This book argues for the necessary and further examination of the sacred as it is ritualized within Chicana fiction. It suggests that religious, spiritual, linguistic and political symbolisms reveal rites that structure narrative performances of coping with and healing from trauma. Helane Androne examines these rites of spirit, service, and story as they occur in Ana Castillo's So Far From God, Denise Chávez's Face of An Angel, and Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo. Beginning with the implications of Gloria Anzaldúa's spiritual vision of Chicana identity alongside structural principles of ritual criticism, this study extends the discourse about the impact of the sacred in Chicana fiction. 

Helane Androne is Professor of English and directs the Ohio Writing Project at Miami University, USA. She is the author of Multiethnic American Literatures: Essays for Teaching Context and Culture and has published injournals such as Pedagogy, MELUS, and Phoebe.

Helane Androne is Professor of English and directs the Ohio Writing Project at Miami University, USA. She is the author of Multiethnic American Literatures: Essays for Teaching Context and Culture and has published in journals such as Pedagogy, MELUS, and Phoebe.

Introduction.- Chapter 1:  "A Place from where to think": The work of ritual criticism on Chicana fiction.- Chapter 2: Loca Malinalli: Centering the Spiritual in Ana Castillo's So Far From God.- Chapter 3: '...an actress in a play': Service as Sacred Performance in Denise Chávez's Face of an Angel.- Chapter 4: Reality Shifts: The Language of Nahuala in Sandra Cisneros' Caramelo, or Puro Cuento.- Index