Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language

Telling Tongues: A Latin@ Anthology on Language Experience could easily be used as a textbook in a Chicana/o Literature class. Almost as soon as I started reading it, I was reminded of such a course I took as part of a major in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies. The introduction to the book struck me as fairly academic, but the thirty-two authors’ writing styles vary from edgy and humorous to artistic and experimental.
The poetry section reads like an invigorating walk through a street festival, at times satirical, at times poignant. It gives the reader a taste of the ambivalences of what it means to be on the border of Latino/a and American societies. Through the lens of language this book illustrates the social and political issues embodied in the Mexican American and Chicano/a populations. Besides language and its use, the anthology delves into issues of prejudice, sexuality, and cultural identity.
These themes are explored at greater length in the essay section. Written in English, Spanish, and Spanglish, they cover a range of experiences and attitudes toward language, from Cecilia Isabel Méndez’s celebration of the taste of words on the tongue to Louis Mendoza’s call to action. In whatever languages they speak, these are important voices for all to hear in the United States and beyond.

Julia Richards