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Barbara Renaud Gonzalez, an acclaimed journalist and author, is shown reading from her latest novel at the Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center on Thursday, Jan. 21. (Staff photo by Michael Rodriguez)
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By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
sanbenitonews@sbcglobal.net
They sat riveted, literally hanging on every word and, for once, dreading the musical interludes.
This was the scene Thursday evening at the newly-renovated Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center (NMCAC) in San Benito, where acclaimed journalist and author Barbara Renaud Gonzalez captivated those in attendance with a reading from her latest novel, “Golondrina, Why Did You Leave Me?”
It was visible that the excerpts Gonzalez read from her novel struck a chord with the audience. While it is usually - albeit not mostly - the music that draws people to the center, on the night of Jan. 21 it was Chicana literature that took center stage.
“I hope that more people pick up a book. There are many great Latino/Latina writers today,” Gonzalez stressed. “Reading makes us whole, in the way that television and football games can't. They're great, but they don't fill you up. They're not lasting, like a good newspaper article.”
Gonzalez's “Golondrina …” is the story of a young Mexican woman named Amanda who finds herself in an abusive marriage. She then makes a difficult decision to leave her young daughter behind in Mexico to escape to el Norte, this in search of love.
But perhaps what makes the story more intriguing are the circumstances surrounding its publishing. According to Gonzalez, it is the first Chicana novel to be published by the University of Texas Press.
“It is one of the most prestigious university publishers in the country, and what it means is that a publishing company like UT Press recognizes that Chicana/Chicano literature is valid,” Gonzalez said, an achievement she felt was bittersweet. Bittersweet because while she clearly wants Chicana novels to be recognized, she also harbors disappointment in the fact that it's taken years to accomplish such a feat, consequently becoming a labor rather than a right.
Then there were the offers. Gonzalez received plenty of them to publish her novel, some arguably may have profited her more; but in the end she chose that in which served the purpose of the story as opposed to the prospect of possibly upping book sales.
“I got offers to have this book published in New York City. I said no, because I wrote it in the language of our jente - in Tex-Mex, and I'm not going to translate it for New York City!” Gonzalez declared, raising her voice in an anthemic crescendo.
For this, she believes New York City has some catching up to do in the cultural spectrum. “In the future, Tex-Mex will be in New York without having to translate it. It's just part of the change of landscape. That's the way the world works,” she said.
Gonzalez, 56, is a native of the Texas panhandle who received her education from the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. She was invited by NMCAC organizers to read from her novel on Thursday, an invite that the author/journalist said she'll never forget.
“The center is known to be very reputable and to have great music, and very much what you would call Chicano/Latino border culture. They're known for that, and my writer friends in San Antonio are very jealous, because they all want to come,” Gonzalez said.
In fact, she noted that John Phillip Santos expressed interest in coming to San Benito and thought highly of Gonzalez for being invited to the NMCAC.
Santos is a freelance filmmaker/producer, journalist and writer whose articles have appeared in such publications as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Santos was also an executive producer and director of new program development for Thirteen/WNET, not to mention a producer of over 40 documentaries - two of which were Emmy nominated - for CBS and PBS.
“Writers need a great place to read. The center is that place. It is appealing to outsiders because stories, whether it is music, art, literature or dance have power. Art can move people in ways that politics can't. It breaks open a heart, and we take it for granted. Art changes us in unconscious ways. It heals us, and this isn't something that is not easy to articulate, because it's about feeling,” Gonzalez said.
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