Aristeo Brito's work, written mostly in Spanish, exemplifies experimental innovation in the novel at the height of the Chicano Renaissance. As a committed writer his creativity goes beyond simply developing narrative plots to unveil the struggle toward consciousness. Brito's poetic and narrative style--baroque texture, linguistic detail, and sophisticated dialogue--are methods by which he communicates the various realities of a segmented society.

Brito's ancestors, originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, settled in the United States during the Mexican revolution of 1910. Years later the family sought refuge in Ojinaga, in the state of Chihuahua, when Brito's father defied the draft during World War II. On 20 October 1942 Aristeo Brito was born as the family was entering Mexican territory, near the Ojinaga train station. Nevertheless, he considers himself a native of Presidio, Texas, where he lived until he was eighteen years old and where his most influential childhood memories and recollections originated. In a...