Rolando Hinojosa
Rolando Hinojosa, also known as Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, is a prominent Mexican American author and educator whose literary career began in the 1970s. He holds degrees in Spanish, having completed his studies at institutions such as the University of Texas at Austin and New Mexico Highlands University, and later earned a PhD from the University of Illinois. Hinojosa has had a long-standing academic career, with teaching positions in various Texas universities, including a significant role as a professor of English at the University of Texas and as the Ellen Clayton Garwood Chair of the English Department.
His notable works include the *Klail City Death Trip* series, which explores themes of ethnic identity, cultural assimilation, and education against the backdrop of the changing social and economic landscape of the Rio Grande Valley. His characters often navigate their identities as they transition from a self-contained Mexican American community to broader American society, dealing with the complexities of the American Dream. Hinojosa's writing not only reflects individual struggles but also highlights the collective experiences of Mexican Americans, particularly during the mid-20th century. In addition to his novels, he has also written poetry and a detective mystery, *Ask a Policeman*, that examines the drug trade along the Texas-Mexico border, further showcasing the multifaceted nature of his work.
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Subject Terms
Rolando Hinojosa
Poet, Fiction Writer
- Born: January 21, 1929
- Birthplace: Mercedes, Texas
- Died: April 19, 2022
- Place of death: Cedar Park, Texas
Author Profile
Rolando Hinojosa, also known as Rolando Hinojosa-Smith (his mother's maiden name was Smith), began writing book-length works of fiction in the 1970s when he was in his forties and after he had established a successful academic career. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, but he left to serve in the Korean War before returning to complete his degree in Spanish in 1953.
In the 1950s, he taught at Brownsville High School. He next took a master’s degree in Spanish from New Mexico Highlands University (1962) and a PhD in Spanish from the University of Illinois (1969). Since 1968 , he has taught and held administrative posts at various universities in Texas. In 1981, he became a professor English at the University of Texas since 1981 and later became the Ellen Clayton Garwood Chair of the English Department.
Korean Love Songs from Klail City Death Trip (1978), which is poetry, and his novels form the Klail City Death Trip series, which deals with ethnic identity, the perils and rewards of cultural assimilation, and the importance of education. Hinojosa’s major characters undergo epic struggles with the issues of identity, moving from a discrete, self-contained Mexican American community of the 1930s into a world in which young Mexican American men fight and die for the institutions that have relegated them to second-class citizenry.
Hinojosa shows that life in the Rio Grande Valley must change. The Klail City Death Trip series in particular shows the subtle mid-century changes in the social and economic landscape of the small towns of the valley and the ways in which Mexican Americans began to demand equality.
Because many of Hinojosa’s characters believe in the American Dream, they become more Americanized and less Chicano as the twentieth century moves forward. By the time of Partners in Crime (1985) and Becky and Her Friends (1990), the main characters have achieved status within the Anglo community and appear to thrive within it. Ask a Policeman (1998) is a detective mystery that explores the drug trade and its impact along the US-Mexican border in Texas. We Happy Few (2006) is the seventeenth installment of Klail City Death Trip and deals with political wrangling at a university.
Bibliography
Calderón, Héctor. “Texas Border Literature: Cultural Transformation and Historical Reflection in the Works of Américo Paredes, Rolando Hinojosa, and Gloria Anzaldua.” Disposito 16.41 (1991): 13–27. Print.
Hepworth, Candida. “Chicano/a Fiction.” Beginning Ethnic American Literature. Ed. Maria Lauret. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2001. Print.
Hernández, Guillermo E. Chicano Satire: A Study in Literary Culture. Austin: U of Texas P, 1991. Print.
Hinojosa, Rolando. “At Home in the Borderlands: An Interview with Rolando Hinojosa.” Interview by Josef Raab. American Studies Journal 57 (2012). Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
Jussawalla, Feroza, and Reed Way Dusenbrock, eds. Interviews with Writers of the Post-Colonial World. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1992. Print.
Lee, Joyce Glover. Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream. Denton: U of North Texas P, 1999. Print.
Márquez, Antonio C. “Faulkner in Latin America.” Faulkner Journal 2 (1995–96): 83–100. Print.
Mendoza, Sylvia. "Author Rolando Hinojosa-Smith: Writing about Life and Truth in Border Towns." Hispanic Outlook 9 June 2014. PDF file.
Penzenstadler, Joan. “La frontera, Aztlán, el barrio: Frontiers in Chicano Literature.” The Frontier Experience and the American Dream. Ed. David Mogen, Mark Busby, and Paul Bryant. College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1989. Print.
Ramirez, Luz Elena. Encyclopedia of Hispanic-American Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2013. Digital file.
Saldívar, José David, ed. The Rolando Hinojosa Reader: Essays Historical and Critical. Houston: Arte Publico, 1985. Print.
Saldívar, José David. The Dialetics of Our America: Genealogy, Cultural Critique, and Literary History. Durham: Duke UP, 1991. Print.
Saldívar, Ramón. Chicano Narrative: The Dialectics of Difference. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1990. Print.
Zilles, Klaus. Rolando Hinojosa: A Reader’s Guide. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 2001. Print.