THIS IS AMERICA - Immigrant Writers from Latin America and t

THIS IS AMERICA - Immigrant Writers from Latin America and the Caribbean
By Doreen Baingana

Broadcast: Monday, December 06, 2004

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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:

 
(Photo - isabelallende.com)
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 crises¹ in Chile where she grew up.

Isabel Allende was born in nineteen forty-two in Lima, Peru. Her father was a Chilean diplomat² 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 overthrow³.

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 Infinite⁴ 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 noted⁵ 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 terrorist⁶ 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:

 
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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 Seaman⁸." 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 Divine⁹ 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:

 
Graphic Image
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 condemned¹⁰ 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:

 
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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 ancestry¹¹ and her experiences as a woman. She says this realization¹² 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 ethnic¹³ 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 Weaver¹⁴. You can find an earlier program about Asian American writers on our Web site, www.unsv.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.

1 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

2 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

3 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

4 infinite   

adj.无限的，无穷的，无边无际的

参考例句：

• The universe seems infinite.宇宙似乎是无限的。
• The war brought infinite harm to the nation.战争给这个国家带来了无穷的灾难。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

7 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

8 seaman   

n.海员，水手，水兵

参考例句：

• That young man is a experienced seaman.那个年轻人是一个经验丰富的水手。
• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。

9 divine   

adj.神的，上帝的，神圣的，如神的，非凡的

参考例句：

• Jesus is believed by Christians to have been divine.基督教徒们相信耶稣是神。
• The despot claimed to be the chosen instrument of divine providence.专制者声称自己是上天选定的统治工具。

10 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

11 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

12 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

13 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。