Overview

Ends of Assimilation examines how Chicano literature imagines the conditions and costs of cultural change, arguing that its thematic preoccupation with assimilation illuminates the function of literature. John Alba Cutler shows how mid-century sociologists advanced a model of assimilation that ignored the interlinking of race, gender, and sexuality and characterized American culture as homogeneous, stable, and exceptional. He demonstrates how Chicano literary works from the postwar period to the present understand culture as dynamic and self-consciously promote literature as a medium for influencing the direction of cultural change. With original analyses of works by canonical and noncanonical writers--from Américo Paredes, Sandra Cisneros, and Jimmy Santiago Baca to Estela Portillo Trambley, Alfredo Véa, and Patricia Santana--Ends of Assimilation demands that we reevaluate assimilation, literature, and the very language we use to talk about culture.

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9780190210113

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Reviews

Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity

A game-changing book, Ends of Assimilation is unquestionably one of the most important recent studies evolving from the field of Chicano/a literary and cultural studies. Given its ability to engage with myriad areas of scholarly inquiry through adoption of a (necessarily) interdisciplinary framework, Cutler's book will prove exemplary for scholars working across time periods and national traditions who wish to emphasise a critical link between literature, sociology and history. Moreover, its understanding of Chicano/a literature as a kind of 'counterpublic' supplies us with a way to understand literary cultures as contingent upon competing historical formations and the social and political contexts in which such literary cultures materialise. --Richard T. Rodriguez, Literature & History Perhaps nowhere will Cutler's thesis be most immediately tested than in interrogating the two most recent trends in Mexican American literary production: chica-lit and Young Adult fiction (very often they coincide)...Because of the political and cultural spheres that have shaped assimilation as the determining discourse for the acceptance or rejection of people of Hispanic descent in the US, Ends of Assimilation will be with us for a long while. It offers us an opportunity as scholars and teachers to understand anew all our students in the classroom, especially those Dreamers who fight so hard to be there, and it will give us solace and critical direction every time a public figure like Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel is made out to embody everything that is wrong with America. --Jose Aranda, ALH Online Review Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. -- John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. -- Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! --Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity

In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! * Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity * Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. * Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory * Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. * John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature * Well written and exquisitely researched ... Ends of Assimilation: The Formation of Chicano Literature is a timely, original, and provocative study. While mainly addressing longterm issues in Chicano studies, Cutlers findings have deep implications for other fields in Latino studies. * Jose Aranda, ALH Online Review *

Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. -- John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. -- Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! --Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity

Well written and exquisitely researched ... Ends of Assimilation: The Formation of Chicano Literature is a timely, original, and provocative study. While mainly addressing longterm issues in Chicano studies, Cutlers findings have deep implications for other fields in Latino studies. Jose Aranda, ALH Online Review Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity

Elegantly lucid, Ends of Assimilation traces the complex institutional dynamics of Chicana/o literature as it emerges in critical dialog with assimilation sociology. In writing the first systematic analysis of this relationship, Cutler has crafted an invaluable guide for understanding the origins and future directions of Latina/o literary scholarship. -- John Moran Gonzalez, author of Border Renaissance: The Texas Centennial and the Emergence of Mexican American Literature Bringing together literary works and theories of assimilation, Ends of Assimilation sharpens our understanding of the ways in which Chicano writers have engaged and challenged ideas about assimilation in the United States. Cutler deftly draws attention to assimilation discourse as both an ideology and cultural artifact in this original and timely study. -- Catherine S. Ramirez, author of The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory In Ends of Assimilation, John Alba Cutler compellingly rethinks the history of Chicana/o literature by bringing it into conversation with assimilation sociology, a heretofore neglected critical task. Every chapter is filled with deft, nuanced interpretations that made me rethink what I know about the classics of Chicana/o literature as well as more contemporary works. In just one monograph, Cutler has reshaped the history of Chicana/o literature. A must read! --Ralph Rodriguez, author of Brown Gumshoes: Detective Fiction and the Search for Chicana/o Identity

Author Information

John Alba Cutler is Assistant Professor of English at Northwestern University.

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