""Dichos--Spanish idioms--fill the pages of this book as they fill our hearts because, no matter the location or the linguistics, the language of humanity is universal."--Southwest Books of the Year"
Description
The poetic proverbs known to nuevomexicanos as dichos are particular to their places of origin. In these reflections on the dichos of the Chimayó Valley in northern New Mexico native son Don J. Usner has written a memoir that is also a valuable source of information on the rich language and culture of the region. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs that Usner, who is also known for his photographic work, took of the people and places that he writes about, this book is a one-of-a-kind introduction to the real New Mexico.
Usner has known Chimayó since he was a boy visiting his grandmother and the other village elders, who taught him genealogies going back to family origins in Spain. The Spanish he learned there was embedded in dichos and cuentos. This book is the result of Usner’s research into these memorable sayings, and it preserves a language and a culture on the verge on dissolution. It is a gateway into a uniquely New Mexican way of life.
Reviews
""[In] Chasing Dichos Through Chimayó, Usner sought to capture the intensely regional Northern New Mexico Spanish as expressed through the sayings and maxims that still dominate the speech of the Chimayosos, an affectionate name for the town's residents. With an observant ear for everyday speech, Usner re-creates the conversations of the town's viejitos, or elders, peppered with the dichos that proliferate in the residents' singular dialect of Spanish."--Pasatiempo"
""Northern New Mexico has its own, unique charm that Don J. Usner captures in his Chasing Dichos through Chimayó."--Albuquerque Journal"
""What is missing in collections of proverbs from medieval times to the present is context. How and when do people actually use them in conversation? And who are the dichosos, those talented performers of dichos who share and teach them? With the help of his mother, Estella Chávez Usner, Don Usner commemorates them with camera and pen. These deeply drawn family and community memoirs show that genealogy in New Mexico is more a performance than a dusty archive; it is a living exercise in verbal art. Usner's book includes sayings that are centuries old as well as those that are recently composed and locally adapted. Accessible and poetic, this repository of dichos and refranes as used in New Mexico brims with authenticity."--Enrique R. Lamadrid, author of Hermanos Comanchitos: Indo-Hispano Rituals of Captivity and Devotion"
