On Mistakes, Origins, and an Honor

The accent of one’s birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one’s speech.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld


In 2001, Julia Alvarez: A Critical Companion —a Greenwood Press publication—appeared in print. In the biographical chapter of this study of Alvarez’s novels, I mistakenly stated that she had been born in the Dominican Republic. In spite of having spent days conversing with Julia, it wasn’t until the book was out that I discovered, through the writer’s website, that her birthplace is New York City. Alas, it was too late to make amends, and my error lives on, in black and white, for all to see—especially Julia, to my great embarrassment.

Yet a writer’s birthplace, particularly when dual heritages profoundly mark her outlook, can easily be a source of confusion for readers if her works deal accurately and intimately with her parents’ country of origin. Living on the hyphen of nationalities can produce a type of literary schizophrenia, and because of this the true origins of the writer can become difficult to detect. This is the case with Alvarez, a Dominican-American and, I guess, with me, a Nicaraguan-American. Our visions, stories, and voices are so tied to our ancestry, to the culture from which we were removed, and where perhaps we feel that a missing half of our selves dwells, that readers assume we hail from our familial homeland.

In April of 2007, I was pleased to learn that I was included in a website “Escritores Nicaragüenses.” This site, a labor of love, is the work of R. Mendoza. In it, he (or she?) has taken the time and effort to profile Nicaraguan writers, both renowned and unknown.

I’m honored to figure in the list. And I wish to remain there; but the truth is that I was not born in Nicaragua, as the entry states. I spent my adolescence in Granada, and I consider this breathtakingly beautiful city my second hometown. But I’m a Los Angeleno—born in California and raised there for the first eleven years of my life, hence my preference for writing in English. And therefore, technically, I’m not a Nicaraguan writer.

Regardless, I’m honored by the inclusion, and I’m touched by the mistake because, after all, I am Nicaraguan, at least in half of my heart.

Below is the entry, and you can read the original at Escritores Nicaragüenses:


Silvio Sirias, escritor nicaragüense, nació en Granada. Vivió muchos años en Estados Unidos, donde estudió literatura, actualmente reside en Panamá. Bernardo and the Virgin es el cuarto libro que ha publicado; todos ellos en Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, es la primera novela.

Los demás son obras de crítica literaria, incluyendo un estudio de Tropical town and other poems, la colección poética que Salomón de la Selva escribió en inglés. La contraportada de la novela tiene una breve presentación de Virgilio Suárez, un importante escritor cubano-americano.

Actualmente Silvio está ocupado preparando su próxima novela, la cual tentativamente titulará El Santo de la Santa Fe. Se basa en la vida notable, y muerte trágica, del sacerdote colombiano Héctor Gallego, asesinado en Panamá.

BILBLIOGRAFÍA
Bernardo and the Virgen
Tropical town and other poems
Julia Alvarez: A Critical Companion
Conversations With Rudolfo Anaya

Sitio web http://www.silviosirias.com/.
Blog http://silviosirias.com/blog.htlml