Rolando Hinojosa-Smith

Romeo Rolando Hinojosa-Smith (January 21, 1929 – April 19, 2022) was an American novelist, essayist, poet and the Ellen Clayton Garwood professor in the English Department at the University of Texas at Austin.[1] He was noted for authoring the Klail City Death Trip series of 15 novels written over several decades.

Rolando Hinojosa-Smith
Hinojosa-Smith at the 2014 Texas Book Festival
BornRomeo Daniel Hinojosa
(1929-01-21)January 21, 1929
Mercedes, Texas, U.S.
DiedApril 19, 2022(2022-04-19) (aged 93)
Cedar Park, Texas, U.S.
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • poet
  • professor
Notable worksKlail City Death Trip Series (15 vols.)
Notable awardsPremio Casa de las Américas; Quinto Sol

Early life and education

Hinojosa was born Romeo Daniel Hinojosa in Mercedes, Texas, on January 21, 1929.[2][3] His father, Manuel Guzman Hinojosa, was a Hispanic American sheriff and a veteran of the Mexican Revolution; his mother, Carrie Effie Smith, was an Anglo-American housewife and teacher.[4][3] An avid reader during childhood, Hinojosa was raised speaking Spanish until junior high, where English was the primary spoken language. He enlisted in the US Army when he was 17 years old and fought during the Korean War.[4][5]

He subsequently used his G.I. Bill benefits to study at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1953. After working as a high school teacher, chemical-plant laborer, and civil servant during the ensuing decade, he undertook postgraduate studies at New Mexico Highlands University, obtaining a master's degree from that institution in 1962 before being awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seven years later.[4] Like his grandmother, mother and three of his four siblings, he became a teacher; he held several academic posts and was also active in administration and consulting work.[6]

Career

Hinojosa first taught at Trinity University, and later moved to larger institutions in Texas A&I University and the University of Minnesota.[7] He then joined the University of Texas at Austin in 1981, teaching there as the Ellen Clayton Garwood professor of creative writing until he retired in 2016.[4][8] He devoted most of his career as a writer to his Klail City Death Trip Series, which comprises 15 volumes, from Estampas del Valle y otras obras (1973) to We Happy Few (2006). He completely populated a fictional county in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas through this generational narrative. Although he preferred to write in Spanish, Hinojosa also translated his own books and wrote others in English. He ultimately authored approximately 20 fiction and non-fiction books throughout his career.[4]

Hinojosa was the first Chicano author to receive the prestigious Premio Casa de las Américas award for Klail City y sus alrededores (Klail City), part of the series. He also received the third and final Premio Quinto Sol Annual Prize (1972), for his work Estampas del Valle y otras obras.[9][10] He was later conferred the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2014. In presenting him with the award, the organization described him as "the dean of Chicano authors" and "a mentor and inspiration to several generations of writers".[4]

Personal life

Hinojosa's first marriage was to Lilia Saenz, with whom he had one child (Bob Huddleston). They eventually divorced. He subsequently married Patricia Sorensen. Together, they had two children: Clarissa and Karen. They remained married until her death in 1999.[4]

Hinojosa died on April 19, 2022, at an assisted living facility in Cedar Park, Texas. He was 93, and suffered from dementia prior to his death.[4][3][5]

Awards and honors

Works
  • Ask a Policeman. Houston: Arte Público. 1998. ISBN 9781558852266
  • Los amigos de Becky. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1991.[13]
  • Becky and her Friends. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1990. ISBN 9781558850064
  • Claros varones de Belken. Tempe, Ariz.: Bilingual, 1986. ISBN 9780916950644
  • El condado de Belken: Klail City. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994. ISBN 9780927534338
  • "Crossing the Line: The Construction of a Poem." Milwaukee, WI: Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute-U. of Wisconsin, 1981.[14]
  • Dear Rafe. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1985. ISBN 9780934770385
  • Dear Rafe/Mi querido Rafa. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2005. ISBN 9781611921106
  • Estampas del Valle. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994. ISBN 9780927534246
  • Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1973. ISBN 9780884120605
  • Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Justa, 1977.[15]
  • Generaciones, notas y brechas. San Francisco: Casa Editorial, 1978.[16]
  • Generaciones y semblanzas. 1977. Berkeley: Justa, 1979. ISBN 9780915808137
  • Klail City. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1987. ISBN 9780934770545
  • Klail City und Umgebung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1981. ISBN 9783518372098
  • Klail City y sus alrededores. La Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1976.[17]
  • Korean Love Songs. Berkeley, Calif.: Justa, 1978. ISBN 9780915808311
    • Korea Liebes Lieder/Korean Love Songs. O.B.E.M.A., Nr. 6, Osnabrück, Germany, 1991[7] ISBN 9783925713101
  • Mi querido Rafa. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1981. ISBN 9780934770101
  • Partners in Crime. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1985. ISBN 9780934770378
  • Rites and Witnesses. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1982. ISBN 9780934770194
  • This Migrant Earth. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1987. ISBN 9780934770552
  • The Useless Servants. Houston: Arte Público, 1993. ISBN 9781558850682
  • The Valley. Ypsilanti, MI: Bilingual, 1983. ISBN 9780916950385 (Hinojosa's own translation of Estampas del Valle)
  • We Happy Few. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2006. ISBN 9781558853584
Works and editions https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/mmartin-rodriguez/index_files/vhHinojosaRolando.htm

References
  1. "Texas Classics: 'This Writer's Sense of Place,' by Rolando Hinojosa-Smith". Dallas News. August 2014.
  2. Martínez, Julio A.; Lomelí, Francisco A. (1985). Chicano Literature: A Reference Guide. ISBN 9780313236914.
  3. Barnes, Michael (April 22, 2022). "Acclaimed Austin author and professor Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, 93, has died". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  4. Smith, Harrison (April 23, 2022). "Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, 'dean of Chicano authors,' dies at 93". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  5. Gamboa, Suzanne (April 20, 2022). "Award-winning Latino author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith dies at 93". NBC News. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  6. "Rolando Hinojosa-Smith". Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  7. Raab, Josef (2012). "At Home in the Borderlands: An Interview with Rolando Hinojosa". American Studies Journal (57). doi:10.18422/57-07.
  8. Rhodes, Dusty (August 30, 2011). "Acclaimed University of Texas writer to open reading series at Illinois". News Bureau. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  9. Cyrus R.K. Patell, "Emergent Ethnic Literatures: Native American, Hispanic, Asian American," A Concise Companion to Postwar American Literature and Culture, ed. Josephine G. Hendin, p.367
  10. "Voice of the Valley: An Interview with Rolando Hinojosa-Smith". Humanities Texas. June 2014.
  11. Kirsten Reach (January 14, 2014). "NBCC finalists announced". Melville House Publishing. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  12. "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle. January 14, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  13. "Renowned Author Headlines Latin American Conference April 8–9". Media and Public Relations. Baylor University. March 24, 1999. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  14. Ortega, A. J. (May–June 2012). "Echoing Words". American Book Review. 33 (4): 16. doi:10.1353/abr.2012.0107. S2CID 201797255.
  15. Hinojosa, Rolando (1977). Estampas del Valle y otras obras: Sketches of the Valley and Other Works. Editorial Justa.
  16. Hinojosa, Rolando (1978). Generaciones, notas y brechas. Casa Editorial.
  17. Hinojosa, Rolando (1976). Klail City y sus alrededores. Casa de las Américas.

Further reading
  • Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (eds.) (2008).Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists featuring Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. Trinity University Press.
  • Glover, Joyce Lee (1997). Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press.
  • Martín-Rodríguez, Manuel M. (1993). Rolando Hinojosa y su "cronicón" chicano: Una novela del lector. Sevilla, Spain: Universidad de Sevilla.
  • Miller, Stephen and José Pablo Villalobos, eds. (2013). Rolando Hinojosa's Klail Death Trip Series: A Retrospective, New Directions. Houston: Arte Público Press.
  • Pollock, Mary Sanders. "Crime and Community in the Rafe Buenrostro Mysteries". CLUES: A Journal of Detection 24.3 (Spring 2006): 7–14. doi:10.3200/CLUS.24.3.7-14.
  • Saldívar, José David, ed. (1984). The Rolando Hinojosa Reader. Houston: Arte Público Press.
  • Zilles, Klaus (2001). Rolando Hinojosa: A Reader's Guide. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.