Chicano literature has in Miguel Méndez M. one of its finest and most sensitive writers. His prose, rich in imagery, is a challenge to readers because he demands literary awareness and erudition. The fact that much of his work is only available in Spanish and is difficult to translate makes him virtually unknown to English-speaking readers. His first novel, Peregrinos de Aztlán (Pilgrims of Aztlán, 1974), has yet to be translated into English.

In 1969 two of his short stories, "Tata Casehua" and "Taller de imágenes" (Shop of Images), were collected in El Espejo/The Mirror, an anthology of Chicano literature. These short stories, written in poetic prose by a bricklayer with only a sixth-grade education, left a profound impression on readers and critics.

Méndez was born in Bisbee, Arizona, scarcely five miles from Mexico, on 15 June 1930. Five months after...