{"product_id":"preparatory-notes-for-future-masterpieces-9781647790752","title":"Preparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces","description":"\u003cb\u003eSelected as one of the \u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicles' 15 best books of 2021\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From critically acclaimed author Maceo Montoya comes an inventive and adventurous satirical novel about a Mexican-American artist's efforts to fulfill his vision: to paint masterful works of art. His plans include a move to Paris to join the ranks of his artistic hero, Gustave Courbet--except it's 1943, and he's stuck in the backwoods of New Mexico. Penniless and prone to epileptic fits, even his mother thinks he's crazy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Ernie Lobato has just inherited his deceased uncle's manuscript and drawings. At the urging of his colleague, an activist and history buff (Lorraine Rios), Ernie sends the materials to a professor of Chicanx literature (Dr. Samuel Pizarro). Throughout the novel, Dr. Pizarro shares his insights and comments on the uncle's legacy in a series of annotations to his text and illustrations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e As Ernie's uncle battles a world that is unkind to \"starving artists,\" he runs into other tormented twentieth-century artists, writers, and activists with ambitions to match his own: a young itinerant preacher (Reies López Tijerina); the \"greatest insane artist\" (Martín Ramirez); and Oscar Zeta Acosta who is hellbent on self-destruction. Will the fortuitous encounters with these prophetic figures result in his own genius being recognized? Or will his \u003cbr\u003e uncompromising nature consign him to what he fears most? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Told through a combination of words and images in the tradition of classic works such as \u003ci\u003eDon Quixote\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAlice in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePreparatory Notes for Future Masterpieces\u003c\/i\u003e features fifty-one vivid black-and-white pen drawings. This complex and engaging story also doubles as literary criticism, commenting on how outsiders' stories fit into the larger context of the Chicanx literary canon. A unique and multilayered story that embraces both contradiction and possibility, it also sheds new light on the current state of Chicanx literature while, at the same time, contributing to it. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Propulsive, humorous, and full of life, this candid novel will be loved not only by Beat fiction fans but by contemporary fiction lovers as well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Nevada Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/27\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781647790752\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 308\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.15lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 7.00w x 1.10d","brand":"Maceo Montoya","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42362395656373,"sku":"9781647790752","price":25.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_12862a53-caf5-4f9a-835c-051898c4dcb4.jpg?v=1662434925","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/preparatory-notes-for-future-masterpieces-9781647790752","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}