in Julia Alvarez, Michelle Cliff, and Marlon James". Market place Aesthetics: The Purchase of the Past in Caribbean Diasporic Fiction. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN978-0-8139-3705-2. .
• McCracken, Ellen (1999). New Latina Narrative: The Feminine Space of Postmodern Ethnicity. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona. ISBN978-0-8165-1941-5. .
• Sirias, Silvio (2001), Julia Alvarez: A Disquisitional Companion, Westport, CT: Greenwood, ISBN978-0-313-30993-9 .
• Trupe, Alice (30 March 2011). Reading Julia Alvarez. ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-0-313-38395-3.

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Julia Alvarez Papers are held at the Harry Ransom Center, The Academy of Texas at Austin.
• Julia Alvarez recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division's audio literary archive on March 4, 2015

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Alvarez

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