Lines on the Border

by Marc Zimmerman

Crossing the border between short story collection and novel, this book portrays the evolution of the protagonist, Ben, a young and confused Jewish American, through his interactions with friends, lovers, and others on and beyond the San Diego-Tijuana crossing point. Lines on the Border depicts failed romances, repeated journeys south, moments of colonial and sexual exploitation, of repeated errors and re-adjustments, in an uneven search for genuine contact and understanding. Written with humor, irony and a feel for border pain, Lines is a gift for fiction lovers and those interested in Mexican border themes long before the current deportation raids and talks of building a wall.

“Zimmerman’s long involvement with Latino and Latin American concerns has given him so many stories to tell. His new book captures the melancholic, magical moments that borders create.” Carolina Rivera Escamilla. Salvadoran L.A. writer--author of …after…

“A very personal but insightful view of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in the Age of Aquarius.” Mario T. Garcia, Distinguished Prof. of Chicano Studies & History, UCSB. Author of Literature as History: Autobiography, Testimonio, and The Novel in the Chicano and Latino Experience.

“A kind of Jewish-American-Latino Bildungsroman, set in Southern California. About failed love affairs, these stories also capture a moment of transition in U.S. history and culture. The border is a zone of division but also connection between Anglo and Latino, the U.S. and Mexico (and the Third World)--the radical Sixties, beginning to wane, and the coming reactionary Seventies, just over the horizon. John Beverley, Distinguished Prof. of Hispanic Languages & Literatures. U. of Pittsburgh. Author of Against Literature.

Author and editor of some thirty books, Marc Zimmerman is U. of Illinois in Chicago and U. of Houston Emeritus Professor. His fiction books include Stores of Winter (Houston 2005); Martín and Marvin (Chicago, 2016); and La penisola non trovata (Milan, 2017).