Oscar Hijuelos - Wikipedia Oscar Hijuelos From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Oscar Hijuelos Born August 24, 1951 New York City, New York, U.S. Died October 12, 2013(2013-10-12) (aged 62) New York City, New York, U.S. Occupation Novelist Language English Nationality American Education B.A.; M.A. English [1] Alma mater City College of New York [1] Period 1983–2013[1] Genre Cuban/American, Latino: fiction and memoirs Notable works The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) Notable awards Rome Prize (American Academy in Rome) (1985) Pulitzer Prize (1990) Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature (2000) [1] Spouse Lori Marie Carlson[2] Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013) was an American novelist. Of Cuban descent, during a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language.[3][4] He was educated in New York City, and wrote short stories and advertising copy. For his second novel, adapted for the movie The Mambo Kings, he became the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction.[1][5] Contents 1 Early life 2 Writing 3 Teaching 4 Awards 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Legacy 8 Bibliography 8.1 Major works 8.2 Contributions 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Early life[edit] Hijuelos was born in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents, Pascual and Magdalena (Torrens) Hijuelos, both from Holguín, Cuba.[1][6][7] His father worked as a hotel cook.[8] As a young child, he suffered from acute nephritis after a vacation trip to Cuba with his mother and brother José, and was in St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut for almost a year, eventually recovering.[6] During this long period separated from his Spanish-speaking family, he learned fluent English; he later wrote of this time: "I became estranged from the Spanish language and, therefore, my roots."[8] He attended Corpus Christi School in Morningside Heights,[3] and public schools, and later Bronx Community College, Lehman College and Manhattan Community College. He studied writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976)[3] under Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag, William S. Burroughs, Frederic Tuten, and others.[6] Barthelme became his mentor and friend.[9] He practiced various professions, including working for an advertising agency, Transportation Displays Inc., before taking up writing full-time.[6] Writing[edit] Hijuelos started writing short stories and dramas while working in advertising.[10] His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983, and won the Rome Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[10] This novel follows the life of a Cuban family in the United States during the 1940s. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted in 1992 into the film The Mambo Kings, starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas, and as a musical in 2005.[8][11] In its theme of the American immigrant experience, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love was similar to many of his works.[11] Michiko Kakutani, reviewing the novel for The New York Times, describes it as "essentially elegiac in tone — a Chekhovian lament for a life of missed connections and misplaced dreams."[12] His autobiography, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, was published in 2011.[11] Bruce Weber, writing in the New York Times, described his style as "fluid prose, sonorous but more earthy than poetic, with a forthright American cadence."[8] His influences included writers from Cuba and Latin America, including Carlos Fuentes, José Lezama Lima and Gabriel García Márquez.[11] Hijuelos expressed discomfort in his memoir with being pigeon-holed as an ethnic writer.[11] Weber states "Unlike that of many well-known Latin writers, his work was rarely outwardly political."[8] When "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" was published, he corresponded with author Tom Miller: "I did this reading at Union Square B&N [Barnes & Noble] the other night, with a friend of mine providing music-- it kind of worked pretty well -- but it so happens that I mentioned your book, 'Trading with the Enemy'-- in the context of how charmed I was by the fact that you were carrying MKs ['The Mambo Kings'] with you while traveling through Cuba and that you had met a few folks somewhere (in Santiago?) who claimed to have once heard the MKs -- it happens that I've had similar experiences along the lines of 'And whatever happened to those guys?' as if they really existed (perhaps they did.) In any event, the fact that some folks really believe that the MKs had been around, sort of led me, in a very roundabout way, to the notion that a real Maria has existed all along...."[13] Oscar Hijuelos' Papers are located at Columbia University Libraries. Teaching[edit] Hijuelos taught at Hofstra University and was affiliated with Duke University, where he was a member of the faculty of the Department of English for 6 years before his death.[14][15] Awards[edit] In addition to the 1990 Pulitzer Prize, Hijuelos received an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1983, the year he published his first novel, Our House in the Last World. In 1985 the novel received the Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. In 2000, he received the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature.[10][16] In 2003 he received the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature.[17] Personal life[edit] Hijuelos' first marriage ended in divorce. He married writer and editor Lori Marie Carlson on December 12, 1998 in Manhattan.[8] Death[edit] On October 12, 2013, Oscar Hijuelos collapsed of a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan and never regained consciousness.[18] He was 62 years old. He is survived by his second wife.[8] Legacy[edit] The tennis courts that Hijuelos died on in Riverside Park, New York were renamed after him. Bibliography[edit] Major works[edit] Our House in the Last World (1983) The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien (1993) Mr. Ives' Christmas (1995) Empress of the Splendid Season (1999) A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good) (2002) Dark Dude (2008) Beautiful Maria of My Soul (2010) Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir (2011) Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise (2015) (manuscript edited and published posthumously)[19] Contributions[edit] Preface, Iguana Dreams: New Latino Fiction, edited by Delia Poey and Virgil Suarez. New York, HarperPerennial, 1992. Introduction, Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing up Latino in the United States, edited by Lori M. Carlson. New York, Holt, 1994. Introduction, The Cuban American Family Album by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. New York, Oxford University Press, 1996. Contributor, Best of Pushcart Press III. Pushcart, 1978. Contributor, You're On!: Seven Plans in English and Spanish, edited by Lori M. Carlson. New York, Morrow Junior Books, 1999. See also[edit] Cuban American literature List of Cuban-American writers Latino literature References[edit] ^ a b c d e f Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C., Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Cf. p. 245 ^ "Lori Marie Carlson". lorimariecarlson.com. ^ a b c Carlson, Lori M.; and Hijuelos, Oscar, Red Hot Salsa : Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States, Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 0-8050-7616-6. Cf. Introduction, p.xvi. "Once, while in the fourth grade at Corpus Christi School, I received a Valentine's card that said 'I think you're cute'. ..." ^ "Pulitzer prize winner Oscar Hijuelos dies at 62". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2013-10-14. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-01-18. ^ Candelaria, Cordelia; Garcia, Peter J.; Aldama, Arturo J., Encyclopedia of Latino popular culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Cf. pp.343-345 ^ a b c d Cf. Hijuelos, Oscar, Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir (2011) ^ N.B. His father, Pascual, was originally from a farm near Jiguaní, Cuba. Cf. Hijuelos (2011) ^ a b c d e f g "Oscar Hijuelos, Cuban-American Writer Who Won Pulitzer, Dies at 62". NY Times. Retrieved October 13, 2013. ^ Eder, Richard, "This Cuban-American boy’s life", The Boston Globe, Sunday, June 12, 2011. Review of Thoughts Without Cigarettes. ^ a b c Hispanic Heritage Awards: HHA Honorees: 2000: Oscar Hijuelos Archived 2012-03-01 at the Wayback Machine (accessed October 14, 2013) ^ a b c d e BBC News: Cuban-American writer Oscar Hijuelos dies at 62 (accessed October 14, 2013) ^ New York Times: Books of The Times; Cuban Immigrants in the 50s of Desi and Lucy (accessed October 14, 2013) ^ Correspondence, in Tom Miller Papers, June 3, 2010, Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries ^ "Oscar Hijuelos, Professor of the Practice", Duke University, English Department faculty ^ "Oscar Hijuelos, 'Mambo Kings' author, dies at 62". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-01-18. ^ "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved January 11, 2011. ^ "Pulitzer Prize Winner Oscar Hijuelos to Receive Inaugural Luis Leal Award For Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature". The UCSB Current. ^ "Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos dies at age 62". CTVNews. October 13, 2013. ^ "'Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise' Educates But Doesn't Entertain Its Readers". NPR.org. Further reading[edit] Smith, Dinitia, "'Sisters' Act: Oscar Hijuelos, Mr. 'Mambo Kings', Plays a Different Song of Love", New York Magazine, March 1, 1993, pp. 46–51 Pérez Firmat, Gustavo. "Rum, Rump, and Rumba," in Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. Austin: The University of Texas Press, 1994. Rpt. 1996, 1999. Revised and expanded edition, 2012. External links[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to: Oscar Hijuelos Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oscar Hijuelos. Oscar Hijuelos on IMDb Oscar Hijuelos Papers at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University Oscar Hijuelos's page at HarperCollins Biography of Oscar Hijuelos from Thomson Gale 1990 Real Audio interview with Oscar Hijuelos at Wired for Books.org by Don Swaim "Author Oscar Hijuelos Tackles His Toughest Subject: Himself", Ray Suarez interview with Oscar Hijuelos, PBS NewsHour, Friday, June 24, 2011. Author page at New York Journal of Books with link to book review v t e Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1918–1925 His Family by Ernest Poole (1918) The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (1919) The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1921) Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington (1922) One of Ours by Willa Cather (1923) The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson (1924) So Big by Edna Ferber (1925) 1926–1950 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (declined) (1926) Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield (1927) The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (1928) Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin (1929) Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge (1930) Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes (1931) The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (1932) The Store by Thomas Sigismund Stribling (1933) Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Pafford Miller (1934) Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson (1935) Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis (1936) Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1937) The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand (1938) The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1939) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1940) In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow (1942) Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair (1943) Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin (1944) A Bell for Adano by John Hersey (1945) All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (1947) Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener (1948) Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens (1949) The Way West by A. B. 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Scott Momaday (1969) The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford (1970) Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (1972) The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty (1973) No award given (1974) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (1975) 1976–2000 Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow (1976) No award given (1977) Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson (1978) The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (1979) The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer (1980) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1981) Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike (1982) The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1983) Ironweed by William Kennedy (1984) Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (1985) Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1986) A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor (1987) Beloved by Toni Morrison (1988) Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1989) The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos (1990) Rabbit at Rest by John Updike (1991) A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley (1992) A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler (1993) The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (1994) The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (1995) Independence Day by Richard Ford (1996) Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser (1997) American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1998) The Hours by Michael Cunningham (1999) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (2000) 2001–present The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2001) Empire Falls by Richard Russo (2002) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2003) The Known World by Edward P. Jones (2004) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2005) March by Geraldine Brooks (2006) The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2007) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2008) Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2009) Tinkers by Paul Harding (2010) A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2011) No award given (2012) The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (2013) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (2014) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2015) The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (2016) The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2017) Less by Andrew Sean Greer (2018) The Overstory by Richard Powers (2019) The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (2020) Authority control BIBSYS: 90592213 BNE: XX970823 BNF: cb12249826p (data) CANTIC: a10443125 GND: 124412181 ISNI: 0000 0001 0907 2316 LCCN: n82120993 NDL: 00468346 NKC: jn20010601733 NLA: 36518094 NLK: KAC201752246 NTA: 074040391 PLWABN: 9810662443605606 SELIBR: 238877 SNAC: w6s76h9w SUDOC: 031245234 VIAF: 61601967 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n82120993 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oscar_Hijuelos&oldid=996482702" Categories: 1951 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American writers of Cuban descent Duke University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Hispanic and Latino American novelists Hofstra University faculty Lehman College alumni People from Morningside Heights, Manhattan Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners City College of New York alumni 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Commons category link from Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Languages تۆرکجه বাংলা Cymraeg Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français Հայերեն Italiano Kiswahili Latina مصرى Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 26 December 2020, at 21:40 (UTC). 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