Life, Literature and Legacy of Luis J. Rodríguez

Josephine Metcalf is a Senior Lecturer in American Studies and Criminology at the University of Hull, UK where she is the co-founder and co-director of the Cultures of Incarceration Centre. Her research focuses on the representation of prisons and street gangs in literature and other pop-culture forms and the ways these have been received by audiences. She has published on prison memoirs by authors such as Stanley Tookie Williams and Shaun Attwood and wrote a foreword for an anniversary edition of Joseph Bathanti’s award-winning prison novel, Coventry. Ben V. Olguín is the Robert and Liisa Erickson Presidential Chair in English in the Department of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Founding Director of the UCSB Global Latinidades Centre. In addition to articles published in Cultural Critique, American Literary History, Aztlán, Frontiers, Biography, MELUS, and Nepantla, Olguín is the author of La Pinta: Chicana/o History, Culture, and Politics (2010) and Violentologies: Violence, Identity, and Ideology in Latina/o Literature (2021). He also is a published poet, and author of Red Leather Gloves (2014) and At the Risk of Seeming Ridiculous: Poems from Cuba Libre (2014).

• List of FiguresList of ContributorsForeword: The Alchemy and Shape-Shifting Art of Luis J. RodríguezJohn Densmore Preface: Mi Compa Luis: The Legacy of an East LA Literary Soldado del Movimiento and BeyondRoberto Cintli RodríguezAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Recovering and Assessing the Life and Work of a Barrio Organic IntellectualJosephine Metcalf and Ben V. OlguínPart I. Critical AnalysisChicanx Revolutionary Literary and Testimonial Praxis1. Poetry to Break Stone: Zones of Abandonment, Barrio Youth Struggles and Luis J. Rodriguez’s Accompañamiento Poetics of SolidarityJonathan D. Gomez 2. (Un-)Doing Communism: The Politics of Work in Music of the MillHorst Tonn 3. Luis J. Rodríguez and Chicano Testimonial DiscourseBen V. Olguín Chicanx Revolutionary Praxis4. Luis and I and the Emerging Revolutionaries of the 1970s: Personal ReflectionsLaura Cortez Garcia 5. Personal Reflections on Intersecting Struggles with Comrade Luis J. Rodríguez: Interviews with Richard Bray, Vicki Capalbo and Carlos RodríguezSheilah Garland-Olaniran and Lenny Brody6. Moments in the Political Journey of Luis J. Rodríguez: Recollections and Reflections of a Lifelong ComradeAnthony D. Prince 7. Soldier of Change: Barrio Intellectual, the Poetics of Nemachtilli and the ‘Language of Real Life’ in Luis J. Rodríguez’s Life and WorkJose Prado Critical Gender and Sexuality Studies8. Life with Louie: a Testimonio on Revolutionary LoveTrini Rodríguez 9. Becoming a ‘New Man’: Evolving Notions of Chicano Masculinity in Luis J. Rodríguez’s The Republic of East LAAmaia Ibarrarán-Bigalondo 10. Critical Masculinity is Hard Hard Hard Work: A Tale of Recovery and Friendship Tale Between a Midwestern Gay Male and Mexican American Former Gang MemberBrian Gleason Part II. Public IntellectualPrison and Public Intellectual Work11. The SpiritJoseph Bathanti 12. ‘Fixing your geography’: Journey’s in Luis J. Rodríguez’s Los AngelesGarth Cartwright 13. ‘How can you imprison a poem?’: Luis J. Rodríguez and Prison Writing Workshops in the USJosephine Metcalf 14. Scripting Latinx Values: Luis J. Rodríguez as Small Screen ConsultantEmma Horrex New Perspectives on Luis J. Rodríguez 15. Re-Encountering Rodríguez: It Calls You Back and Draws You In – the Personal Papers of Luis J. RodríguezJosephine Metcalf 16. Red Road Traveller: The Xicanx Humanism of Luis ‘Mixcoatl Itzlacuiloh’ RodríguezNatalia M. Toscano and Kristian E. Vasquez 17. Towards a Xicanx Communist Synthesis of the Organic Intellectual: Luis J. Rodriguez’s Revolutionary Lumpen/Proletarian Gnosis and PraxisBen V. Olguín 18. Luis J. Rodríguez’s Always Running and the Political Economy of Gang Memoir: From Multiculturalism to Historical Materialist Mapping of Youth Gang LifeClint Terrell 19. Blazed with Poetry: The Political Language of Luis J. RodríguezRafael Pérez-Torres Part III. Literary and Pedagogical LegaciesPedagogical Interventions, Awards and Audiences20. Breaking Isolation: Prizes, Community and the Work of Luis J. RodríguezLaura A. Wright 21. ‘The poem creates the feeling to be right there’: Luis J. Rodríguez, Nemachtilli andthe German High School CurriculumSteffen Brand, Nicolas McGuinn and Amanda Naylor22. Reading America and Reading Rodríguez: Exploring American Literature at an English Prison Book GroupJosephine Metcalf and Laura Skinner 23. Finding América: Luis J. Rodríguez, Latinx Children’s Literature and the Nurturing Power of Self RecognitionChristina GómezArtists' Reflections24. From East LA to Milan: Connecting Dots and PossibilitiesFLYCAT 25. Counting with Stories: Luis J. Rodríguez’s Always Running as Testimonio and PraxisLeticia Hernández-Linares26. ‘My Name is not Russ Litten’Russ Litten 27. ‘A Poetic Stick Up’Jonathan D. Gomez Part IV. Interviews and New WorksInterviews28. From Archives and Always Running to Prizes and Poetry: Re-Interviewing Luis J. RodríguezJosephine Metcalf 29. Chicago and the National Poetry Movement: The Emergence of Luis J. Rodríguez, Tía Chucha Press and the Guild ComplexMichael Warr 30. Reflections from Havana: A Dialogue with Luis J. Rodríguez on Art and RevolutionBen V. Olguín New Works by Luis J. Rodríguez31. To Live and Die in Central America: My Freelance Journalism of the 1980s32. My Development as a Revolutionary Thinker, Organiser and Creator33. Travelling for Knowledge and FreedomPart V. Afterword and ResourcesAfterword: Testimonio es Atole es MedicinaRobert Farid KarimiTimeline: Critical Moments in Luis J. Rodríguez’s Personal, Political and Literary LifeSelected Bibliography of Luis J. Rodríguez’s Literary WorksIndex

The Life, Literature and Legacy of Luis J. Rodríguez: In the Long Run is the most comprehensive overview, critical assessment and sustained study of the renowned former gang member, pinto author, barrio intellectual and critical humanist-philosopher. It encompasses perspectives that account for the significance of his literary impact, his praxis-oriented politics, critical reflections on him by people who’ve known Luis for decades, analysis of the transformation of his once hyper masculinist worldview, pedagogical approaches to Rodriguez’s life story and prison literature, his impact as a publisher, and original new work. In the depth and range of critical perspectives included here, Metcalf and Olguín make a major contribution and set a new standard for US literary history and author studies, community studies and intellectual biographies.