Description:
In the Mexican Catholic tradition, retablos are ornamental structures made of carved wood framing an oil painting of a devotional image, usually a patron saint. Acclaimed author and essayist Rigoberto González commemorates the passion and the pain of these carvings in his new volume Red-Inked Retablos, a moving memoir of human experience and thought. The collection offers an in-depth meditation on the development of gay Chicano literature and the responsibilities of the Chicana/o writer.
Review Quotes: "A sharp collection of 13 pieces--personal essays, literary criticism, and speeches--this book pleasantly mixes lyricism with clear-eyed frankness. Poet González, author of the memoir Butterfly Boy, writes beautifully and searingly about his experiences as a gay Latino, and the work of his fellow queer and Latina/o writers. It's to González's credit that his essays and literary criticism share similarities, intelligently analyzing his own experiences in the former, and foregrounding the raw connections people have with books in the latter. In recounting his experiences and arguments, González's voice finds a wonderful synergy, staying intimate, compassionate, and uncompromising." --Publishers Weekly