Cisneros Work

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Cisneros After writing The House of Mango Street, which was primarily written in English. Sandra Cisneros discovered that Spanish has a role in her work. "The syntax, the sensibility, the diminutives, the way of looking at inanimate objects" were all characteristic of Spanish. Enjoys manipulating the two languages, creating new expressions in English by literally translating Spanish phrases. For Cisneros, Spanish brings to her work not only colourful expressions, but also a distinctive rhythm and attitude. As a Chicana author, Cisneros filled a void by bringing to the fore a genre that had previously been at the margins of mainstream literature.With her first novel, The House on Mango Street, she moved away from the poetic style that was common in Chicana literature at the time and began to define a "distinctive Chicana literary space", challenging familiar literary forms and addressing subjects such as gender inequality and the marginalization of cultural minorities.

Sandra Cisneros : Voices From the Gaps : University of Minnesota

Sandra Cisneros : Voices From the Gaps : University of Minnesota:
"My mother says when I grow older my dusty hair will settle and my blouse will learn to stay clean, but I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain. In the movies there is always one with red red lips who is beautiful and cruel. She is the one who drives men crazy and laughs them all the way. Her power is her own. She will not give it away.
— The House on Mango Street"

Quotes by the Author

"You bring out the Mexican in me.
The hunkered thick dark spiral.
The core of a heart howl.
The bitter bile.
The tequila lágrimas on Saturday all
through next weekend Sunday.
You are the one I’d let go the other loves for
surrender my one-woman house.
Allow you red wine in bed,
even with my vintage lace linens.
Maybe. Maybe.
For you.
Quiero ser tuya. Only yours. Only you.
Quiero amarte. Atarte. Amarrarte.
Love the way a Mexican woman loves. Let
me show you . Love the only way I know how."
— Sandra Cisneros (Loose Woman: Poems) http://www.goodreads.com/

Sandra Cisneros Writing Style

She often incorporates Spanish into her English writing, substituting Spanish words for English ones where she feels that Spanish better conveys the meaning or improves the rhythm of the passage. For example, In Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories Cisneros writes: "La Gritona. Such a funny name for such a lovely arroyo. But that's what they called the creek that ran behind the house." Even if the English-speaking reader does not initially know that arroyo means creek, Cisneros soon translates it in a way that does not interrupt the flow of the text. Also, on her novel The House of Mango Street, Cisneros also writes: "And at the next full moon, I gave light, Tía Chucha holding up our handsome, strong-lunged boy." Previous sentences inform the reader that a baby is being born, but only a Spanish speaker will notice that "I gave light" is a literal translation of the Spanish "di la luz" which means "I gave birth." Cisneros said of these playful hybrids: "All of a sudden something happens to the English, something really new is happening, a new spice is added to the English language."

Sandra Cisneros "My Biography"

I was born in Chicago in l954, the third child and only daughter in a family of seven children. I studied at Loyola University of Chicago (B.A. English 1976) and the University of Iowa (M.F.A. Creative Writing 1978).

I've worked as a teacher and counselor to high-school dropouts, as an artist-in-the schools where I taught creative writing at every level except first grade and pre-school, a college recruiter, an arts administrator, and as a visiting writer at a number of universities including the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. www.sandracisneros.com/bio.php


 I am the president and founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of socially engaged writers working to advance creativity, foster generosity, and honor our communities; and the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation, a grant-giving institution serving Texas writers. I'm also Writer-in-Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. 

Critical Reception

Interestingly, Sandra Cisneros' works have not resulted in a Critical Reception quite the opposite has happened. In review of The House on Mango Street, we see a genre that has started out without those high expectations, but over time it has become widely known-

It was awarded the Before Columbus American Book Award in 1985, and has been taught in a variety of academic disciplines including Women's Studies, Ethnic Studies, English, Creative Writing, Sociology, and even Sex Education. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even though Mango Street has been highly acclaimed, her collection of poems, My Wicked Wicked Ways, is perhaps the most widely read. Cisneros could be considered a fresh new voice in Chicana literature. According to Cynthia ToEmpkins of Arizona State University West, "Today Cisneros is perhaps the most visible Chicana in mainstream literary circles. The vividness of her vignettes and the lyrical quality of her prose attest to her craft". Among other awards over the years, Cisneros received the first of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in 1982 that allowed her to write full time. Hopefully Sandra Cisneros will be able to keep on writing for many years to come.

Sandra Cisneros ways of writing is unique because...

She is an American writer best known for her acclaimed first novel The House on Mango Street in 1984 and her subsequent short story collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories in 1991. Sandra Cisneros's work experiments with literary forms and investigates emerging subject positions, which Cisneros herself attributes to growing up in a context of cultural hybridity and economic inequality that endowed her with unique stories to tell. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and is regarded as a key figure in Chicana literature.

Discussion On The Major Works of Sandra Cisneros

Sandra is professionally known for a very popular form of short narrative tales in her writing of the book, The House on Mango Street (1983). The story of an adolescent coming of age, these stories offer a snapshot into a young womans role in society. As described by her daughter in a short summary of her hispanic pieces of literature..."these are short stories of a catholic girl punished who reflectes on wax paper and the laundry mat."

- She said "I'm a poet, I just write this naively." However her collection of poetry is quite modest.


She also wrote other major works such as Bad Boys, Caramelo, Hairs or Pelitos, Loose Women, My Wicked Wicked Ways, and Vintage Cisneros.

Cisneros' whole identity is formed by herby her neighborhood, her struggles as a writer, and a feminist who shows control.