Richard Rodriguez

author

American^[1] b. 31 July 1944, San Francisco, California^[1,2] active 1982–present

Richard Rodriguez is an American writer and essayist born in San Francisco to Mexican immigrant parents. He is best known for his autobiographical trilogy—Hunger of Memory (1982), Darling (1991), and Brown (1997)—which explores the themes of cultural assimilation, class, ethnicity, and race in the American experience. A scholar of Renaissance literature with degrees from Stanford University and Columbia University, Rodriguez is a master of the personal essay and has received numerous accolades for his contributions to American letters.^[1,2,3]

• cultural identity
• assimilation
• personal essay
• Mexican-American experience