A Conversation With Richard Rodriguez: Will The World End With A Prayer? Ctd

A reader recently listened to my Deep Dish conversation with Richard Rodriguez, author of Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography:

I first read Rodriguez 10 years ago when I was but a precocious Latino Californian high school student in AP English. Weeks before you put this podcast up, I got Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father for a grad school buddy’s birthday. He’s also a sensitive Latino writer, so when I learned he wasn’t familiar with Rodriguez, I knew I had to change that. As a thinking Hispanic person and a Dish fan, this latest “Andrew Asks Anything” podcast was a delight. Dish team, you keep pushing my expectations for enjoying this blog and the Dish project in general.

The reader elaborates on the podcast, introduced on the Dish here:

The discussion of the desert was amazing. Rodriguez’ essays have interesting metaphors about California, America, Mexico and the way they relate to each other. The discussion here really gets to the heart of what makes those comparisons and metaphors interesting. I think it was Rodriguez, who got to this idea that the desert necessitated faith because we would need to cling on to God to get us through such a barren, brutal landscape. Given that the desert is where Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all originate, one suspects he is onto something.

Relatedly, I found myself fascinated at Rodriguez’ idea that the desert is to winter and death as greenery is to spring and life. It got even more interesting and led to some great exchanges when Rodriguez elaborated that he felt that the desert and death get short shrift in our society compared to greenery and life. As a So Cal guy, it was awesome to hear the desert discussed in this way, for it to be considered so deeply.

I’ve mainly read Rodriguez as a student throughout my academic life, and very few of the essays I’ve been assigned even mention his homosexuality. So for me this was a great fleshing out of a writer whose work I mainly know as commentary on first generation/second generation Hispanic American issues.

Both you and Rodriguez’s assessments of faith in America really resonated, even though there is some daylight between you two. Rodriguez, like you, has this balance of religious humility and friendly extroversion. I particularly appreciated the moment where he says he is astounded by your public piety and then you discuss what that takes and what causes it. I am used to seeing you be sweet and open to people like that, and it was lovely to hear you appreciate each other that way. It’s moments like that that make this podcast intimate, personal, and a “conversation”, as opposed to an interview. It really feels like I’m a fly in the wall over the dinner table or something.

It was actually recorded in my old West Village apartment, sitting on the couch. To get a sense of the conversation, check out the two audio samples embedded below. In the first one, Richard insists on a connection between Islam and Christianity, perhaps most vividly in the Arabic-rooted Spanish words of his own Catholic grandmother, and the intimacy of inter-religious conflict:

We went on to talk about martyrdom in both Islam and Christianity, and the distinction, important to me, between fundamentalism and faith:

For the full conversation on Deep Dish, click here. If you aren’t a subscriber, click here to sign up for total access to all things Dish. Previous coverage of Richard’s work here.