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As I perused the back cover of a recent Vintage Books edition of The House on Mango Street a short while ago, I read that it has been translated worldwide and that it has become a "classic" work in the canon of coming-of-age novels.This prompted me to think about whether this edition of Mango Street - which appeared identical to my personal copy (an earlier, 1991 Vintage Books edition) - sought to interpellate similar, if not the same, groups of readers that contributed to the consolidation of the unwavering popularity of Cisneros's rite-of-passage book.1 Consequently, upon returning home, I retrieved my copy of Mango Street and saw that its back cover declares that the novel "signals the emergence of a major literary talent." The appeal of Mango Street clearly remains unabated in both the real and literary worlds.2 Yet, the fact that that this book, within six years after its publication in 1 984 by the small, Hispanic publishing house Arte Público, had attracted enough attention to prompt its publication by a mainstream publisher warrants further consideration of the circumstances surrounding its seemingly meteoric rise within the US publishing industry.
According to Alvina Quintana, 1984 was a watershed year that "witnessed a revitalized interest in Chicana literature." Explains Quintana, "Although the National Association for Chicano Studies had organized annual conventions for eleven years, not until 1 984 at the twelfth national conference inAustinTexas were scholars sanctioned by the theme of the convention - Voces de Ia Mujer (women's voices) - to address issues related to an emergent Chicana feminist movement" (54). 3 Quintana refers to the Chicana reading and book signing sessions sponsored by Arte Público as the highlight of the conference, identifying Cisneros in particular as the standout among a group of writers that included Pat Mora, Evangelina Vigil, and Ana Castillo: "Only [her] Mango Street defied the poetic form previously privileged by many Chicana writers. [. . .] Cisneros defined a distinct Chicana literary space [. ..],challenging,atthe least, accepted literary form, gender inequities, and the cultural and economic subordination of minorities" (55). Further, Ramón Saldívar included Cisneros among the Chicana writers whose work, produced in the 1 970s and 1 980s, represented "the most vibrant new development in Chicano narrative" (l7l).These writers were...