Forms of Biculturealism in Southwestern Literature: The Work of Rudolfo Anaya and Leslie Marmon Silko

Abstract One of the important Issues in the consideration of any work by “minority” or “ethnic” writers is the question of categorization: In what category does one place the work? Even more basically, what does one call the work? Should one, to use the examples that will concern us here, consider the work of Rudolfo Anaya as Chicano literature and Leslie Marmon Silko as Native American literature? Or are their works more usefully considered as part of American literature? Such questions are often dismissed as trivial by those committed to the notion that we should (and can) approach works of literature in themselves, that the categories with which we organize literature don’t really matter and are only an administrative or institutional convenience.