Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - András Tarnóc: Ethnic Consciousness in Chicano Literature: The Voice of "La Raza".

Chicano Poetry Chicano poetry, as an integral part of the "modern poetry of the Americas" has been nurtured by the genre's major innovators. Walt Whitman's propensity to argue for "democratic comprehensiveness" and his rejection of artistic conformity functioned as one of the most important influences on modern American poetry. Furthermore, Whitman's technical achievements, the lack of rhyme and the employment of the free and open verse provide necessary poetic tools for such movimiento poets as Ricárdo Sanchez and Abelardo Delgado. Emily Dickinson's inclusive view "allowing every experience, regardless of how routine or trivial, a place in poetry" left its mark upon Gary Soto and Inez Továr's work. Jose Marti (1853—1895), the Cuban revolutionary's political activism, democratic aesthetic, "simple and unadorned forms" made him one of the paragons of the Chicano movement The Nicaraguan Rubén Darío (1867—1916) is the champion of modernismo, a literary revolt against European artistic values and argues that "change is the only basis of tradition" (Candelaria 22—24). Poetry became the dominant form of expression for several reasons. It functioned as a modern form of the corrido, a vehicle of cultural resistance itself, it was a shorter, more cost-effective mode of communication, and with the oral readings it provided instant audience feedback. Furthermore its modes of expression matched contemporary literary demands for free verse as Charles Olson defined the poem as "a field of composition" designed for oral perfomance (Sánchez 18— 19). Chicano poetry rests on the following cornerstones: the myth of Aztlán or the Mezo-American homeland, the expression of cultural dispossession, and the notion of interlingualism, or linguistic code switching (Pérez—Torres 6). Cordelia Candelaria discerns four characteristics of movimiento poetry: traditional literary forms, a prevalence of the imperative mode, an impassioned style, and the domination of prosaic elements. The poets convey their message by contrasting cultural nationalism with universalism, justice with racism, communalism with capitalism, and 73