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Inlandia: A Literary Journey Through California's Inland Empire

by Gayle Wattawa

Inlandia: A Literary Journey Through California's Inland Empire Cover

ISBN13: 9781597140379
ISBN10: 1597140376
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

? Great grass roots support for recognition of the regional collection ? Last anthology with this level of enthusiasm was Highway 99 ? Brings together new writing and familiar figures This is in the Heyday tradition of finding a mix of contemporary and new writing to match up with established writers in an effort to help define a region and its traditions with the support of the Irvine Foundation, UC Riverside, Redlands University, and others who see in this region a vigorous culture that is unique and separate from its larger neighbor to the west. Many of the writers here will not be familiar names but they all have a stake in the region and present it through their work. The last collection of this kind, Highway 99, was established as a defining work on the Central Valley by a broad network of cultural and educational support of the book. We see a similar prospect for this work with a dash of the effort that made California Uncovered such a success last year.
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olivasdan, January 23, 2007 (view all comments by olivasdan)
Book Review

By Daniel Olivas

Long the Rodney Dangerfield of Southern California, the Inland Empire sits about an hour east of Los Angeles and encompasses the fast-growing counties of Riverside and San Bernardino.

Far from the beaches of Malibu, it is a tough land, some say, the home of biker gangs and urban sprawl, a land buffeted by the unrelenting Santa Ana (or "Devil") winds that can flip cars and jangle nerves. Tell an Angeleno that you make your home in the Inland Empire and be prepared for the condescending half-smile followed by a wisecrack: "Oh, the methamphetamine capital of the world."

But this era of insult might have come to an end, if Heyday Books and Santa Clara University have any say in it. Inlandia: A Literary Journey through California's Inland Empire, meticulously edited by Gayle Wattawa ($18.95 paperback), is an ambitious collection that finally gives the area its due as a culturally and historically vital component of Southern California.

In the anthology's introduction, Riverside native and National Book Award finalist Susan Straight tells us that she has striven to infuse her writing with "the fierceness we retain in these small places where people loved their own with the vehemence, the stubborn and suspicious and inventive qualities required to survive this part of Southern California."

Straight is not alone in attempting to depict all the complexities and beauty of the Inland Empire and its people. More than 70 authors are represented in fiction, poetry, native legends, journal entries and other writings from the 1700s to the present.

Some of the writers enjoy worldwide fame and have been translated into many languages. We're treated to an excerpt from a 1930 tough-guy novelette, "Blood-Red Gold," by Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason. And there's the exquisitely creepy essay, "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream" by Joan Didion, concerning a woman accused of murder in the 1960s. Other "big names" abound, including Norman Mailer, John Steinbeck, Joan Baez and Raymond Chandler.

Wattawa includes newer voices, writers who have lived or are living in the region and who feel compelled to chronicle the history and culture of their home through fiction. Kathleen Alcal?, who grew up in San Bernardino, offers the short story "Gypsy Lover," a haunting tale of one girl's attempt to come to terms with her older sister's mysterious disappearance. And in "Georgie and Wanda," Michael Jaime-Becerra skillfully fictionalizes the racial bigotry faced by a young couple in Riverside circa 1956.

Many of the nonfiction pieces are simply heartbreaking. Diary excerpts from George Fujimoto Jr. starkly recount the federal government's rounding up of his family members, who were housed in Arizona internment camps for the duration of World War II. Similarly, Malcolm Margolin's "The Cupue?o Expulsion of 1903" details the removal of a native people for their valuable land.

Smaller-scale tragedies are perfectly rendered here, too, as in Alex Espinoza's powerful short story, "Santo Ni?o," that brings us into the lives of two young women as they battle economic hardship, infertility and strained relationships. And in "hap & hazard highland" by Keenan Norris, a young ex-con tries to reconnect with his old neighborhood as well as with his youthful dreams.

At the turn of each page, there are surprising little shocks as we enter themes radically different from the one before. For example, after the essay "909," Percival Everett's wry and provocative contemplation of Riverside County, out of the blue follows Sholeh Wolp?'s poem, "Morning After the U.S. Invasion of Iraq," in which the community of Redlands seems unfazed by the beginning of the war: "The chatter is as always, quiet, / The smiles as always, broad."

No review can fully capture the breadth and spirit of this remarkable anthology. Suffice it to say that each author surprises, informs and entertains. Inlandia paints a complex and compelling portrait of a region that is simultaneously beautiful and harsh, multicultural and alienating, vibrant and destructive. Without question, it is a portrait that commands our respect. [This review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781597140379
Subtitle:
A Literary Journey Through California's Inland Empire
Author:
Wattawa, Gayle
Introduction:
Straight, Susan
Publisher:
Heyday Books
Subject:
California
Subject:
American - General
Subject:
American literature
Series:
California Legacy
Publication Date:
November 2006
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
433
Dimensions:
9.09x6.10x1.10 in. 1.36 lbs.
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