Whitman students, staff and community members welcomed Mexican-American author and poet Dagoberto Gilb to Kimball Theatre on Thursday, Sep. 25. This event signified the beginning of the Visiting Writers Reading Series. At the gathering, Gilb talked about his struggles and achievements as a writer, revealing to audience members a rather humorous evaluation of his career.
Gilb described his reason for becoming a writer in a peculiar and surprising way: “I don’t know. Someone must have administered electric shock therapy. It’s like a disease [or] like the feeling when you’re about to sneeze.”
As a writer “you have problems with identity. There should be workmen’s compensation for being a writer,” said Gilb.
As a Mexican-American, Gilb’s Chicano identity has an inevitable and implicit effect on his writing.
English Professor Katrina Roberts commented on the impact of Gilb’s Mexican-American heritage on his work: “His writing has definitely been shaped by the way he identifies with his culture; [it] is very rich and his voice is extremely present coming alive off the page.”
Spanish Professor Nohemy Solórzano-Thompson was of the same view.
“[Chicano writers] are very invested in their culture, especially the idea of coming from a mixed heritage background,” said Solórzano-Thompson.
Though Gilb acknowledges himself as a Chicano writer, he remains distant from common stereotypes regarding Chicano themes and values.
Gilb likes to think that he “transcends himself by representing an era” rather than the explicit views and ideals of a group of people.
“I am the culture of me,” said Gilb.
Gilb has struggled like all writers searching for recognition. His first novel, which he wrote while working construction, was rejected. Here Gilb realized, however grudgingly, that his fiction was not yet sensational. Determined to pursue his passion, Gilb submitted a short story to an English department at a college in El Paso. Shortly after, he received a position as a professor. At this facility, colleagues including the yet-to-be-famous author Raymond Carter encouraged him to continue studying creative writing.
Gilb was thoroughly shocked: “People actually go to school to learn how to write?”
Inevitably, Gilb attended writing school; however, he still encounters some tension in the writing process despite the fact he is a professional.
“[Fiction is] writing about what you don’t have words for. The worst battle for me is to figure out where it starts,” said Gilb.
For him, after the beginning is determined, the rest falls into place.
In addition to fiction, Gilb has dabbled in nonfictional writing. He enjoys discovering and attempting to uncover the “mystery of reality. That mystery is what art is about.”
A few years ago, Gilb spent a significant amount of time in the Library of Alexandria, where he investigated the setting and scenes for a potential nonfiction publication. Gilb described the phenomenon of touching archives and actual historical documents as an event in which “you transcend your body.” In this ethereal experience, Gilb spiritually traveled into the past which facilitated his ability to recreate settings now forgotten.
Gilb’s travels, like his expedition to the aforementioned library, unquestionably influence his writing, whether it is in the form of a character, setting or scene.
Gilb has received numerous awards for his accomplishments including the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Whiting Writers’ Award, and was distinguished as a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His essays and fiction have appeared in “The New Yorker,” “Harper’s Magazine” and “The Best American Essays.”
Gilb, the first visiting writer of the Series, was widely appreciated and applauded for his diverse perspective, compelling voice and down-to-earth attitude.
As the Visiting Writers Reading Series organizer, Professor Roberts truly achieved what she intended: “To bring such a range of diverse perspectives to our small corner of the world,” one writer at a time.
