A review by tippycanoegal
Pagan Spain by Richard Wright, Faith Berry

3.0

Extremely dated, weirdly opinionated, and in moments bizarrely argued--Here is an example of one of his many questionable aphorisms sprinkled throughout the text: “Spanish men have built a state, but they have never built a society, and the only society that there is in Spain is in the hearts and minds and habits and love and devotion of its women."--this mid-century report of Wright's travels through Spain during the Franco era is also beautifully observed and often compelling. I find Wright's writing to be most effective when he is describing interactions with the Spanish people and least interesting when he moves into his quasi-psychoanalytic stance. I would have liked to have read more about Wright's experience of traveling through Spain as an African American man. He touches on race a bit, and when he does, his perspective is fascinating and thoughtful. I wish that he had discussed that aspect of his trip more.