2004-12-5
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve
Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Books about the immigrant experience act
as a bridge between cultures. They carry readers across borders and
help them experience the lives of people different from themselves.
VOICE ONE:
This week, our program looks at the lives of four writers in the
United States who have strong ties to Latin America and the
Caribbean. They are Isabel Allende, Francisco Goldman, Jamaica
Kincaid and Sandra Cisneros.
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VOICE TWO:
Isabel Allende is one of the most
popular immigrant writers from South America. She has written many
books for adults and children. One of her most successful was her
first book, "The House of Spirits." Mizz Allende based it on
memories of her family and the political crises in Chile where she
grew up.
Isabel Allende was born in nineteen forty-two in Lima, Peru. Her
father was a Chilean diplomat there. But her parents ended their
marriage when she was three years old.
After her school years, Isabel Allende got married and worked as
a reporter for a magazine and for television. Then in nineteen
seventy-three her uncle, the president of Chile, Salvador Allende,
was murdered in a military overthrow.
In nineteen seventy-five Isabel Allende and her family fled to
Venezuela. She based "The House of Spirits" on a letter that she
wrote to her grandmother who was dying. The book shows the world
from the view of women who suffer but survive the problems they
face. Some of Mizz Allende's other books also deal with this issue.
VOICE ONE:
Isabel Allende has lived in a number of countries around the
world. Her marriage ended in divorce. A year later, she married a
man she had met while in the United States to talk about one of her
books. That was in nineteen eighty-eight; they have lived in
Northern California ever since.
After a few years in the United States, Mizz Allende wrote a book
called "The Infinite Plan." The story is about an American man. It
is set in the United States. "The Infinite Plan" was very different
from her other books, which were mostly set in South America. At
least one book critic noted with praise for Mizz Allende that not
many immigrants write about natives of their new country. But she
still writes in Spanish.
Isabel Allende says she always considered herself a Latin
American. But, as she told the New York Times, the terrorist attacks
on the United States on September eleventh, two thousand one,
changed her feelings about her identity.
She describes these feelings in her two thousand three book, "My
Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey through Chile." Although she
is now an American citizen, Mizz Allende says, "My heart isn't
divided; it has merely grown larger."
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VOICE TWO:
Another American writer with
strong links to another country is Francisco Goldman. He was born in
nineteen fifty-four. He grew up in Guatemala City and Massachusetts.
His mother came from Guatemala to the United States by herself
before the age of twenty. His father was from a family of Russian
immigrants.
Now Francisco Goldman divides his time between Mexico City and
New York City. He is an English professor at Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut.
His first book, "The Long Night of White Chickens," was about a
Guatemalan-American man. He travels to Central America to
investigate the murder of a Guatemalan woman he knew as a child. The
book received honors. Book critics praised the power with which
Francisco Goldman dealt with both love and politics in "The Long
Night of White Chickens."
VOICE ONE:
His second book was "The Ordinary Seaman." Fifteen Central
American men are brought to the United States illegally to repair an
old ship. But they are tricked by the owners. The ship cannot sail
from its port in Brooklyn, New York. The men must search for food
and a way out of their situation. Critics again praised Mister
Goldman for his writing and storytelling.
For his third book, he wrote a story based on the relationship
between Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti and a Guatemalan woman. The
book is called "The Divine Husband: A Novel."
Francisco Goldman has also written for magazines like The New
Yorker and Harper's Magazine. He says reporting and storytelling are
not very different for Latin American writers. He has written both
ways about the same issues. These include the war in Guatemala in
the nineteen eighties. Mister Goldman says he writes to try to find
the truth.
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VOICE TWO:
Jamaica Kincaid is another writer
who sets most of her stories in another country. Her books are set
on a Caribbean island nation similar to her native Antigua. Mizz
Kincaid was born in nineteen forty-nine. Her parents named her
Elaine Potter Richardson. She left Antigua when she was seventeen.
She changed her name as an adult when she began writing in New York.
Jamaica Kincaid took care of other people's children in New York
and went to school. Later, she wrote for magazines. She wrote for
The New Yorker for twenty years.
Jamaica Kincaid published her first book, called "At the Bottom
of the River," in nineteen eighty-three. This collection of short
stories is about a young girl growing up in the Caribbean. The book
was praised for its musical writing style and intense emotion. Since
then, Jamaica Kincaid's other books have had a similar strong style
and subject matter. Most of her writing is based on her life and her
difficult relationship with her mother.
VOICE ONE:
The relationship she presents has been compared to that between
Britain and its former colony, Antigua. Jamaica Kincaid dealt with
the issue directly in her book "A Small Place." She condemned
Britain for its history of slave trade and colonialism, and the
effects on her native land. Some book critics called "A Small Place"
too angry. But Mizz Kincaid once said, "The first step in claiming
yourself is anger."
VOICE TWO:
Jamaica Kincaid lives in the state of Vermont with her
American-born husband and two children. She wrote about the
immigrant experience in her book "Lucy." Lucy, a Caribbean woman,
tries to survive in a strange and difficult environment. She becomes
very critical of American society. How does the writer herself feel
about that society? Jamaica Kincaid says America has "given me a
place to be myself – but myself as I was formed somewhere else."
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VOICE ONE:
Unlike the other writers we have
discussed, Sandra Cisneros was born in the United States. But she
writes mainly about the immigrant experience. Sandra Cisneros is a
daughter of Mexican-Americans. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, in
nineteen fifty-four.
She studied at a writing program in another Midwestern state,
Iowa. It was in that program, she says, that she recognized the
importance of her ancestry and her experiences as a woman. She says
this realization gave her writing its own voice. She has written
books of poetry and fiction.
Her first book was "The House on Mango Street." The book is about
a young Mexican-American girl. She wants to leave the poor part of
the city where she lives. Later, she accepts and welcomes her ethnic
identity. The book was a huge success. It won many prizes. "The
House on Mango Street" is widely read in schools. Other books by
Sandra Cisneros have also been well-received.
VOICE TWO:
"Caramelo," published in two thousand three, tells the story of a
big Mexican-American family that travels to Mexico City. The book
includes the history of modern Mexico and how it is closely linked
to United States history.
"Caramelo" deals with cultural identity and women in society. It
deals with lies and memories. And it deals with childhood and
family. Sandra Cisneros says it is important that all people in the
United States understand the lives of Mexican-Americans.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Doreen Baingana and produced by Caty
Weaver. You can find an earlier program about Asian American writers
on our Web site, WWW.testbig.com. A future program will
present immigrant writers from Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA, in VOA Special English.