Transcript of conversation with Rudolfo Anaya

Rudolfo Anaya:  In many respects, I think Bless Me, Ultima is a novel about the indigenous. That is what was in place before the Spaniards came into New Mexico? What was in place before the Anglo-Americans came? And it is that kind of spirituality that does interest me. And I think forms a really important part of the novel. And again that goes back to Ultima and all the healing ways, traditional ways she has of helping people. And to the golden carp; that is that beauty in nature that we must all respect. And that to me is the indigenous sensibility that so often we have forgotten, or trampled upon really.