Pocket Sundial

Josefina Niggli (1910-1983) was one of the most successful Mexican American writers of the early twentieth century. Born of European parents and raised in Mexico, she spent most of her adult life in the United States, and in her plays and novels she aimed to portray authentic Mexican experiences for English-speaking audiences. Niggli crossed borders, cultures, and genres, and her life and work prompt interesting questions about race, class, gender, modernity, ethnic and national identity, and the formation of literary canons. anthology recovers her historical dramas, most of which have been long out of print or were never published. These plays are deeply concerned with the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, imagining its implications for Mexico, Mexican Americans, and U.S.-Mexico relations. Included are Mexican Silhouettes (1928), Singing Valley (1936), The Cry of Dolores (1936), The Fair God (1936), Soldadera (1938), This Is Villa (1939), and The Ring of General Macias (1943). These works reflect on the making of history and often portray the Revolution through the lens of women's experiences. Niggli, a chronology of her life and writings, and a selection of letters and reviews by, to, and about Josefina Niggli that provide illuminating context for the plays.

Author: Lisa Zeidner
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Published: 08/15/2007
Pages: 104
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.36lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.06w x 0.31d
ISBN: 9780299119249

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/30/1988

About the Author

Lisa Zeidner is associate professor of English at Rutgers University in Camden, where she teaches writing and literature. Her first book of poems, Talking Cure, was published by Texas Tech Press in 1982. She has also written two novels, Customs and Alexandra Freed, both published by Alfred A. Knopf.