Graciela Limon: An Inspiration to Younger Authors in Hispanic Literature

Just last month, Loyola Marymount University had the opportunity to host a very important figure and pride to the LMU Chicano/a Studies Department, Graciela Limon. Today her work is a very strong voice in contemporary American Hispanic Literature. A Mexican-America native to East Los Angeles, Graciela Limon earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in Spanish American Literature.
As a child, Graciela Limon’s favorite pastime was reading. She really liked reading the newspaper because that is what was easily accessible to her. As she grew older and began reading novels, Limon dreamed of becoming a novelist someday. After earning her graduate degree, she tried submitting a collection of essays for publication to a few different editors, she was always told that her writing was “more creative than scholarly” and became discouraged (Arte Publico Press Author of the Month: Graciela Limon). “After some time in depression, the word ‘creative’ began to take shape in my thoughts. It sparked the memory of a long-ago dream,” says Graciela Limon. Hence, she decided to take this creativity and become an author of fiction novels based on her experience and emotions that she had encountered in life.
Her first published work titled, In Search of Bernabe (1993), became a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. This novel is based on her collection of stories and historical information she learned through volunteer work in Los Angeles with a Salvadoran immigrant community of refugees and a trip she made herself to El Salvador in the late 70’s. The stories and history of El Salvador and other Central American countries whose populations travel up north in search of the “American dream” also had a great influence in one of her later novels, the River Flows North published in 2009 (Arte Publico). Scholar Ellen McCracken says: “Limón’s novels represent one of the most important contributions to the renaissance of Chicana fiction in the United States in the late 1980s and [the] 1990s. Her work is situated in a transborder experience of the Americas in which the women and men of Central America, Mexico, and Los Angeles come together in political and gender struggles, re-examine their historical past, and narratively employ their future” (Authors and Literary Works).
Among her other novels are The Memories of Ana Calderon (1994), and Song of the Hummingbird (1996), which really focus on the woman’s traditional role in society both in a tradition-bound rural Mexico and in the United States as well. These novels touch on the oppression that women face and how they choose to overcome this through their strength and their “resolve” as Limon likes to call it. “Her novels explore Mexican cultural heritage, focusing on the world of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, and are peopled with characters grappling with issues of cultural and personal identity and sexual autonomy” (Authors and Literary Works). During her visit to LMU Graciela Limon mentioned the importance of writing in her life because to her this is a form of expression through which she can reveal her personal experiences. She can exhibit her life encounters in a very creative way and through fictional characters that others have found they can relate to. She shared the story of a young lady that once contacted her telling Dr. Limon that The Memories of Ana Calderon was the story of her life and that in this novel she found encouragement and inspiration to be a stronger woman.
Graciela Limon is a very inspiring woman, her life story and the novels that she writes are really a combination of the reality with fictional characters faced by the Hispanic and Latin American cultures. Graciela Limon was a faculty at Loyola Marymount University, where she taught U.S. Hispanic Literature and chaired the Department of Chicano Studies and is currently teaching at the University of California Santa Barbara. Her work continues to inspire many other young authors and represent an essential part of Chicana fiction literature.

Additional Sources:

Authors and Literary Works
http://www.learner.org/workshops/hslit/session5/aw/author2.html

You can also find a phone interview on the following website where she mentions her experiences around El Salvador and some of her novels:
Classical 91.7-Arte Público Press Author of the Month: Graciela Limón
Graciela-Limon.html