Loving in the War Years: And Other Writings, 1978-1999

by Cherríe L. Moraga

An updated edition combining two classic works of Chicana and queer literatures, with a new introduction by renowned writer and luminary, Cherríe Moraga.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its original publication, this updated edition of Loving in the War Years combines Moraga’s classic memoir with The Last Poetry and Prose , originally published in 1993, along with additional writings from the late 1990s,  The result is a synergy of signature works crucial to the development of the intersectional politics we know today.
Cherríe Moraga’s powerful memoir remains as urgent as ever. She explores the contradictions and complexities of her Chicana and lesbian identities, moving gracefully between poetry and prose, Spanish and English, personal narratives and political theory. Moraga recounts navigating the world largely as an outsider in her early years, circling the interconnected societies around her from a distant yet observant perspective. Ultimately, however, her writing serves as a bridge between her cultures, languages, family, and herself, enabling her to look inward to forge connections from what had heretofore been inaccessible parts of her interior world. A touchstone for artists and activists, the works combine to show how deep self-awareness and compassionate engagement with one’s radically changing surroundings are key to building global solidarity among people and political movements. 

Genres: Queer

412 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

Cherríe Lawrence Moraga is a Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, and playwright. She is part of the faculty at Stanford University in the Department of Drama and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. Her works explore the ways in which gender, sexuality and race intersect in the lives of women of color.

Moraga was one of the few writers to write and introduce the theory on Chicana lesbianism. Her interests include the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race, particularly in cultural production by women of color. There are not many women of color writing about issues that queer women of color face today: therefore, her work is very notable and important to the new generations. In the 1980s her works started to be published. Since she is one of the first and few Chicana/Lesbian writers of our time, she set the stage for younger generations of other minority writers and activists.

Moraga has taught courses in dramatic arts and writing at various universities across the United States and is currently an artist in residence at Stanford University. Her play, Watsonville: Some Place Not Here, performed at the Brava Theatre Company of San Francisco in May, 1996, won the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Fund for New American Plays Award, from the Kennedy center for the Performing Arts. Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde and Moraga started Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press in 1983, a group which did not discriminate against homosexuality, class, or race. it is the first publisher dedicated to the writing of women of color in the United States.

Moraga is currently involved in a Theatre communications group and was the recipient of the NEA Theatre Playwriting Fellowship Award Her plays and publications have won and received national recognition including a TCG Theatre Residency Grant, a National Endowment for the art fellowship for play writing and two Fund for New American Plays Awards in 1993. She was awarded the United States artist Rockefeller Fellowship for literature in 2007.In 2008 she won a Creative Work Fund Award. The following year, in 2009 she received a Gerbode-Hewlett foundation grant for play writing.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Nic · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a serious problem with the editorial decisions from this collection, especially the revisions made by Moraga in several keys essays meant to put her in a better light by redacting some of her more problematic thinking and including lines and sentiments totally absent in the original publications. What makes it worse is how there is no indication of these changes in the endnotes so new readers of her work (or those who simply forgot) wouldn’t know any substantial changes were made. If you want to get a sense of Moraga’s political thought from the periods covered in this collection, just get yourself copies of Loving in the War Years and The Last Generation, both of which are excellent despite her occasional problematic thinking.

[Bobbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving in the War Years by Cherrie Moraga is an artwork. It is personal stories mixed with poetry, influential Aztecan analyses, and research. It really opened my eyes to the indigenous peoples and white washing of Americas. As a white person with little to no background in Mexican studies, I had no idea about the origins of the word “Hispanic.” As someone with little to no Spanish knowledge, some parts were difficult to understand, so I utilized google translate. However, the book is still majority in English. I want to do more research on Central American indigenous beliefs and religion as well as Third World Feminism.

[Hayley Garcia Parnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

"En el acto de escribir radica el riesgo, siempre amenazándote"

"if artists aren’t visionaries, then we have no business doing what we do"

Reading the words of Cherríe Moraga felt like having my chest torn open, my heart held gently in her hand. It felt like being seen and known in the most intimate way. In each word I saw more layers of myself than I had thought existed. Brown, queer, feminist, always always fighting for a better world. Much like Borderlands: La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua, I felt this collection a balm on the old wounds of oppression that had too long been allowed to fester. Gracias hermana, por sus palabras, sus esfuerzos, su poder.

[Nessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preferred the prose to the poetry in this one, but great nonetheless!