DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160043

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Book Review 

SOURCE: BY EDITH R. WHITE 

                                            LENGTH:   86 lines

ANTHOLOGIES TELL OF CULTURAL QUESTIONS

PUERTO RICO, a commonwealth of the United States, is a small island, 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Its inhabitants are U.S. citizens, and as the island population has exploded, waves of them have emigrated to the mainland States, bringing both their gifts and their problems.

In ``Growing Up Puerto Rican,'' 20 Puerto Rican writers - eight women, 12 men - share brief, poignant tales that illustrate the ambiguities of growing up in two cultures.

Editor Joy De Jesus is herself Puerto Rican. Her introduction tells of her delight and pride when, as a Harvard student, she discovered other writers who share her roots, her identity crisis, and the racism that can exist even within a family.

She has selected short stories, memoirs, excerpts from books. Some are by well-known writers; some are new to U.S. readers. All seem to create a story out of vivid first-hand experience. Poverty and alienation are frequent ingredients, and characters keep asking, ``Who am I? Am I black or white, Puerto Rican or American?``

``Neither Here Nor There,'' the anthology's first section, includes five coming-of-age tales. In ``The Boy Without a Flag,'' Abraham Rodriguez Jr. tells in the first person of a schoolboy who desperately wants to win his father's approval. To show his courage and loyalty to the nationalist heroes his father so admires, he decides to refuse to salute the U.S. flag in school. When his father is summoned to school, the boy learns a difficult lesson about his country and his father.

``The Ingredient'' by Julio Marzan is a provocative story. Vincent, son of an Irish mother and Puerto Rican father, is a freshman at Columbia. His father, a successful New York chemist, has left behind his Hispanic roots and the street in El Barrio where he grew up, and has taught Vincent to be totally American. Because he is attracted to Magda, a lovely blond, blue-eyed Puerto Rican student, Vincent begins to learn Spanish and ventures into the street where she lives.

From a rooftop Vincent watches the neighborhood and sees his estranged grandmother. He wonders about his identity and why he is drawn to this area. Perhaps Magda will help him find his connections to his father's people. But Magda settles that for him by saying as she slams her door: ``I don't go out with Rican guys. Okay?''

In the second section, ``Family Ties,'' a chapter from ``Down These Mean Streets'' by Piri Thomas, a prominent author and poet, dramatizes a bitter family feud. Piri, the darker brother, claims his African heritage with pride. But Jose, the fair-haired boy, shouts ``I'm not black, no matter what you say and out.

``Why We Remain Jamona,'' by Esmeralda Santiago, eloquently comments on the double standard for marriage on the island. In reply to his little daughter's question, a father explains: ``When someone says a woman is `jamona,' it means she's too old to get married. It's an insult.''

At first the girl says, ``I hope that never happens to me.'' But when her father leaves her at her grandmother's house and fails to come for her as promised, she remembers how her Mami cooks and scrubs and cares for all the babies and weeps for loneliness. Finally, after observing her grandmother's marriage, she decides: ``I would just as soon remain `jamona' than shed that many tears over a man.''

``Survival on the Streets,'' the third section, has some brief, harsh accounts of youthful struggles to stay alive. Edwin Torres grew up in Spanish Harlem to become the first Puerto Rican to serve as assistant district attorney of New York. He was appointed to the state supreme court in 1979. In an excerpt from his novel, ``Corlito's Way,'' he gives a staccato and all-too-vivid account of a street fighter and small-time hustler. The book was made into a movie.

Three of the pieces in the last section, ``Once On This Island,'' are translated from Spanish. They give colorful insights into island life and throb with the rhythm of Spanish music. Among them, Emilio Diaz Valcarcel's ``Black Sun'' is a haunting tour de force about a black drummer who ``felt the blood boil in his veins whenever he heard his kind of music.''

``Growing Up Puerto Rican'' increases empathy for young Puerto Ricans as they continue the struggle to survive in our land, and enlarges appreciation for the contributions they make to our national culture. MEMO: Edith R. White is a Norfolk storyteller, artist and librarian. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

BOOK REVIEW

``Growing Up Puerto Rican: An Anthology''

Editor: Joy L. De Jesus

Publisher: William Morrow.

233 pp.

Price: $24

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