The Short Stories of Fray Angelico Chavez

Fray Angélico Chávez (1910-1996) was one of New Mexico's leading men of letters, and this anthology is the first collection of his fiction to be published since 1957. These stories, dismissed in the past as quaint and charming, actually represent the same serious cultural and socio-historical concerns that marked Chávez's more recent nonfiction. Although largely social allegories, they are also humorous evocations of life in New Mexico from colonial days to more recent times. Mystery and miracle, the wisdom of age and the impetuosity of youth, and the conflict of cultures that has marked life in New Mexico from the beginnings are the themes of these stories, which read, in many cases, like Hispano cuentos or Biblical parables.

This book will delight readers new to Fray Angélico's fiction as well as those who are rediscovering him after many years.

"These 14 stories . . . skillfully evoke the contours of a complex local society . . . and disclose a vein of the Hispanic-American experience too little known by Anglos."--New York Times Book Review