Resumen de Richard Rodriguez's hunger of memory as a “Teacherly" Text; or how we are all immigrants in the American Literature Classroom
This essay takes up the relationship between ethnic autobiography and the teaching of American Literature and writing. The author argues that ethnic self-narratives, represented here by Richard Rodriguez's "Hunger of Memory," prove an invaluable asset to teach foreign students the codes and rituals of the American culture, and to speak of their own cultural identity in productive ways. Underlying the whole discussion of Rodriguez's autobiography, there is the conviction that this text can be an excellent resource to elicit significant intellectual and emotional responses from students to such crucial issues as the development of a personal identity or the search of an adequate discourse to portray it. The article moves from a consideration of the major achievements in this literary work (affective temperature, hybric nature or genre indeterminacy) to the discussion of the central question raised in the paper: "what is it that makes of "Hunger of Memory" such a "teacherly" text? Several possible answers are given to this enigma all of which should encourage instructors of American literature to consider the inclusion of this book in their syllabus (the centrality of language problems, the generational and cultural conflicts, the incorporation of intellectual materials into the progress toward self-knowledge, etc.). Last but not least, this contribution also hopes to countervail the many attacks that Richard Rodriguez's autobiography has lately received from some Chicano scholars.
