Richard Rodriguez

"A poetic, often contrarian meditation on race in modern America.

Borrowing from writer/philosopher William Gass, who deconstructed the meanings of a less socially charged color in On Being Blue, PBS commentator and essayist Rodriguez (Days of Obligation, 1992, etc.) ponders the meaning of Mexicanness, Hispanitude, mestizaje, and all the other forms of being brown in the US. “I write about race in America,” he begins, “in hopes of undermining the notion of race in America.” With many show more asides on the origins of the notion that Hispanics are an ethnic minority—a recent idea, he suggests, adopted from the African-American struggle for civil rights—Rodriguez offers a few balloon-bursting observations on the tensions that have marked recent politics; the black-white argument, he writes, “is like listening to a bad marriage through a thin partition, a civil war replete with violence, recrimination, mimicry, slamming doors.” That’s not to say that those tensions are not real, and Rodriguez allows that plenty of doors have been slammed in his face as a brown, gay person. Plenty of others have been thrown open, though, affording him a privileged (and deserved) position as cultural commentator that he gratefully acknowledges. Without descending into sloganeering or us-versus-them rhetoric, Rodriguez argues for an inclusive “white freedom” accorded to all citizens; his democratic spirit and the absence of special pleading are both refreshing. In their erudition and irony, these writings recall the essays of the late Mexican poet Octavio Paz, who could easily have written the closing lines: “Truly, one way to appreciate the beauty of the world is to choose one color and to notice its recurrence in rooms, within landscapes. And upon bookshelves.”

Elegant, controversial, and altogether memorable." www.kirkusreviews.com, A Kirkus Starred Review show less

A beautifully written book by a sad man alienated from his family, his past, and ultimately, himself.

The son of immigrants, Rodríguez believes that the only option for minorities is to "assimilate" (that is, live up to the majority's expectations and standards), and he thinks the only way to do that is by turning away from one's past and heritage. He also seems to think that racism (at least towards brown people) is mostly a matter of class and education.

I disagree with all of his show more conclusions, but I admit that I enjoyed his writing and sympathized with his sorrow. show less

Oy, one I've wanted to read for such a long time, but not one that deserves to be read in the subway. These essays are beautifully written and masterfully structured, but they are not straight-forward. They require time, thought, and close reading--and, if only, discussion. It's probably a bit telling that it took me about twice as long to finish this slim, large-printed volume than it did for me to read my next two books, each of which was half again as long and with smaller type.

Gave me show more quite a bit of food for thought. One morsel that stuck out, professionally, was Rodriguez's dislike of being called a "Hispanic" writer--not only because of the odd origins and apparently exceptional unreality of "Hispanic" as a group, but because it then segregates books written by Latinx writers from other writers. As someone on the BISAC subject codes committee, I found this interesting. I wonder if the "Hispanic & Latino" subject heading has been applied to books not because they are about Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx people but because they are by authors who others say fit those categories. (It is notoriously hard to get people to remember that subject categories are for what the book is about, not what the author is or what you want it to be. Sigh.) As Rodriguez points out, India's most famous author (Salman Rushdie) is a British citizen who has lived in the US and Canada for much of his life.

Anyway, just about every third page of my book is dog eared, so no quote roundup this time--there's no way I could narrow that down.

[Not sure of exact read dates. I'm too far behind...] show less

Richard Rodriguez is a man whose education bifurcated his life into a private life and a public life. In the public sphere he was driven to obtain an education that has led him to become one of the most interesting essayists of our time. His description of his inner life, especially his reading life is one of many exceptional aspects of this book. His liberation from the private sphere into the public, where he has become a literary light for others, was made possible in part by this reading show more life; a life driven by a compulsion to become part of the "public sphere" that was centered in the culture apart from his family. This was a part of his life that I personally identified with and believe that many individuals who love the reading life will also.

In this memoir he explores his own coming-of-age in an America that challenged him to understand what it is to be a Mexican American and what it is to be a Catholic in America. At the heart of the memoir is Rodríguez’s recognition that his is a position of alienation, a position that he accepts with resignation and regret. As the title of this collection of autobiographical pieces suggests, he remembers his early childhood with nostalgia, while acknowledging that his coming-of-age has resulted in his displacement from that simple, secure life.

Another center for his autobiography is language and the importance of it in his life. He did not speak English until he started to go to school and even then it was difficult for him to learn the language for it was not spoken at home. One exciting moment in his education occurred when three nuns from his grade school visited his home and encouraged his parents to support their children's English language skills. Although they were indifferent speakers of English, his parents from that point forward asked their children, Richard and his brother and sisters, to speak English each evening. Richard, through this practice and his own diligence in reading and writing, would go on to major in English in college eventually doing postgraduate work in Renaissance Studies.

He shares the hard work that all this entailed and his critical reaction to the growth of bi-lingual education. His courage in developing and maintaining an independent voice for his beliefs in this regard also help to make his story unique. In his view bilingual education prevents children from learning the public language that will be their passport to success in the public world, and he uses his own experience—being a bilingual child who was educated without bilingual education as it was introduced into the American school system in the 1960’s—as an example.

Rodríguez offers himself as another example in criticizing affirmative action programs. Turning down offers to teach at various post secondary educational institutions that he believed wanted to hire him simply because he was Latino, Rodríguez began what has been his persistent criticism of affirmative action policies in America. His uncompromising position in this matter led him to leave academia and pursue his writing skills as a journalist and essayist. His devotion to education in language and life helped him develop the voice that he shares in his journalistic and readable prose style.

I first encountered his voice while watching the News Hour on PBS where he was an essayist for many years. The style he demonstrated there is present on every page of his autobiography. I would highly recommend this for anyone interested in the development of a humane intellectual. show less