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 The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. He was noted for authoring the ''Klail City Death Trip'' series of 15 novels written over several decades.

Early life and education

Hinojosa was born Romeo Daniel Hinojosa in

Mercedes, Texas Mercedes is a U.S. city in Hidalgo County, Texas, Hidalgo County, Texas. The population was 15,570 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. It is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission metropolitan area, McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Rey ...

, on January 21, 1929. His father, Manuel Guzman Hinojosa, was a

Hispanic American Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...

sheriff and a veteran of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

; his mother, Carrie Effie Smith, was an

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

housewife and teacher. The author grew up with Spanish as his native language, however he became proficient through Mexican immigrants, who came in exile to Mercedes after the revolution, that created "''las escuelitas''", or little schools, as means of teaching people how to formally read and write in Spanish. Hinojosa also acknowledges ''

La Prensa de San Antonio LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

,'' a Spanish newspaper based in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, that would release content semi-weekly, as one of the reasons he became proficient in the language. Hinojosa would learn English in junior high. At the age of 17, Hinojosa joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

where he was sent to the Office of Information and Education at

Fort Eustis Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis. The post is the home to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Co ...

, Virginia. After completion of his training, he attended the

before returning to the army to serve in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, where he would find inspiration for many of his literature works on the war such as ''Korean Love Songs (1978), Rites and Witnesses (1989),'' and ''The Useless Servants (1993).'' Rolando Smith graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1953. After working as a high school teacher, chemical-plant laborer, and civil servant during the ensuing decade, he undertook

postgraduate studies Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and stru ...

New Mexico Highlands University New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) is a public university in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Founded in 1893, it has satellite campuses in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Farmington and Roswell. NMHU has an average annual enrollment of approximate ...

, obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from that institution in 1962 before being awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

seven years later. 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.

Influences

Hinojosa would regularly read Anthony Powell's ''A Dance to the'' ''Music of Time'' in his early seventies, in addition to

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

Heinrich Böll Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972). ...

, and

Miguel Ángel Asturias Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (; October 19, 1899 – June 9, 1974) was a Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan poet-diplomat, novelist, playwright and journalist. Asturias helped establish Latin American literature's contribution to mainstream We ...

. Of these, the author has claimed that Böll was one of his favorite authors, with his favorite piece from Böll being ''

Billiards at Half-Past Nine ''Billiards at Half-Past Nine'' (german: Billard um halb zehn) is a 1959 novel by the German author Heinrich Böll. Although Hinojosa was already writing by the time he read

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

, the Mexican-American author claims that the English writer taught him how to read from the perspective of a writer. Hinojosa also drew inspiration from Luis Leal and linguist Marcos Morínigo. After having multiple conversations with the duo, the author decided to focus on the Mexican-American experience, specifically from the Texas border area. Hinojosa states that one of his first audiences was

Tomás Rivera Tomás Rivera (December 22, 1935 – May 16, 1984) was a Mexican American author, poet, and educator. He was born in Texas to migrant farm workers, and worked in the fields as a young boy. However, he achieved social mobility through educatio ...

, another prominent Chicano author who had already published his well known work, ''...y no se lo tragó la tierra (1971).'' After Hinojosa sent a chapter of what would become ''Por esas cosas que pasa (1972)'' to Rivera, Rivera forwarded it to Quinto Sol Publications. The publishing company offered Hinojosa a contract thereafter. Hinojosa-Smith has also been inspired by

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...

, who is prominently known for his novels and short stories that take place in the fictional

Yoknapatawpha County Yoknapatawpha County () is a fictional Mississippi county created by the American author William Faulkner, largely based upon and inspired by Lafayette County, Mississippi, and its county seat of Oxford (which Faulkner renamed "Jefferson"). Faulk ...

. Rolando Hinojosa's ''Klail City Death Trap Series'' mirrors this with his own fictional county that takes place in the American-Texas border instead of Faulker's Mississippi area.

Career

Hinojosa first taught at Trinity University, and later moved to larger institutions in

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. He then joined the

in 1981, teaching there as the Ellen Clayton Garwood professor of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

until he retired in 2016. 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 The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

of Texas through this generational narrative. The series uses multiple styles, such as poems, journal entries, epistles, and sketches to talk about multiple subjects such as the Mexican-American experience in Texas, including daily life, corruption, politics, marriage, academia, and war. Collectively however, the series uses realism, satire, humor and irony, with most of his books consisting of short stories or narratives from the people of the Valley. These stories can focus on the same issue, such as the titular character's divorce in ''Becky and Her Friends (1980),'' where the people of her community discuss her impending divorce and discusses statuses such as economic, gender, and social. They can also be a loose connection of short stories around Klail City, such as Hinojosa's first book ''Estampas de Valle y otras obras.'' 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. Hinojosa uses his own life experiences growing up on the frontier border to write his books. For example, the Mexican-American author has stated that although the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920, there were still skirmishes from both sides of the forces until 1934 with the election of President

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Lázaro is a Spanish or Portuguese-based given name or surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Lázaro (footballer, born 1990), full name Lázaro Vinícius Alves Martins, Brazilian footballer * Lázaro (footballer, born 2002), fu ...

. Inspired by these conflicts as well as the stories his father would tell him, The Mexican Revolution was a prominent topic in his early of books of KCDTS, notably ''Estampas del Valle (1973) and Klail'' ''City y sus alrededores'' ''(1976''). In ''Estampas del Valle (1973),'' specifically under the chapter "Otra Vez La Muerte", Hinojosa writes about a man's experience in the war in the style of journal entries that the character wrote in while stationed in Papantla, Veracruz in the spring of 1920. Hinojosa has derived some of his literature from his time serving in the Korea. The author uses ''Korean Love Songs (1978)'' as means of expressing his frustrations with his own country. Under the chapter "The Eighth Army at Chongchon", Rafe (the character writing the poems about the war), makes a reference to the General Walton H. Walker's comment on the underestimation of Chinese fighters in the Korean War, who proclaims that the many Chinese groups that live in Korea are akin to Mexicans living in Texas, implying that the general views Mexican-Americans as Mexican and thus not as actual Americans. Rafe writes ''"a''nd many of us there/ were reminded who we were/ thousands of miles from home''."'' Thus, Rafe, and therefore Hinojosa, seems to be irritated that they risk death for a country that sees them as internationals regardless. New and changing experiences of the author's life is reflected in his novels. The rise of cartel violence at the border influenced Hinojosa to write two police work novels in ''Partners in Crime (1985)'' and ''Ask a Policeman (1998),'' which discuss betrayal, corruption, and violence at the border. Hinojosa was the first

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

author to receive the prestigious

Premio Casa de las Américas The and its twin the are Sedan (automobile), sedans sold in Japan from 2001 to 2021 by Toyota. The sedans are designated as a compact car by Vehicle size class#Japan, Japanese dimension regulations and the exterior dimensions do not change wi ...

award for ''Klail City y sus alrededores'' (''Klail City''), part of the series. He also received the third and final

Premio Quinto Sol Quinto Sol was the first fully independent publishing house to surface from the Chicano movement in the Sixties. Editorial Quinto Sol (Quinto Sol Publications) was founded in 1967 at UC Berkeley by Octavio I. Romano, a Professor of Behavioral Sc ...

Annual Prize (1972), for his work ''Estampas del Valle y otras obras''. He was later conferred the

Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award The Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, established in 1981, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle in honor of its first president, Ivan Sandrof. The award "is given to a person or institution who has, over ...

by the

Bilingualism in KCDTS

Rolando Hinojosa's series is written in both Spanish and English. However, the author originally wrote the series in Spanish as it is his native language, as he first wrote ''Estampas del Valle'' in 1973 and the English rendition was not published until 1983, almost a decade later. Much has been noted about the differences between the English and Spanish versions of the series, such as the rearrangements in chapters, added content to the English version with a picture included, and changes in dialogue to accommodate between the two cultures such as proverbs and slang that are meant to fit in better with their respective cultures. The 2014 reprint of ''Estampas del Valle/ The Valley'' includes both the Spanish and English version, where such chapter rearrangements are more obvious. Observations from this book is that after the chapter "Bruno Cano: Lock, Stock, and BBL", the section switches from focusing on Jehu Malacara to Rafe Buenrostro. In the Spanish original version, there are a couple of more stories such as "Don Javier" and "Emilio Taves", with the section on Rafe Buenrostro not coming until the very last section of the book. Another example is seen in the sequel to the books, ''Klail City y sus alrededores (1976)'' in Spanish and ''Klail City (1987)'' in English''.'' In ''Klail City y sus alrededores'', Jehu Malacara travels with a Protestant preacher, Iman, spreading their word and selling the bible around the community. Iman is less literate in the Spanish language, with Hinojosa displaying it with Iman's inability to conjugate verbs in Spanish correctly, as well as his troubles with gender agreement. This illiteracy does not translate well in English, with Hinojosa instead compromising by letting Iman speak in rather unusual alliterations as well as a general odd manner of speaking to keep the same message that Iman speaks in an unusual way. Hinojosa himself has noted the differences between the English and Spanish versions of his series, noting that he sees his translations as more so "renditions", giving him the freedom to edit his content to better suit the community that he is aiming between English-Spanish speakers and Spanish-English speakers. He also states that he rarely translates his English books into Spanish, as he has noted that the Mexican-American community is more proficient in English than in Spanish.

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. Hinojosa died on April 19, 2022, at an

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is s ...

facility in

Cedar Park, Texas Cedar Park is a city and a major suburb of Austin in the state of Texas, approximately to the north-west of the center of Austin. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 77,595. History Before the arrival of European settl ...

. He was 93, and suffered from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

prior to his death.

Awards and honors

*Alumni Achievement Award, given by the Illinois Alumni Association (1998) *

, given by the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Arte Público, 1991. * ''Becky and her Friends''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1990. * ''Claros varones de Belken''. Tempe, Ariz.:

Bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

, 1986. * ''El condado de Belken: Klail City''. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994. * "Crossing the Line: The Construction of a Poem." Milwaukee, WI: Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute-U. of Wisconsin, 1981. * ''Dear Rafe''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1985. * ''Dear Rafe/Mi querido Rafa''. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2005. * ''Estampas del Valle''. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994. * ''Estampas del Valle y otras obras''. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1973. * ''Estampas del Valle y otras obras''. Berkeley: Justa, 1977. * ''Generaciones, notas y brechas''. San Francisco: Casa Editorial, 1978. * ''Generaciones y semblanzas''. 1977. Berkeley: Justa, 1979. * ''Klail City''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1987. * ''Klail City und Umgebung''. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1981. * ''Klail City y sus alrededores''. La Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1976. * ''Korean Love Songs''. Berkeley, Calif.: Justa, 1978. ** ''Korea Liebes Lieder/Korean Love Songs''. O.B.E.M.A., Nr. 6, Osnabrück, Germany, 1991 * ''Mi querido Rafa''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1981. * ''Partners in Crime''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1985. * ''Rites and Witnesses''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1982. * ''This Migrant Earth''. Houston, Texas: Arte Público, 1987. * ''The Useless Servants''. Houston: Arte Público, 1993. * ''The Valley''. Ypsilanti, MI: Bilingual, 1983. (Hinojosa's own translation of ''Estampas del Valle'') * ''We Happy Few''. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2006. ;Works and editions https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/mmartin-rodriguez/index_files/vhHinojosaRolando.htm

References

External links

''Encyclopedia of World Biography'' on Rolando Hinojosa

Rolando Hinojosa-Smith's faculty page
on the

Department of English website
Index of characters in Hinojosa's novels
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinojosa-Smith, Rolando 1929 births 2022 deaths Military personnel from Texas 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American writers of Mexican descent Deaths from dementia in Texas Exophonic writers University of Texas at Austin faculty University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni New Mexico Highlands University alumni American academics of English literature Hispanic and Latino American novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Texas People from Mercedes, Texas 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American Spanish-language poets American Spanish-language writers