Has anybody read I,Juan De Pareja?

Question

I just finished it for English class, and I was glad it was over,TALK ABOUT BORING!!!!!

Answer 1

I read it years and years ago, as an eighth-grade English teacher because it had won the Newbery Award. I have no memory of it at all, which says something already. I don't think my students ever chose to read it.

I'm curious as to why, and for what kind of English class, this was required reading. As biographical fiction, focusing on Diego Velázquez, it should be very interesting in a humanities unit on painters and painting, esp. of 17th century Spain.

As I remember, little is known of Juan de Pareja himself except that he was born a slave and sat for one of Velázquez's portraits. When the painting was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1971 for $5.5 million, it was considered an extravaganza, but it is probably worth countless times that much now. I suspect, however, that most of the details about Pareja's life in de Trevino's book are fictionalized, whereas Velázquez is based primarily on fact. What I remember as most interesting about the book when it came out was its study of race relations in another century, in another culture, in the world of art and a royal court. But this was in the early 1970s when racial diversity was a relatively new topic to explore, especially in juvenile fiction. I wonder how it stands up today.

Too bad it was boring. Velázquez's life is rather interesting, and the relationship between the two painters must deserve close study. As I recall none of de Treveino's other works became very popular or won plaudits.

Tell us more about how your teacher chose this book. I notice it is recommended for common reading in the state of California, but again primarily in the study of art history and art appreciation.

Answer 2

I didn't.