Serafina's Stories - Softcover

Anaya, Rudolfo

 
9780826335708: Serafina's Stories

Synopsis

New Mexico's master storyteller creates a southwestern version of the Arabian Nights in this fable set in seventeenth-century Santa Fe. In January 1680 a dozen Pueblo Indians are charged with conspiring to incite a revolution against the colonial government. When the prisoners are brought before the Governor, one of them is revealed as a young woman. Educated by the friars in her pueblo's mission church, Serafina speaks beautiful Spanish and surprises the Governor with her fearlessness and intelligence.

The two strike a bargain. She will entertain the Governor by telling him a story. If he likes her story, he will free one of the prisoners. Like Scheherezade, who prevented her royal husband from killing her by telling him stories, Serafina keeps the Governor so entertained with her versions of Nuevo Mexicano cuentos that he spares the lives of all her fellow prisoners.

Some of the stories Serafina tells will have a familiar ring to them, for they came from Europe and were New Mexicanised by the Spanish colonists. Some have Pueblo Indian plots and characters - and it is this blending of the two cultures that is Anaya's true subject.

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About the Author

Rudolfo Anaya, widely acclaimed as one of the founders of modern Chicano literature, is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico, USA. He is best known for the classic Bless Me Ultima.

From the Back Cover

Anaya blends Spanish folktales with Pueblo Indian myths to create a charming New Mexican version of the Arabian Nights.

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780826335692: Serafina's Stories

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0826335691 ISBN 13:  9780826335692
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2004
Hardcover