Writing the Fragmented Self inOscar Zeta Acosta’s Autobiography of a Brown BuffaloPhilip BracherI. IntroductionThe opening pages of Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo by Oscar Zeta Acosta feature the narrator Oscar standing in the bathroom, and scru‐ tinizing his huge belly: “I stand naked before the mirror. Every morning of my life I have seen that brown belly from every angle. It has not changed that I can remember. I was always a fat kid. I suck it in and expand an enormous chest... I tighten, suck at the air and recall that Charles Atlas was a ninety‐pound weakling when the beach bully kicked sand in his girlfriend’s pretty face” (11).1 Watching his self in the mirror, Oscar reflects upon the bodily self‐perfection of the 1920s bodybuilder Charles Atlas, an Italian immigrant originally named Ange‐ lo Siciliano. After having migrated to the U.S. in 1910, Siciliano radically changed both his ethnic identity and his own body: he renamed himself Charles Atlas and transformed himself from a “ninety‐pound weakling” into a world‐famous bodybuilder. On the very first page, Acosta thus presents the reader with the core image of the American Dream—the possibility of self‐transformation—and one of the fundamental building blocks of autobiographic writing—the idea of the betterment of the self. At the same time, he deconstructs these very notions on the pages that follow by telling the reader about Oscar’s chronic ulcers, his deteriorat‐ ing mental health, his constipation, and his hallucinations. Oscar curses, vomits, defecates, and devours huge quantities of food. In short, he is1 In this paper, the book is referred to as Autobiography. It is regarded as one of the key texts of Chicano literature and has inspired numerous critical and artistic responses. One example of its continuing influence on contemporary Chicano literature is Manuel Ramos’ novel Blues for the Buffalo (1997), in which Chicano detective Luis Montez searches for a missing writer and also investi‐ gates the whereabouts of Acosta. One of the characters advises him: “Young man, Mr. Investigator, you have to read the Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo and The Revolt of the Cockroach People. How can any Chicano go through life, and have even a tiny clue, without reading the books of Oscar Acosta?” (30).
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 23:31:31 +0000
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