What Really Happened: Exploring Minority Literature through Nonfiction

Throughout the course I have noticed that a majority of our texts (with the obvious exception of the slave narratives) are fiction. While I have certainly been enthralled with the chosen selections, I wanted to explore some of the nonfiction selections available that would fit with the objectives of our course.

African American:

               Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America by Geoffrey Canada.

A classic coming-of-age memoir that examines urban youth violence and its causes. Geoffrey Canada was a vulnerable, scared boy growing up in the South Bronx. Canada’s world was one where “sidewalk” boys learned the codes of the block and were ranked through the rituals of fist, stick, and knife. Then the streets changed, and the stakes got even higher. Canada relives a childhood in which violence stalked every street corner.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Or, Gustavus Vassa, the African by Olaudah Equiano

The journey of an Igbo prince from captivity to freedom and literacy; his enslavement in the New World, service in the Seven Years War, voyages to the Arctic, other adventures. Often anthologized or paired with Frederick Douglass’, Nancy Price’s or Harriet Jacobs’ slave narratives.

               Reading, Writing, and Leaving Home: Life on the Page by Lynn Freed

Equal parts revelation and inspiration, these eleven essays combine a memoir of an exotic life, reflections on the art and craft of writing, and a brilliant examination of the always complex relationship between fiction and life. Freed is a South African-American.

Mexican/Latin American:

               Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa by Rigoberto Gonzalez

(Other Nonfiction books: So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks, Other Fugitives and Other Strangers, The Mariposa Club and Antonio’s Card)

Heartbreaking, poetic, and intensely personal, Butterfly Boy is a unique coming out and coming-of-age story of a first-generation Chicano who trades one life for another, only to discover that history and memory are not exchangeable or forgettable.

               Brother, I’m Dying by Edwidge Danticat

A story of a family’s journey from Haiti to America and their strife as they continue to worry for those they left behind in a politically struggling Haiti.

               House of Houses by Pat Mora

Combining poetic language and the traditions of magic realism to paint a vivid portrait of her family, Pat Mora’s House of Houses is an unconventional memoir that reads as if every member, death notwithstanding, is in one room talking, laughing, and crying.

               Nepantla by Pat Mora

The author's sense of identity both as a Latina and as a member of Anglo-American society evokes the unique title of this collection (a Nahuatl word for “place in the middle''). Mora's experiences while traveling both here and abroad sustain the theme that the cultural heritage of ethnic groups is valuable and deserves to be preserved.

Native American:

               The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday

               (Other Nonfiction texts: House Made of Dawn and Ancient Dawn)

An enchanting collection of two dozen passages that tell the stories of the Kiowa way of life with factual notations and personal reminiscences. Momaday creates a stunning piece of folklore.

Homosexual/Transgendered:

               Naked by David Sedaris

(Other Nonfiction texts: Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames and Holidays on Ice)

David Sedaris has an unmistakable voice -- high, reedy and more than a little bit mischievous, it leaps out at you. His essays contain an odd, confessional whimsy, which are mostly about his childhood memories of growing up in suburban North Carolina, recalling absurd situations to a humor and satiric level only Sedaris can reach. Some essays include his young recollections of being homosexual.

               She’s Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan

The provocative bestseller She’s Not There is the winning, utterly surprising story of a person changing genders. By turns hilarious and deeply moving, Jennifer Finney Boylan explores the territory that lies between men and women, examines changing friendships, and rejoices in the redeeming power of family.

With nonfiction literature, we are able to experience the joys and tribulations of these cross-cultural individuals. It is a way to see how the myths of particular cultures truly influence their lives and how those same myths or customs are kept or altered in America.              

               There is a surreal aspect to nonfiction that I believe fiction cannot capture completely. I have read Canada’s and Momaday’s texts and enjoyed them for the infallible insight they provide. However, if I were to choose a favorite nonfiction author, it would easily be David Sedaris. His satirical humor is like none I’ve ever come across; his wit and complete sense of shamelessness allows him to whole-heartedly tell his stories (many of which I have to stop and start numerous times because I’m laughing so hard I can’t read through my tears).

Bibliography:

Synopses of texts (all or part) provided by: www.bn.com