Yda H. Addis (ca. 1857–?): An Annotated Bibliography

What is it about?

This bibliography represents the first scholarly one devoted to the published work of Yda Hillis Addis, a late nineteenth-century American writer affiliated with California's literary scene. To date, Addis's work has received little scholarly attention, but it warrants reevaluation for how it enriches our understanding of the transnational character of California literature near the turn of the twentieth century. Throughout Addis's work, which includes poetry, short fiction, journalism, travel writing, and local California history, she advances cross-cultural understanding between readers on opposite sides of the US-Mexico border. Her travel writing provides readers with the vicarious experience of visiting Mexico City, Xalapa, Querétaro, Zacatecas, and other regions in Mexico; her bilingual nonfiction, which appears in US and Mexican periodicals, addresses the sociocultural and material development of Mexico and even defends the country against American prejudices and misconceptions; and her English translations and adaptations of some of Mexico's most famous folktales acquaint US audiences with a vital segment of Mexico's literary tradition. Readers of Addis's work will also find strong feminist themes, as she wrote more than one story in which a strong female character opposes male sexual license with deadly violence.

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