El Grito and the Quinto Sol: Mexican American Thought to Chicano Poetry and Drama, 1967-1974

Periodical

Octavio I. Romano and Quinto Sol Publications periodical archive from 1967 to 1974, documenting the development of El Grito from an interdisciplinary journal of Mexican American intellectual and literary work into a publishing program explicitly organized around Chicano poetry, drama, history, social science, and cultural criticism. Beginning with Volume I, Number 1 in Fall 1967, the nine issues span seven years in which the Berkeley journal created a venue for writers and scholars working outside the prevailing institutional frameworks for Mexican American studies. Its changing self description is visible within the run itself: early numbers identify El Grito as “A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought,” while the 1974 publications appear as numbered books devoted to La Voz Poética del Chicano and Chicano Drama. Editors and contributors represented here include Romano, Nick C. Vaca, Herminio Rios C., Andrés Ybarra, Armando Morales, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Miguel Méndez M., Tato Casáusola, Alurista, Carlos Morton, Reyes Cárdenas, and José Antonio Burciaga.

El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Berkeley, California: Quinto Sol Publications, 1967 to 1974. Archive of nine 8vo issues.

[1] Nick C. Vaca, ed. El Grito. Vol. I, No. 1. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Fall 1967. The inaugural number names Vaca as editor. Published quarterly from Quinto Sol’s Berkeley post office, it establishes the journal’s original institutional and editorial framework with articles on "Minorities, History, and the Cultural Mystique," and Insurrection in New Mexico--Land of Enchantment."
[2] Andres Ybarra, ed. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. I, No. 2. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Winter 1968. Contents include Octavio I. Romano-V's "Goodbye Revolution, Hello Slum," Salvador Roberto Torres' portfolio of seven drawings, and poetry by John J. Martinez and J. Philip Jimenez.
[3] Nick C. Vaca, ed. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. II, No. 2. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Winter 1969. The contents move between historical and intellectual analysis, poetry, visual work, and contemporary Mexican American cultural production: Miguel Méndez M. contributes “Tragedias del Noroeste” and “Tragedies of the Northwest,” Octavio I. Romano V. writes “The Historical and Intellectual Presence of Mexican-Americans,” Silvio Villavicencio contributes “El Espejo,” Vaca “The Mirror” and “The Negro Movement as an Anti-Revolution,” with poetry by Miguel Ponce, Rudy Espinosa’s “Little Eagle and the Rainbow,” and a portfolio by Malapulias Montoya.
[4] Octavio I. Romano V. and Nick C. Vaca, eds. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. III, No. 2. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Winter 1970. Gustavo Segade of San Diego State College appears as contributing editor. Contents include Armando Morales on “Mental and Public Health Issues,” Oscar Zeta Acosta’s “The East L. A. 13,” Rudy Espinosa’s “Mi Casa Es Su Casa,” and writing by Ricardo Sanchez, Héctor López, Bernie Calderón, Javier Ramirez, Diana López, Jorge Alvarez, Miguel Ponce, and Romano, with Ricardo Cuadra credited for the cover.
[5] Octavio I. Romano V., Herminio Rios C., and Andres Ybarra, eds. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. V, No. 1. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Fall 1971. This number identifies Romano as editor and Rios and Ybarra as editors, marking the continuity of the Berkeley editorial circle as the journal entered its fifth volume.
[6] Octavio I. Romano V. and Herminio Rios C., eds. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. V, No. 3. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Spring 1972. Tomas Rivera, then at the University of Texas at San Antonio, joins Salvador Alvarez and Gustavo Segade as contributing editors, extending the journal’s editorial network across California and Texas while Quinto Sol retained its Berkeley base.
[7] Octavio I. Romano V. and Herminio Rios C., eds. El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought. Vol. V, No. 4. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, Summer 1972. Rivera, Alvarez, and Segade again serve as contributing editors. The issue belongs to the mature phase of El Grito, when its editorial apparatus connected Berkeley with Chicano scholars and writers working elsewhere in the emerging academic field.
[8] Herminio Rios C., issue ed. La Voz Poética del Chicano. El Grito Quarterly Book Series. Year VII, Book 3. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, March-May 1974. The poetry volume contains an introduction by Rios followed by work by Reyes Cárdenas, Roberto Pastor, Cecilio Garcia-Camarillo, Rubén Rodriguez, Octaviano “Chico” Romano, José Barriga, Armando Estrella, Joseph Francis Morales, Leticia Rosales, Reymundo Gamboa, and José Antonio Burciaga. The transformation from a conventionally numbered journal into a themed “Quarterly Book Series” placed a sustained body of Chicano poetry within the publishing structure Quinto Sol had developed since 1967.
[9] Herminio Rios C., issue ed. Chicano Drama. El Grito Book Series. Year VII, Book 4. Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications, June-August 1974. Dedicated to drama, the volume includes Carlos Morton’s “El Jardín,” Alfonso C. Hernandez’s “The Lemon Tree” and “The Wedding Dress,” and Alurista’s “Dawn.” Its contents page notes that the newspaper announcement reproduced on the cover originally appeared in El Nuevo Mundo in San Francisco on December 17, 1864.

Founded in Berkeley in 1967, El Grito emerged during the institutional formation of Chicano studies and the wider struggle by Mexican American writers and scholars to establish publishing structures under their own editorial control. By 1974 the quarterly had become a book series capable of devoting entire numbers to Chicano poetry and theater. The resulting sequence preserves the vocabulary through which the publication redefined its field, moving from “Mexican-American Thought” toward the explicit use of “Chicano” in La Voz Poética del Chicano and Chicano Drama, while maintaining Quinto Sol’s Berkeley imprint and Romano and Rios’s editorial presence. Light edge and corner wear, scattered toning and soiling, with some covers showing more pronounced handling and discoloration; interiors generally clean. Overall very good condition. A seven year sequence showing Quinto Sol’s movement from an independent Mexican American interdisciplinary journal toward dedicated Chicano literary publishing in poetry and drama.

Item #23892

Price: $650.00