Myth as the Cognitive Process of Popular Culture in Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima: The Dialectics of Knowledge

Abstract

Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya appeared in 1972, quickly earning a place in Chicano literary history as its first truly transcendent work of long prose fiction.' The novel has since captured more readers and critical attention than any other single work of Chicano literature and debate continues concerning implications of author's use of what might be termed or even mythical realism.2 Was novel merely an apolitical expression of local color or costumbrismo, New Mexico style? And if so, how did work fit into overall social and creative context of chicanismo? As first best seller novel of Chicano literature, it was impossible to dismiss Ultima's introduction of compelling themes into disjunctive context of combative and polemical ethnic literatures of late sixties. Ultima was serene in face of this turmoil, full of conflict, yet noncombative, a portrait of developing consciousness of young protagonist, Antonio. The metaphysics of this emerging consciousness were so convincingly drawn that no reader doubted that seeds of social conscience were deeply sown if yet untested in chief character. Rudolfo Anaya strikes a deep chord in portraying two primordial ways of relating to earth, pastoral and agricultural. Bless Me, Ultima, (BMU), is not a quaint, historical sketch of rural folkways, but rather a dialectical exploration of contradictions between lifestyles and cultures. At novel's is process which generates social and historical consciousness. A Marxist-Structuralist perspective defines this process as myth, collective interpretation and mediation of contradictions in historical and ecological experience of a people. In his account of relationship between a curandera (folk healer) and her young apprentice, Anaya penetrates deeply mythical conscience of reader. Despite their enthusiasm for his novel, critics have thus far been unable to define parameters of this response nor prove reason for its depth. Contributing elements in narrative include: primordial quality of rivalry of Luna and Mairez clans, religious conflicts and rich dream life of boy Antonio M~rez, and power of Ultima herself which in end is nothing more nor less than the strength that resides in human heart (BMU, p. 237). From first reviews to later articles, an increasing body of vague but glowing commentary points to a rich mythic or magical dimension that underlies novel.3 To those who prioritize social relevancy of Chicano literature, this psychic plunge seems disturbing or even reactionary in its irrationality. Despite these claims, there appears to be something exceptional about emerging consciousness of boy. It is mystically harmonious with nature, yet also incorporates a dynamic, even dialectical awareness of historical forces, from colonization by Hispanic farmers and ranchers to coming of Anglos and World War II. These seeming contradictions invite a reexamination of relation of myth and social consciousness, often defined as antithetical, incompatible categories which erode and undermine each other. Since novel apparently transcends this impasse, we are obliged to consider a critical model comprehensive enough to explain this achievement. A review of commentary on novel is first step in this direction. Bless Me, Ultima has undergone extensive