En torno a la identidad cultural: Hunger of Memory y Days of Obligation de Richard Rodriguez

Abstract

Hunger of Memory and Days of Obligation by Richard Rodriguez can both be placed at the centre of the controversy which has developed in recent years as a consequence of the movements which have revised and enlarged the traditional canon and which have caused the appearance of ethnic literature. Both texts contribute in some way to the ongoing debate about cultural identity. Hunger of Memory is an autobiographical essay which describes the process of assimilation experienced by the son of Mexican immigrants in Northern California. For Rodriguez the process of integration involves an inevitable transformation as well as a sense of loss. This is a political book, too, with its own stance in relation to bilingualism in schools and the policy of affirmative action. Days of Obligation is a book about California and Mexico. It is composed of a collection of essays full of personal reminiscences and impressions. In it Rodriguez examines the semiotic constructions which make up a national cultural identity or a minority cultural identity. Rodriguez gives a forceful and vivid account of great suggestive power and brings a degree of critical irony to bear on the cultural images that the U.S. and Mexico have for each other.