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The first work of Chicano literature, captivating poetic portrait of Mexican-American life at the beginning of the 20th century that has never before been translated into English.
About the author
Facundo Bernal was a poet and journalist. He grew up in Hermosillo, Mexico during a time of political and social conflict, coming of age just before the Mexican Revolution. With his brother Francisco, he is representative of the bohemian Mexican literature of the era. He died in 1962.
Anthony Seidman is the author of three collections of poetry, including Where Thirsts Intersect (The Bitter Oleander, 2006). His latest collection of poetry, A Sleepless Man Sits Up In Bed, was published in 2016 from Eyewear Publishing of London, England. He lives in Los Angeles.
Gabriel Trujillo Muñoz is a poet, narrator, essayist, and professor at the Autonomous University of Baja California-Mexicali. He is widely considered one of the biggest voices in contemporary Mexican science fiction for more than 30 years. He lives in Mexicali.
Yxta Maya Murray is a lawyer, novelist, art critic, and professor of law at Loyola Law School. She writes widely on gender justice, performance art, and the intersections of law and literature. She lives in Los Angeles.
Josh Kun is an American author, academic and music critic. Kun is an associate professor of communication in the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. He also holds a joint appointment at USC's Department of American Studies and Ethnicity. He lives in Los Angeles.
Boris Dralyuk is the executive editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, and a literary translator.
Summary
Facundo Bernal's A Stab in the Dark (Palos de ciego) is a poetic chronicle of the struggles and joys of the Spanish-speaking community in Los Angeles and in the burgeoning border town of Mexicali during the early 1920s. Sharply satirical yet deeply empathetic, Bernal’s poems are both a landmark of Chicano literature and a captivating read. Anthony Seidman's energetic translation — the first into English — preserves the prickly feel of Bernal’s classic, down to the last stab.
This edition also features the original Spanish text, an introduction by the prominent Mexicali writer Gabriel Trujillo Muñoz, an additional introduction by critic Josh Kun, and a foreword by writer and lawyer Yxta Maya Murray.
