En Cuerpo y Alma.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara
• Position: In Body and Soul

Starting with Lazarillo de Tormes, autobiographical fiction has had a long and successful history in Hispanic literature. The genre works best when the mature narrator distances himself from the youngster he once was. Sometimes, as at the beginning of Lazarillo, the narrator depicts his former self as a candid, imprudent child who must learn the ropes in order to survive. Sometimes, as in Mateo Aleman's Guzman de Alfarache, he depicts himself as a ruffian whose failures eventually lead to personal insight and reform. There are countless variants, but whatever approach the author takes, the autobiographical format allows him or her to reflect on society, to expose flaws in the culture, and to show how individuals grow and come to terms with themselves. Unfortunately, En cuerpo y alma accomplishes none of this.

This whiny, self-righteous memoir masquerading as a novel recounts the adventures of a young Mexican girl who spends a year in a private women's college near Berkeley, California, in the 1960s. Arriving in the United States by bus, the young Mexican is appalled to see separate bathrooms for Blacks and Whites at the station, which triggers a vapid, sanctimonious sermon on Justice for All. She appears not to be cognizant of the fact that millions of North Americans are as appalled as she by racism and that at this very moment the United States is engaged in a great civil rights struggle. In spite of her indignation, she cannot resist making a few snide remarks herself about the one Black girl in her dorm or expressing her astonishment that some of the Black children she has been asked to tutor are good in math. She also finds it necessary to mention that even though she is Mexican, she doesn't look it.

In the hands of a more accomplished writer, this might have been the sensitive portrait of an outsider who uses aloofness as a defense against an unfathomable foreign culture. However, Mansour brings no depth, insight or tension to her story. There is no mention of the...