Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Mohr, Nicholosa - Mary M. Burns

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MARY M. BURNS

[Nilda] succeeds as a sociological documentary but fails to develop the heroine as a unique personality. Nor do the minor characters fare much better—with the exception of the elderly, eccentric Aunt Delia and of the Spanish-born Socialist stepfather, who preserves his anticlerical convictions and profane vocabulary until his final breath. Although somewhat reminiscent of Piri Thomas's autobiographical Down These Mean Streets … in its frank cataloguing of the sights, sounds, conflicts, and language of Spanish Harlem, the narrative is stilted and, at times, anachronistic: Such expressions as "let's split" and "disc jockey" suggest the fifties and sixties rather than the early forties—an impression supported by the Dictionary of American Slang…. Effective re-creation of reality in fiction requires more than simple fidelity to fact; the reader must become emotionally involved with the characters and their problems. Thus,...

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1. Introduction
2. Marilyn Sachs
3. Mary M. Burns
4. Ray Anthony Shepard
5. Marilyn Sachs
6. Paul Heins
7. Irma Garcia
8. GEORGESS McHARGUE
9. Zena Sutherland
10. Alleen Pace Nilsen
11. Miguel A. Ortiz
12. Copyright