The Wetback
and Other Stories
Most of the 14 stories included in this volume were originally published in journals that no longer exist, including El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought, Caracol and Revista Chicano-Riqueña. The author of an important novel—The Road to Tamazunchale—published during the Chicano literary movement of the 1970s, Arias was one of the first to use magic realism and connect U.S. Hispanic literature to its more popular, Latin American cousin. The Wetback and Other Storiesfinally gathers together and makes available the short fiction of a pioneer in Mexican-American literature.
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I felt reading these wonderful stories that I was admitted to an adjacent neighborhood, a rich culture that is another world—call it Amexica—both mysterious and magical, that is persuasive through its tenderness. My hope is that Ron Arias continues to write short stories that tell us who we are.
Paul Theroux, author of The Mosquito Coast
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THE WETBACK AND OTHER STORIES is vintage work, but in many ways it’s a breath of fresh Arias. The plots of most of Arias’ stories redound with magic, illustion, dream. Arias’ compelling writing will call you, lure you…if only in your imagination.
La Bloga