Bless Me, Ultima

Anaya (1937-2020) is a Chicano author who is credited as one of the founders of the Chicanx literary movement. Bless Me, Ultima (1972) is his first novel. It is a work of autofiction, combining elements of Anaya’s real life with fictional characters and situations.

Anaya was born in Pastura, New Mexico, before moving to Santa Rosa as a young boy. Anaya’s father was a former vaquero, and his mother was the daughter of a farming family, so the cultural conflict at the center of Bless Me, Ultima is drawn from his life experience. Anaya was born into a time of flux, when the economy of New Mexico was shifting away from agriculture and toward modern wage work. This cultural shift is the backdrop for Bless Me, Ultima, which explores the idea of change on both a personal and cultural level.

Anaya modeled Antonio’s experience with cultural exchange on his own as he moved between a Spanish-speaking household to an English-speaking school. He was raised Catholic, but his family also taught him about Mexican and Indigenous folk healing practices, which inspired the character of Ultima.

Aside from personal and cultural details, much of Bless Me, Ultima is fiction. The healer, Ultima, is a product of Anaya’s imagination.