Although Bless Me, Ultima (1972) was Anaya's first published novel and the one that gained him international acclaim as a writer, it was not his first novel. His previously written novels did not see print. During the mid-1960s, he wrote prodigiously, expressing his life and his experiences through poetry, short stories, and novels. For Anaya, writing became an expression of freedom. Seeing his people around him "in chains," he revolted against that world. Breaking those chains was important; his characters would not be enslaved. He realized that if he could write about his experiences and his family, using the town where he grew up as a setting, he could focus on these early years and create a sense of being liberated. While doing so, he would also come to know himself better and better understand the forces that shaped him as a person yearning to write and yearning to be free. Using his childhood as the subject matter for a novel, Anaya put together a world filled with ideas and activity. Bless Me, Ultima, then, is a work that examines the various forces that shape the life of Antonio, a young Mexican-American boy who is a main character in the novel.
Bless Me, Ultima was begun as a story about Antonio, but it was Ultima who made the story click. Through Ultima, Anaya explored the subconscious world, that world below the surface of experience that contains his culture's collective images, symbols, and dreams. In this subconscious world, Anaya examines the cultural forces that shaped the lives of Nuevo Méjicanos and Nuevo Méjicanas in the 1930s and 1940s. Through Ultima and the subconscious world, Anaya exposes the dark side of brujería and raises questions about good, evil, and truth.
Initially, Anaya circulated the manuscript among the east coast publishers, but none showed an interest in it. Turning to Chicano publishers, he submitted it to Octavio I. Romano-V. and Herminio Ríos, editors of Quinto Sol Publications, who were immediately interested in publishing the novel.
