AVENDAÑO, Fausto 1941–

(Fausto Avendano)

PERSONAL:

Born June 5, 1941, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Alfonso and Maria Luisa Díaz; married Evelia Salas, June 22, 1968 (marriage ended); married Jocelyn Alivio, April 23, 1999; children: (first marriage) Nadia, Sofia, Laura; (second marriage) Adrián. Ethnicity: "Mexican-American (Hispanic)." Education: San Diego State University, B.A., 1967; University of Arizona, M.A., 1970, Ph.D., 1973; additional graduate study at National University of Mexico, University of Lisbon, and University of Toulouse-Le Mirail.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Foreign Languages, California State University, 6000 J St., Sacramento, CA 95819; fax: 916-278-5502. E-mail—avendano@csus.edu.

CAREER:

California State University, Sacramento, professor of Spanish and Portuguese/French, 1973—. Spanish Press, cofounder and codirector, 1988—. Luso-American Education Foundation, member of task force; Luso-American Literary Fund, director; member of Bilingual Cross-Cultural Specialist Credential Task Force, Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California, and Escritores del Neuvo Sol. Military service: U.S. Army, 1962-65.

MEMBER:

American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Association of Mexican-American Educators, Mexican American Educational Association (Sacramento, CA), Sigma Delta Pi.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Ford Foundation fellowship, 1971-72; grants from Gulbenkian Foundation, 1975, and California State University Foundation, 1982; Ful-bright fellow in Toulouse, France, 1983-84; winner of Chicano/Latino Literary Contest, University of California, Irvine, 1985; José Fuentes Mares Literary Award, Universidad Autonóma de Ciudad Juárez, c. 1996, for El sueño de siempre y otros cuentos.

WRITINGS:

Explicación de "Cien Años de Soledad" (nonfiction), Hispanic Press, 1976.

El Corrido de California (three-act play; title means "The Ballad of California"), Editorial Justa (Berkeley, CA), 1979.

Literatura de Expressao Portuguesa nos Estados Unidos, Europa-America (nonfiction), [Portugal], 1983.

(Editor) Literatura Hispana de los Estados Unidos (title means "Hispanic Literature of the United States"), ETL-Hispanic (Sacramento, CA), 1987.

Los Terricolas, Spanish Press (Sacramento, CA), 1992.

El sueño de siempre y otros cuentos (title means "The Unending Dream and Other Stories"), Universidad Autonóma de Ciudad Júarez (Juarez, Mexico), 1996.

Salazar's Gold (historical fiction), Spanish Press (Sacramento, CA), 2000.

Contributor to books, including Palabra Nueva: Cuentos Chicanos (title means "The New Word: Chicano Stories"), edited by Ricardo Aguilar, Armando Armengol, and Somoza, Texas Western Press (El Paso, TX), 1984; Saguaro, edited by Armando Miguelez, Mexican American Studies Program, University of Arizona, 1985; Palabra Nueva, edited by Ricardo Aguilar, Armando Armengol, and Sergio D. Elizondo, Dos Pasos (El Paso, TX), 1985; Cenzontle, edited by Helena Viramontes, Bilingual/Editorial Bilingue, 1987; and Cuento chicano del siglo XX, edited by Ricardo Aguilar, Universidad de Mexico, 1993. Author of the play, Abrahan Salazar, and the novel The Chicken Tenders. Contributor of essays, articles, translations, and short stories to periodicals, including El Grito, Obsidian, Revista de la Universidad de México, Bilingual Review, Hispanofila, Ajiaco, Explicación de Textos Literarios, and Revista Chicano-Riqueña.

SIDELIGHTS:

Fausto Avendaño is best known for his short stories and for his historical play, El Corrido de California. The play explores the effects of the U.S. government invasion of Alta (upper) California on a Mexican family living there in 1846, four years before California was admitted into the Union. The protagonist, Don Geronimo, is the mayor of a small town who is torn between accepting the Americans' presence or resisting their force. His son, however, advocates resistance and dies in the ensuing Battle of San Pascual. Don Geronimo eventually realizes that he must fight against the new order and defend his people; the play closes as he leads them into battle.

The work was praised for its well-drawn characters, its successful blend of historical fact and dramatic tension, and its role as a foundation for historical Chicano theater in the United States.

Avendaño told CA: "In the past several years my focus has been primarily on prose, including the short story collection El sueño de siempre y otros cuentos and Salazar's Gold. My intense interest in history and my depiction of characters, events, and historical facts [are intended to] contribute to the recovery of the West's Hispanic heritage."

Avendaño more recently told CA: "As a student and professor of literature (Spanish American, Spanish, American, French, Portuguese, Brazilian, the Classics and others), I felt I, too, had something to say on paper. In essence, I am nurtured by my ongoing teaching experience. I have written most of my books and short stories in Spanish, but I have learned that I am also enamored of the English language. I am aware that a small percentage of what is written can be published. Therefore, it is important to keep writing until you develop a story with merit. My favorite book is usually the one I am in the process of writing.

"I hope that my books will open people's eyes to realities of which they may not be aware, especially in the historical realm. I want the reader to enjoy the story (fiction) and at the same time learn historical facts that will broaden his/her knowledge of the world."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 82: Chicano Writers, First Series, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1989.