Edward Rivera

Edward Rivera (1944-2001) was an American writer, educator and editor with Puerto-Rican roots (Nuyorican). Born in Puerto Rico, from age 7[1] Rivera grew up in New York.[2] He was a mentor to writers Abraham Rodríguez and Ernesto Quiñonez.[1][3][4]

Career

Rivera's only major work, the novel Family Installments: Memories of Growing up Hispanic, reportedly took ten years to write.[2] Facing attempts at fetishization of the Nuyorican experience,^[clarification needed] it took three years for Family Installments to be published.[2][5] The novel utilizes many stylistic tools, from flashbacks to a mix of oral and official histories.[6] Rivera famously looked to Mark Twain as an influence, and the novel indicates this, creating an intertextual conversation.[7] Though Rivera insisted that Family Installments was a novel, many critics found it to be heavily influenced by Rivera's life.[7]

References

1. González, Deena J. "Rivera, Edward". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
2. "Edward Rivera, 62, Writer and Teacher". The New York Times. 2001-09-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
3. West-Durán, Alan (2005). "Dominican and Other Authors". Latino and Latina Writers. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2019-03-05.
4. West-Durán, Alan (2004). "Puerto Rican Authors". Latino and Latina Writers. Archived from the original on May 21, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
5. Perez, Richard (2017). "Failed Potential or the Potentiality of Failure: Art, Privation, and Decolonial Memory in Edward Rivera's Family Installments: Memories of Growing Up Hispanic". Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. 50 (1): 20–26. doi:10.1080/08905762.2017.1341132. S2CID 149038305 – via TAN.
6. "Scholar Compass". Retrieved March 5, 2019.
7. Nattermann, Udo (2001). "International Fiction vs. Ethnic Autobiography: Cultural Appropriation in Mark Twain and Edward Rivera". International Fiction Review. 28: 12–19 – via GALE.