The History of Literature

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785 Literature in an Age of Anti-Immigration Sentiment (with Daniel Olivas) | My Last Book with Janet Todd

Mar 19, 2026

Guest

Daniel Olivas

Daniel A. Olivas, attorney and Chicano writer known for Chicano Frankenstein and Waiting for Godínez, reflects on literature as a way to humanize those targeted by anti-immigration sentiment. He discusses balancing law and creativity, inspirations from Mary Shelley and Beckett, and how fiction and drama confront dehumanizing politics. Janet Todd also shares her choice for a last book.

01:18:31

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INSIGHT

How Olivas Balances Law And Literature

Daniel Olivas balances a demanding legal career with prolific literary output by carving writing time from nonessential activities like TV and sports.
He wrote plays and novels in concentrated bursts (13 days for Waiting for Godinez) after months of prep, showing thinking equals writing.

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ANECDOTE

Turning Grief Into A First Book

Olivas began publishing fiction at 39 after personal grief from his wife's miscarriages pushed him to write a cathartic novella about Mexican immigrant families.
That first small-press book opened the floodgates: short stories, poetry, LA Times pieces, then 13 books and teaching inclusion in curricula.

insights

INSIGHT

Law School Raids Shaped His Literary Focus

Early law-school activism against factory raids led Olivas to argue Fourth Amendment protections for workers and shaped his lifelong focus on immigration injustices.
He connects legal advocacy to later fiction and plays that humanize immigrants rather than only litigate policy.

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Daniel Olivas: Lawyer and Writer Background

01:50 • 10min

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Writing Routine and Managing Time

11:56 • 4min

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Becoming a Writer Later in Life

16:00 • 7min

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Early Advocacy Against Factory Raids

22:33 • 3min

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Writing to Humanize Immigrants

25:57 • 6min

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Balancing Legal Work and Activism

Inspiration for Chicano Frankenstein

40:05 • 4min

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Plot and Worldbuilding of Chicano Frankenstein

44:22 • 60sec

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Dystopia Rooted in Real Politics

45:22 • 2min

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Waiting for Godinez and Beckett Influence

47:00 • 2min

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Audience Reactions and Humor in Tragedy

49:02 • 4min

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Writing as Survival and Sisyphus

52:36 • 3min

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Family History and the American Dream

55:31 • 3min

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Personal Encounters with Racial Profiling

58:09 • 5min

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His Father's Literary Influence

01:02:43 • 5min

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Closing Reflections with Daniel Olivas

My Last Book: Janet Todd on Jane Austen

01:09:23 • 2min

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What Jane Austen Might Have Chosen

01:11:34 • 6min

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Episode Wrap and Upcoming Episodes

• Mentioned in 6 episodes

A Portrait of the Artist

As a Young Man

James Joyce

James Joyce's 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' is a semi-autobiographical novel that traces the intellectual and emotional development of Stephen Dedalus. The novel follows Stephen's journey from his childhood to his eventual self-imposed exile from Ireland. It explores themes of identity, nationalism, religion, and the role of the artist in society. Stephen's struggle to break free from the constraints of his family, church, and country forms the core of the narrative. The novel is a profound exploration of artistic consciousness and the quest for personal and creative freedom.

Waiting for Godínez

A Tragicomedy in Two Acts

Daniel A. Olivas

Waiting for Godínez is Daniel A. Olivas’s stage reimagining of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, set against the backdrop of modern immigration enforcement. The play keeps Beckett’s absurdist sensibility while making explicit the human consequences of raids and family separations, with characters repeatedly snatched by ICE and returning, echoing Beckett’s cyclical suffering. Olivas mixes humor with pathos to give voice to undocumented performers and audiences who see their experiences reflected. Productions and readings have elicited strong emotional responses, underscoring theater’s power to humanize marginalized people. The play uses absurdity to critique policy and to provide catharsis and recognition for affected communities.

Chicano Frankenstein

Daniel A. Olivas

Daniel A. Olivas's Chicano Frankenstein uses Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a framing device to examine contemporary anti-immigrant sentiment and cultural erasure. Set in a near-future Pasadena where reanimation is legal but strips reanimated people of their histories, the novel follows a brown-skinned reanimated man (the Man) navigating identity, love, and political backlash. Olivas blends satire, dystopian elements, and humor to humanize marginalized people and critique xenophobic policies. The book interweaves personal narrative with macro-political developments, including a right-wing president enacting measures against reanimated communities. It positions speculative fiction as a means to illuminate real-world immigration injustices and foster empathy.

The Task

William Cooper

William Cowper's "The Task" is a long poem that explores themes of nature, society, and the human condition. Cowper reflects on the beauty and tranquility of the English countryside. The poem also critiques the artificiality and corruption of urban life. He confronts social issues such as poverty and slavery. "The Task" celebrates the simple virtues of rural life and offers a vision of a more harmonious and compassionate society.

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• Mentioned in 80 episodes

Dom Quixote

Xavier, Alberto

Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes, tells the story of Alonso Quixano, a middle-aged gentleman who, influenced by his extensive reading of chivalric romances, decides to become a knight-errant. He renames himself Don Quixote and, with his squire Sancho Panza, embarks on a series of adventures. These adventures often involve Don Quixote's misinterpretation of reality, such as mistaking windmills for giants and inns for castles. The novel explores themes of reality vs. imagination, the decline of chivalry, and the human condition. Eventually, Don Quixote returns home, regains his sanity, and renounces his chivalric ambitions before his death.

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• Mentioned in 159 episodes

Confessions

Augustine

Written in Latin between AD 397 and 400, 'Confessions' is a blend of autobiography, philosophy, theology, and critical exegesis of the Christian Bible. The first nine books are autobiographical, tracing Augustine's life from his birth to his conversion to Catholicism. He recounts his sinful youth, his involvement with Manicheism and Neoplatonism, and his eventual conversion in a Milanese garden. The last four books focus on philosophical and theological issues, including memory, time, eternity, and the interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The work is structured as a series of prayers to God, reflecting Augustine's journey of redemption and his understanding of God's grace and providence.

#30171

• Mentioned in 2 episodes

I, Julian

Claire Gilbert

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• Mentioned in 55 episodes

Emma

Jane Austen

juan perez

The novel follows Emma Woodhouse, a beautiful, clever, and rich young woman who has lived nearly twenty-one years with very little distress. Emma decides to take up matchmaking, despite the advice of her friend Mr. Knightley. Her attempts to match her new friend Harriet Smith with various men lead to complications and ultimately test her own detachment from the world of romance. The novel explores themes of education, courtship, and social class in Georgian-Regency England, highlighting Emma's journey of self-discovery and learning from her mistakes.

The complete romances of Voltaire

Voltaire

This collected volume gathers several of Voltaire’s shorter narrative works and philosophical writings, reflecting his sharp wit, advocacy for reason, and critique of superstition and injustice. Voltaire’s prose mixes satire, moral reflection, and engaging storytelling, addressing topics from religious intolerance to historical interpretation. The volume’s presence in a Mexican immigrant family underscores Voltaire’s transnational cultural reach and the value placed on literature. Voltaire’s works influenced later thinkers and writers and remain central to studies of the Enlightenment. The collection offers readers an accessible entry to Voltaire’s diverse oeuvre and enduring intellectual legacy.

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• Mentioned in 32 episodes

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel García Márquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of seven generations of the Buendía family, founders of the fictional town of Macondo. The novel spans a hundred years of turbulent Latin American history, from the postcolonial 1820s to the 1920s. It is a tale of love, loss, and the cyclical nature of history, filled with magical realism that blends the supernatural with the ordinary. The story follows the family's experiences, including civil war, marriages, births, and deaths, and explores themes such as solitude, fate, and the inevitability of repetition in history. The novel is renowned for its narrative style and its influence on the literary movement known as the Latin American Boom.

Daniel A. Olivas, the grandson of Mexican immigrants, is a fiction writer, poet, playwright, book critic, and attorney. In this episode, Jacke talks to Daniel about his lifelong devotion to literature and its ability to humanize the targets of anti-immigration sentiment. In the interview, Daniel recounts how his interest in literature led to his novel inspired by Mary Shelley, Chicano Frankenstein, and his play inspired by Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godínez: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts. PLUS Jane Austen expert Janet Todd (Living with Jane Austen) stops by to discuss her choice for the last book she will ever read.

The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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