Though the published works of Mario Suárez are few, his place in the evolution of Chicano literature is important. He was by no means the first Mexican-American to compose fiction depicting the people and customs of a community of Hispanic ancestry in the United States. However, the focus he has employed in his published prose distinguishes his creative efforts from those of most Chicano writers who preceded him. He envisioned in his early short stories a Hispanic-American barrio (neighborhood) typical of the late 1940s. Idealized local color was not his goal. He examined reality with the intent of reproducing it accurately in minute detail, and also of making it comprehensible on more than a superficial level.

Suáez was born in Tucson, Arizona, and spent his early and adolescent years there. His father, Francisco Suárez, originally from Santa Rosalía, in the...