Famous Builder

So, I am now in the midst of Famous Builder, a memoir by Paul Lisicky. In many ways it is similar to The Bill From My Father, so it came as no surprise that Lisicky is friends with Bernard Cooper (that book's author). It looks, from the acknowledgements and author notes, that they both taught at Antioch in LA. I will have to do more research on each of them if I include their books in my final paper. I am sure to include at least Cooper's. While similar, I find Lisicky's narrative interesting for the way it depicts not only his own relationship with his father, but his father's relationship with his older brother, who "raised" him after their father died. As with many of the memoirs I have read, the issue of first-generation American children dealing with immigrant parents is prevalent and a significant factor in shaping Paul's father and his life choices. In Famous Builder, the elder Lisicky is the first generation American, and deals with the pressure of separating (psychologically) from his family and their working-class, immigrant ways as he makes his way through college, earns two graduate degrees, and becomes a middle-class, suburban professional. In the book, a neighborhood of row houses Philadelphia represents the working-class, immigrant existence -a development in New Jersey called Cherry Hill represents the middle class life Paul's father achieved. Even though he gained the "American Dream" through hard work and know-how, traits normally held in high esteem in the US, the Lisickys, especially the older brother who took on the father role at a young age, are resentful of Paul's father. At least, that is how Paul perceives it. Of course, it is impossible to know how the family really thought or felt - we can only know what the author tells us (this is the tricky part of analyzing memoir). This part of the story is more of a class issue than one of cultural inheritance. It is not uncommon for families to resent the child who "makes good," even if that was their goal all along.