Gene H. Bell-Villada (born 1941 in Haiti) is an American literary critic, novelist, translator and memoirist, with strong interests in Latin American Writing, Modernism, and Magic Realism. His works include ''The Carlos Chadwick Mystery: A Novel of College Life and Political Terror'', the short story collection ''The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand'', and the critical studies ''Art for Art's Sake and the Literary Life'', ''Borges And His Fiction: A Guide To His Mind And Art'' and ''Garcia Marquez: The Man And His Work''. He holds a doctorate from Harvard University and has been a professor at Williams College since 1975. Bell-Villada was born in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

to a Hawaiian mother and a Euro-American father. Besides Haiti he was raised in Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba. He wrote of this experience in ''Overseas American: Growing Up Gringo in the Tropics''.Amazon.com review of this book
/ref> His literary criticism is notable for its harsh views of Vladimir Nabokov. ''Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life'' was so negative in its assessment that Publishers Weekly described it as a "bilious analysis" of the Russian-born American writer. Bell-Villada explains the animosity by saying that he himself is a "lapsed disciple" of Nabokov.

List of works by Bell-Villada

*''Garcia Marquez: The Man and His Work'' (1990) *''The Carlos Chadwick Mystery: A Novel of College Life and Political Terror'' (1990) *''The Pianist Who Liked Ayn Rand: A Novella and 13 Stories'' (1998) *''Art for Art's Sake'' (1998) *''Borges and His Fiction: A Guide to His Art and Mind'' (2000) *''Overseas American: Growing Up Gringo in the Tropics'' (2005) *''On Nabokov, Ayn Rand and the Libertarian Mind (2013)

References

*''Publishers Weekly'' review of ''Art for Art's Sake and Literary Life,'' April 22, 1996

External links

Author Page at Amador Books

Williams College Bell-Villada page {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell-Villada, Gene H. 1941 births Living people Haitian emigrants to the United States American expatriates in Cuba 20th-century American memoirists Harvard University alumni Williams College faculty 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American short story writers American literary critics Vladimir Nabokov American translators 20th-century translators American male novelists American male dramatists and playwrights American dramatists and playwrights American male short story writers Novelists from Massachusetts American male non-fiction writers