Madre and I [electronic resource] : a memoir of our immigrant lives / Guillermo Reyes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reyes, Guillermo A.

Series:

Writing in Latinidad.

Writing in Latinidad : autobiographical voices of U.S. Latinos/as

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hispanic American gay men--Biography.

Hispanic American gay men.

Immigrants--United States--Biography.

Immigrants.

Reyes, Guillermo A.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (290 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Madison, WI : University of Wisconsin Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this moving and funny memoir, award-winning playwright Guillermo Reyes untangles his life as the secretly illegitimate son of a Chilean immigrant to the United States and as a young man struggling with sexual repression, body image, and gay identity. But this is a double-decker memoir that also tells the poignant, bittersweet, and adventurous story of Guillermo's mother, María, who supports herself and her son cleaning houses and then working as a nanny in Washington, D.C. and eventually in Hollywood. In one memorable scene, after realizing that her friend Carmen is cleaning the house of one of the producers of Annie Hall, María recruits her to take her picture as she poses dramatically with Mr. Joffe's Oscar in hand. It is María's defiant yet determined attitude amidst her sacrifices that allows for Guillermo's spirited coming of age and coming out. Their common ground is the drama of their encounters with discovery, heartbreak, and passion--the explosive emotions that light up the stage of their two-actor theater.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. Love Child

2. A Santiago Education

3. Comadres

4. The Subject Was Roses-or Was It?

5. Italian Holiday

6. Éxito, or the Language of Success

7. María's Wedding

8. Pterodactyls

Epilogue.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-299-23629-3

1-282-55523-5

9786612555237

0-299-23623-4

OCLC:

644674203