The Life and Writing of Fray Angélico Chávez
472 pages, 6 x 9
48 halftones
Paperback
Release Date:01 Mar 2018
ISBN:9780826347619
GO TO CART

The Life and Writing of Fray Angélico Chávez

A New Mexico Renaissance Man

University of New Mexico Press

Winner of the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association

As a teenager, Manuel Chávez (1910-1996) left his native New Mexico for over a decade of study at the St. Francis Seraphic Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and other midwestern institutions. Included in his curriculum was an introduction to literature and the arts that piqued an interest that would follow him the remainder of his life. Upon returning to New Mexico, he was ordained Fray Angélico Chávez and would become one of New Mexico's most important twentieth-century writers.

In The Life and Writing of Fray Angélico Chávez, Ellen McCracken provides a literary biography that includes a deep look into the intellectual and cultural contributions of this Renaissance man. McCracken moves chronologically through a substantial body of work that includes fiction, poetry, plays, essays, spiritual tracts, sermons, historical writing, translation, painting, church renovation, and journalism.

From the prolific creativity of the years of his first assignment in Peña Blanca to the decades he spent researching Hispano genealogy in New Mexico, McCracken traces Chávez's complex and changing identity as an ethnic American and religious subject who was also an historian, artist, creative writer, and preservationist. The year 2010 will mark the centenary of Fray Angélico Chávez's birth, and this volume will serve as a fitting tribute.

Ellen McCracken is a professor of Spanish at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also the author of New Latina Narrative: The Feminine Space of Postmodern Ethnicity and Decoding Women’s Magazines: From Mademoiselle to Ms.

Find what you’re looking for...
Stay Informed

Receive the latest UBC Press news, including events, catalogues, and announcements.


Read past newsletters

Free shipping on online orders over $40

Publishers Represented
UBC Press is the Canadian agent for several international publishers. Visit our Publishers Represented page to learn more.