Richard Vásquez
Richard Vásquez (1928-1990) was a notable journalist and novelist whose work focused on the cultural and social challenges faced by Mexican immigrants in the United States. Born in South Gate, California, to fourth-generation Mexican-American parents, he gained firsthand experience of the complexities of identity and belonging. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Vásquez began his career in journalism, initially writing about cab drivers for the Santa Monica Independent and later contributing extensively to the San Gabriel Daily Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
Vásquez is best known for his first novel, *Chicano*, which explores the generational struggles of a Mexican-American family, the Sandovals, as they navigate their identity amidst cultural pressures and aspirations for acceptance in American society. Despite mixed critical reception, *Chicano* is recognized as a pioneering work in Chicano literature. His subsequent novels, including *The Giant Killer* and *Another Land*, further delve into themes of cultural identity and social issues, including crime and the exploitation of undocumented workers. In addition to his novels, Vásquez received accolades for his journalistic work, including a Sigma Delta Chi award, highlighting his significant contributions to both literature and journalism.
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Richard Vásquez
Writer
- Born: June 11, 1928
- Birthplace: South Gate, California
- Died: April 23, 1990
- Place of death: Inglewood, California
Biography
A journalist and novelist, Richard Vásquez wrote about the cultural and social uncertainties facing Mexicans who move to the United States. Vásquez was born on June 11, 1928, in South Gate, a satellite community of Los Angeles, California, one of ten children of fourth-generation Mexican-American parents. At seventeen, he joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II. Afterward, he started his own construction company, working part-time as a cab driver as well. In 1959, a chance encounter with a newspaper editor in his cab brought him the chance to write a column about cab drivers for the Santa Monica Independent, and his career in writing began. He subsequently worked as a reporter for the San Gabriel Daily Tribune from 1960 to 1965, was an account executive for Wilshire Boulevard Public Relations from 1965 to 1970 as well as the historian for a book publisher, and thereafter was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. During his journalistic career, he wrote more than five hundred pieces about Chicano history and culture. Married twice, Vásquez spent his life in the Los Angeles area, dying in 1990.
Although Vásquez published short stories and short poems, he is best known as a novelist, particularly for his first novel, Chicano. It is a family saga in the social-realist tradition about four generations of a Mexican-American family, the Sandovals. The first generation arrives in flight from the Mexican Revolution of 1910, and each subsequent generation bit by bit abandons their Mexican culture in attempts to integrate with U.S. society and achieve their dream of acceptance, security, and family coherence. However, each in some measure fails because of Anglo hostility or their own wayward ambitions, and the two members of the final generation die tragically, ending the line.
Chicano was among the first novels by a Chicano to be published by a large publishing house, and it sold well, but its initial reception from critics was mixed. Many found Vásquez’s characters two-dimensional, even stereotyped, and his prose style too journalistic. Chicano critics disliked the dismal futility of the ending. In his introduction to the 2005 edition of Chicano, however, Rúben Martínez sees the novel’s enduring influence in a larger context: .” . . it was an important failure, maybe even a magnificent one.. . . Chicano is a brave and pioneering attempt to create dialogue across a terrible divide, the kind that has opened up on so many occasions throughout our history when ’foreigner’ meets ’native.’”
Vásquez’s second novel, The Giant Killer, is a crime-fiction thriller about a Chicano reporter’s discovery of an attempt to divide the United States into ethnically pure conclaves. His third novel, Another Land, concerns the exploitation of undocumented workers as two young Mexican lovers try to win a place for themselves in the United States. Vásquez also wrote a book for children, Is There a Dinosaur in This House?.
In 1963 Vásquez received the Sigma Delta Chi award for a newspaper article about Irwindale, a town his great-great-grandfather helped found.