Jose Yglesias (November 29, 1919November 7, 1995) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and journalist.

Life and career

Yglesias was born in the

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

district of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. His father was from the Spanish region of Galicia and his mother was a native of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. He moved to New York City in 1937 and served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He studied at

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

and was a film critic for the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

newspaper ''

The Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were ...

''. He lived in New York City and

Brooklin, Maine Brooklin is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 827 at the 2020 census. History Brooklin was originally part the larger town of Sedgwick. Brooklin broke off and formed its own town in 1849. A few weeks later, t ...

. From 1953 to 1963 he held an executive position at the pharmaceutical company

Merck Sharp and Dohme Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp ...

. He published fifteen books and wrote articles for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'' and other periodicals. In 1968, he signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

."Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" January 30, 1968 ''New York Post'' Yglesias was the patriarch of a writing family, which in addition to his son, the novelist and screenwriter

Rafael Yglesias Rafael Yglesias is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels, Hide Fox, And All After, A Happy Marriage, and the 1993 movie ''Fearless'', which he adapted from his own novel of the same name. He is the father of Nicholas and ...

, included his wife,

Helen Yglesias Helen Bassine Yglesias (March 29, 1915 – March 28, 2008) was an American novelist. Early life Yglesias was the youngest of seven children born to Solomon and Kate Bassine, both Yiddish-speaking immigrants from the Russian-controlled porti ...

, a novelist and editor, as well as his grandsons, the journalist

Matthew Yglesias Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is a liberal American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Sla ...

and the novelist Nicholas Yglesias. He died on November 7, 1995, at Beth Israel Hospital in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from cancer.

Works

All descriptions of works come from the author's 1995 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' obituary. * ''A Wake in Ybor City'' (1963), "about Cubans who immigrated to Florida" * ''The Goodbye Land'' (1967), "about Galicia, his father's native province in Spain" * ''In the Fist of the Revolution'' (1968), "an intimate view of

Mayari In Kapampangan mythology, Mayari is the goddess of the moon and ruler of the world during nighttime. In Tagalog mythology According to Hiligaynon anthropologist F. Landa Jocano—in "Notes on Philippine Divinities" (1968)—the ancient Tagalo ...

'sic'' a small country town in Cuba, under the rule of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

" * ''An Orderly Life'' (1968) * ''Down There'' (1970), "deals with the lives of people in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Cuba,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

" * ''The Truth About Them'' (1971) * ''Double Double'' (1974) * ''The Kill Price'' (1976) * ''The Franco Years (1977)'', described by ''New York Times'' critic John Leonard as "a modest and extremely interesting series of interviews, filtered through a sympathetic intelligence ith peoplewho managed to survive

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

's dreary rule" * ''Home Again'' * ''Tristan and the Hispanics'' (1989), "centered on a man who was the most famous Latin American writer of his generation" * ''Widower's Walk'' (1996) * ''The Guns In The Closet'' (1996), collected stories * ''The Old Gents'' (1996) * ''Break In'' (1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yglesias, Jose 1919 births 1995 deaths American writers of Cuban descent American people of Galician descent American people of Jewish descent American tax resisters Hispanic and Latino American novelists Hispanic and Latino American journalists Hispanic and Latino American short story writers 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers Writers from Tampa, Florida People from Brooklin, Maine 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Florida 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers United States Navy personnel of World War II

Life and career

Works

See also

References