BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

09-4-0385

Agosín, Marjorie. The Alphabet in My Hands: A Writing Life. Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000. 187 pp. Trans. from Spanish by Nancy Abraham Hall. ISBN 0-8135-2704-X, $24.00.

In poignant vignettes lamenting the treatment of minorities—women, Hispanics, Jews—Agosín completes her trilogy of transplantation (A Cross and a Star, Always from Somewhere Else), the saga of her family’s migration from continent to continent, seeking safety and acceptance, the holy grail of the immigrant/refugee.

While the memoir meditates on the pain and pleasure of childhood, exile, and women as role models, the image of the wandering Jew prevails, always the other, the outsider—"to be Jewish in Chile was to be an intruder." Fragments of memory and family portraits of the author as a child depict a close-knit extended family exuding warmth, love, and support. Sepia photos from Europe in 1938 reveal Agosín’s connection to the Holocaust: Her Viennese great-grandmother Helena was forced to flee from the Nazis, losing her family, home, and language. With suitcases always packed, Agosín’s family left Russia and Europe for Argentina and Chile.

Agosín recalls the highlights of her life in Chile, especially the love of her native nanas, Christians who cared for her, body and soul, and who represent the attraction of unknown and mystical practices. Through these women, she learned compassion for the poor and less fortunate. She also relishes memories of summers at the seaside town of El Quisco, where she read the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean and the only Spanish-speaking woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. Agosín’s literary influences are Anne Frank and the Chilean greats: Mistral, Bombal, and Neruda. Books and words provide an escape, her salvation. Her prose reads like poetry, a lament for lost language.

But Chile is "one large cemetery for the living as well as the dead." Ex-Nazis take refuge here and support the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, whose military coup brings about the overthrow and death of Socialist President Salvador Allende. The CIA intervenes to protect American interests. The "disappeared" in Chile and Argentina vanish like the Jews of Europe. Again Agosín’s family flees, traveling from Santiago to Georgia. "Exile was like a piece of cloth that never took shape." Descriptions of life in the United States are a sharp criticism of the American way of life as cold and mechanistic: "This was the America that gave us the opportunity to remake our lives and kill our souls."

Other than a minor editorial error (Agosín attributes Marjorie Morningstar, the book that gives rise to her name, to Howard Fast, while it was actually written by Herman Wouk), the memoir is a pleasure to (be)hold. The fine ivory-toned paper and graceful font are very appealing, and Nancy Abraham Hall’s translation is smooth and sensual, while her insightful introduction provides a helpful summary of the author’s motivations. The book would be appropriate for courses in Latina literature, women’s literature, or Judaic studies.

—Roberta Gordenstein
Elms College

09-4-0386

Azzi, María Susana and Collier, Simon. Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000. 320 pp. ISBN 0-19-512777-3, $30.00.

This is the first English-language biography of the legendary innovator of "the new tango," Astor Piazzolla. The authors have composed an engaging narrative of the revolutionary musician, tracing his life from his birth in 1921 in Argentina to his boyhood experiences in New York, where he lived with his parents until he was 16, to his adult life, when his relentless search for new musical roots prompted him to divide his time among his native Argentina, Europe, and the United States.

In his youth, he was immersed in the world of tango; however, he also took a strong interest in classical music and played with influential jazz musicians. Drawing on these various influences, Piazzolla developed what came to be called "the new tango." The authors note the great controversy this music caused in his native Argentina, with so-called traditionalists accusing him of destroying Argentina’s national music, while "Piazzollistas" ardently defended the music as a brilliant innovation.

The book outlines well Piazzolla’s development as musician, interpreter, composer, and performer and insightfully interprets Piazzolla as a musician who felt the need to transcend the traditional tango to create a dramatically new style of music—an extended tango-based music meant for listening, not dancing. Despite the controversies, Piazzolla came to be accepted and recognized worldwide as one of the great "bandoneonistas" and musicians of the twentieth century.

The book’s appeal is more universal than just to those interested in tango or Piazzolla. In a time when many talk of multiculturalism in the abstract, this biography has a great deal to teach us about the profound personal trials and costs associated with becoming a truly multicultural person such as Piazzolla—rejection by many, personal alienation, and a sense of exile.

—Rosita Chazarreta-Rourke
Clarion University of Pennsylvania

09-4-0387

Goodwin, Grenville and Goodwin, Neil. The Apache Diaries: A Father-Son Journey. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2000. 316 pp. ISBN 0-8032-2175-4, $29.95.

This ethnographic narrative tracing the footsteps of a father’s journey to find an elusive band of Chiricahua Apaches in the 1930s is a captivating read. The compilation of two tales by a father and son spanning over six decades provides significant interpretations of the history of the Chiricahua Apaches. The surviving author, Neil Goodwin, revisits the places and the people that his father had encountered six decades earlier on his inaugural journeys to Mexico, New Mexico, and Arizona following the Apaches of the Sierra Madre. Neil’s father, Grenville, a respected ethnographer of the Apaches, died at the early age of 33, leaving behind the writings of his encounters with the Apaches in the Southwest.

The book incorporates the informative account of Grenville Goodwin in the early 1930s and is contrasted with Neil’s travels in the 1990s, revealing a haunting and passionate tale of two people who did not know each other. Accordingly, the book serves as a forum for Neil to connect with his father through his travels and visits with acquaintances of his father. The book is informative, and those interested in history and ethnography would find the Goodwins’ story and work engaging.

—Maggie Necefer (Diné)
Haskell Indians Nations University

09-4-0388

Kevane, Bridget and Heredia, Juanita, eds. Latina Self-Portraits. Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2000. 166 pp. ISBN 0-8263-1971-8, $45.00 (cl); 0-8263-1972-6, $19.95 (pb).

The well-planned and thorough introduction of Latina Self-Portraits is perhaps the most salient feature of this collection of interviews. In the first section of the introduction, Heredia provides a historical overview of the emergence of Latina literature in the United States, marking two distinguishing periods: the 1960s as the beginnings and the 1980s as the consolidation of Latina writers. She also addresses issues of difference among the interviewees in terms of national origin and writing styles. In the second part of the introduction Kevane poses a series of questions about the established canon, probing not only the ways it has influenced these writers but also the ways in which they are shaping the canon. Another important critical point of view is the gap between writer and critic and how, "as the writers themselves point out, they—not their works of art—have become the objects of examination."

There are 10 interviews, all similar in content, in which the writers discuss their work and lives, as well as their personal and political points of view. The writers included are: Julia Álvarez, Denise Chavez, Sandra Cisneros, Rosario Ferré, Cristina Garcia, Nicholasa Mohr, Cherrie Moraga, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Esmeralda Santiago, and Helena Maria Viramontes. It is a useful collection of questions and answers, together with insightful critical inquiries, that is an appropriate companion to any reading of the authors included. Latina Self-Portraits will be a valuable text for the student, the teacher, and the scholar.

—Viviana Rangil
Skidmore College

09-4-0389

Kim, Elizabeth. Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan. New York: Doubleday, 2000. 228 pp. ISBN 0-385-49633-8, $22.95.

This book may have been published chiefly to provide its author with emotional therapy. What’s more, if anything like half of its story is true, publication for that reason is clearly justified. Though the publicity claims this to be a new (Korean American, lower-middle-class, Christian fundamentalist) version of Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, this claim is mistaken. It is closer to Uncle Tom’s Cabin than anything published recently. For example, like Eliza the slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic tale, Kim also flees a dangerous home into the night with a child under her arm. Unlike Eliza, however, Kim runs barefoot across the California desert, and the malevolent demon chasing her is the specter of her sadistic (and fascistic) husband, who made her sleep in the backyard doghouse on one obviously memorable occasion early in their marriage. Things went downhill from there.

Kim’s book is an avowedly true account of an orphaned child who watched as her beloved mother—Omma—was hanged by her grandfather and uncle back in Korea in a so-called honor killing. Next, the little girl was literally caged up in an allegedly Christian orphanage until adopted by a pair of American Christian fundamentalists whose cynical hypocrisy Kim is either too kind or too blind to label as such. Following the escape from her matrimonial enslavement, Kim was raped by an angry policeman whose malfeasances she’d reported in a newspaper article. Several things appear to have saved the author’s sanity after half a lifetime of involuntary psychological servitude: the affecting memory of Omma’s loving kindness, Kim’s loving attachment to her own sensitive daughter, a certain type of heartwarming poetry represented by Edna St. Vincent Millay and some of Shakespeare’s sonnets, and meditative Buddhism in search of a measure of tranquility in the face of her sad, traumatic experience.

—Leo J. Mahoney
Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

09-4-0390

Levine, Suzanne Jill. Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000. 448 pp. ISBN 0374-28190-4, $27.50.

The cinematic success in the mid-eighties of Kiss of the Spider Woman brought worldwide attention to the Argentine novelist Manuel Puig (1932-1990). From the novel of the same name, he developed the screenplay in collaboration with the director Hector Babenco. Puig presented a singular profile for a Latin American novelist within the landscape of the region’s magical realism tradition. "Strongly influenced by Hollywood films of the thirties and forties," this gay novelist mixed "political and sexual themes with B-movie scenarios," emerging as a "pioneer of high camp."

In this biography, readers receive the first close and detailed narrative of Puig’s life and work. The life was extraordinarily peripatetic, moving from the interior of Argentina to sojourns in Buenos Aires, Rome, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, and numerous places in between. His life was also hectic in its political and literary quarrels, sexual engagements, and artistic drive. A close friend of Puig, Levine enjoyed exceptional access to primary written sources and the intimate circle of the novelist’s friends and family. Given the pace and global landscape of Puig’s life, the biography develops almost as a movie, with detailed imagery unfolding in continuous, fast-paced fades and transitions. The biography includes copious notes for sources and has a valuable listing of novels, plays, screenplays, miscellaneous publications, and translations into English of Puig’s works. Nonetheless, should there be a new edition of this work, attention needs to be given to correction of Portuguese phrases and Brazilian place names.

—Edward A. Riedinger
Ohio State University Libraries

09-4-0391

Mathabane, Miriam and Mathabane, Mark. Miriam’s Song: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. 320 pp. ISBN 0-684-83303-4, $30.00.

Amid the violence of South African apartheid of the 1980s, Miriam Mathabane comes of age in Miriam’s Song. Mark Mathabane, in Miriam’s voice, recreates his sister’s life in Alexandria, a black township. Mark is a best-selling author and lecturer whose book Kaffir Boy brought the abuses of South Africa’s apartheid to international attention.

Miriam’s mother stressed education to all her children. Poverty and sparse education often deprive black South Africans of a decent living. When interfamilial conflicts and poverty drove the family finances into chaos, the eldest son, Mark, became the primary financial provider. However, when Mark left to continue his higher education and career in America, the family was dependent on Miriam’s mother and the neighborhood church. Through Miriam’s eyes we see her family’s struggle to survive financially and emotionally without Mark. She endured abusive "Bantu education," ethnic turmoil, and the violent political atmosphere of the 1980s. In addition to these obstacles, Miriam survived puberty, sexism, and racism.

Some of Miriam’s visions are violent and explicit. However, her memoir draws the reader into the hardship of a young black woman living under apartheid. Her courage, determination, faith, and hope are truly inspirational.

—Dora Love
San Francisco, Calif.

09-4-0392

Pogrund, Benjamin. War of Words: Memoirs of a South African Journalist. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2000. 400 pp. Foreword by Harold Evans. ISBN 1-888363-71-1, $26.95.

Hailed as the bravest, most respected journalist of his time by influential South Africans from Nelson Mandela to Donald Woods, Benjamin Pogrund has published his memoirs chronicling a career spent writing in South Africa during apartheid. Hired by the Rand Daily Mail in 1958, Pogrund used his pen to transform the newspaper into South Africa’s liberal voice over the next 30 years. His book details his experiences as the paper’s "African affairs" reporter; experiences that include Pogrund’s firsthand accounts of unjust imprisonments, mysterious deaths, banishments, house arrests, and massacres that reflected the South African government’s apartheid rule.

Pogrund’s book is divided into three sections, exploring, respectively, government-sponsored brutalities, incarcerations, and restraints on the press. Not unlike Woods’s essential Biko, Pogrund’s War of Words showcases the voice of a professional writer. What emerges is equal parts a story of history, of sociological analysis, and of incredible human spirit and heroism. Pogrund conveys the unspeakable horrors of apartheid, as well as the unquestionable necessity of a free press protected, rather than controlled, by the government. This memoir of Pogrund’s tireless work for the freedom of all South Africans can be a useful resource for any educator, particularly a teacher of history, government, cultures, or psychology.

—Donald E. Landrum
Pitt Community College, Greenville, N.C.

09-4-0393

Rothenberg, Paula. Invisible Privilege: A Memoir of Race, Class, and Gender. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas, 2000. 240 pp. ISBN 0-7006-1004-9, $29.95.

The author of Race, Class, and Gender in the United States and Feminist Frameworks, Rothenberg here offers a memoir of her own upbringing as the eldest daughter of an upper-middle-class Orthodox Jewish family in New York City. While she enjoyed the privilege that her wealth and light complexion conferred, she became aware of and sensitive to the slights she experienced as a girl in a religious tradition that gave preference to males. Successive chapters explore her education, both formal and informal, her experiences teaching feminist studies at William Paterson University in New Jersey, controversies over her own writings and various guest speakers at New Jersey’s public universities (most notably Nation of Islam spokesman Khalid Muhammad), and life in her integrated suburb of Montclair, New Jersey.

Rothenberg’s memoir fits into the literature of self-examination that forms one branch of white studies: progressive whites who look to their own past in order to recognize their hidden prejudices and the factors that led them to the struggle for justice. Rothenberg’s frank description of her own early prejudices helps to establish her credibility, even though her naïveté in these chapters often crosses over into silliness. She emerges, however, as a sincere, thoughtful individual who has grappled with issues such as affirmative action and come to conclusions that are far from simplistic. Her wide-ranging focus in this memoir extends beyond race, gender, and class issues to include her battle with breast cancer and her parents’ harsh encounter with the health care system. This readable book is a generally successful attempt to address the personal life of one engaged in broader struggles and to establish the interrelationship of the political and the personal.

—Lyn Miller-Lachmann

09-4-0394

Santiago, Esmeralda and Davidow, Joie, eds. Las Mamis: Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers. New York: Knopf, 2000. 192 pp. ISBN 0-375-40879-7, $20.00.

This collection of 15 short essays is by well-known Latina/o writers who remember and explain the details that have marked their long-lasting relationships with their mothers. Each essay opens with a picture of the author’s mother and a short biography of the writer. The collection is surprisingly varied in the depictions presented, since it is not at all about the stereotypical religious, self-sacrificing, and all-loving Latina mother. There are poor immigrant mothers, rich and self-centered ones, absent or dead ones, controlling mothers, and forgiving mothers.

The text gives a broad scope to the subject of motherhood, making it multifaceted and complex. This is achieved by presenting the perspective of adults who reflect on their relationships with their mothers without dismissing the dual challenge of both defining that relationship and writing about it. As Davidow says in the foreword: " No matter how we struggle to be wholly separate, no matter how far away we plant ourselves, we are destined to exist in relation to our mothers, to the very source of our lives."

—Viviana Rangil
Skidmore College