José Luis González (writer)
Encyclopedia
José Luis González was a Puerto Rican
essay
ist, novel
ist, short story
writer
, university
professor
, and journalist
who lived most of his life in exile
in Mexico
due to his pro-independence political
views. He is considered to be one of the most important Puerto Rican authors of the 20th century, particularly for his book Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country and Other Essays, which was first published in Spanish
in 1980.
, the son
of a Puerto Rican father
and Dominican mother
. His family
left the country
and moved to Puerto Rico after the dictator
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo assumed power in 1930. González was raised in Puerto Rico and went on to obtain a Bachelor's
degree in political science
at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
. He also studied in the United States
, and received a Master's degree
and Doctorate
in Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
. A renown Marxist
, González always considered himself to be a Puerto Rican, but lived in Mexico from 1953 until his death in 1996 and obtained Mexican citizenship
in 1955, renouncing his American citizenship
to do so. He lectured at the UNAM on Latin American literature
and on the sociology of literature
. He also worked as a newspaper
correspondent
in Prague
, Berlin
, Paris
and Warsaw
during his lifetime.
award in 1978 for his novel Ballad of Another Time, and also received two national awards in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
ist, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
who lived most of his life in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
due to his pro-independence political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
views. He is considered to be one of the most important Puerto Rican authors of the 20th century, particularly for his book Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country and Other Essays, which was first published in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
in 1980.
Biography
José Luis González was born in the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, the son
Son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or man in relation to his parents. The female analogue is a daughter.-Social issues regarding sons:In pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters,...
of a Puerto Rican father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
and Dominican mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
. His family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
left the country
Country
A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...
and moved to Puerto Rico after the dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo assumed power in 1930. González was raised in Puerto Rico and went on to obtain a Bachelor's
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus
The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras , also referred to as UPR-RP, is a public research university located on a campus in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico...
. He also studied in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and received a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
and Doctorate
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
. A renown Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, González always considered himself to be a Puerto Rican, but lived in Mexico from 1953 until his death in 1996 and obtained Mexican citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
in 1955, renouncing his American citizenship
Citizenship in the United States
Citizenship in the United States is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the United States and the individual...
to do so. He lectured at the UNAM on Latin American literature
Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the...
and on the sociology of literature
Sociology of literature
Sociology of literature is a subfield of Sociology of culture. It studies the social production of literature and its social implications. A notable example is Pierre Bourdieu's 1992 Les Règles de L'Art: Genèse et Structure du Champ Littéraire, translated by Susan Emanuel as Rules of Art: Genesis...
. He also worked as a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
correspondent
Correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
during his lifetime.
Awards
José Luis González was awarded the Xavier VillaurrutiaXavier Villaurrutia
Xavier Villaurrutia y González was a Mexican poet and playwright, whose most famous works are the short theatrical dramas, called Autos profanos, compiled in the work Poesía y teatro completos published in 1953....
award in 1978 for his novel Ballad of Another Time, and also received two national awards in Puerto Rico.
Fiction
- En la sombra. Prologue by Carmen Alicia Cadilla. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Imp. Venezuela, 1943.
- Cinco cuentos de sangre. Prologue by Francisco Matos Paoli. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Imp. Venezuela, 1945.
- El hombre en la calle. Santurce: Puerto Rico, Bohique, 1948.
- Paisa —un relato de la emigración—. Prologue by Luis Enrique Délano. México: Fondo de Cultura Popular, 1950.
- En este lado. México: Los Presentes, 1954.
- La galería y otros cuentos. México: Era, 1972.
- Mambrú se fue a la guerra (y otros relatos). México: Joaquín Mortiz, 1972.
- Cuento de cuentos y once más. México: Extemporáneos, 1973.
- En Nueva York y otras desgracias. Prologue by Ángel Rama. México: Siglo XXI, 1973.
- Veinte cuentos y Paisa. Prologue by Pedro Juan Soto. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Cultural, 1973.
- Balada de otro tiempo. Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Huracán, 1978.
- El oído de Dios. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Cultural, 1984.
- Las caricias del tigre. México, Joaquín Mortiz, 1984.
- Antología personal. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1990.
- Todos los cuentos. México, U.N.A.M., 1992.
Essays and Memoirs
- El país de cuatro pisos y otros ensayos. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Huracán, 1980.
- La luna no era de queso: Memorias de infancia. Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Cultural, 1988.
- Literatura y sociedad de Puerto Rico: De los cronistas de Indias a la Generación del 98. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1976.
- Nueva visita al cuarto piso. Madrid: Flamboyán, 1986.
See also
- Dominican immigration to Puerto RicoDominican immigration to Puerto RicoThere's been movement of people from the territory of the Dominican Republic to its eastern neighbor Puerto Rico, and vice versa, since colonial times, but Dominican immigration to Puerto Rico has risen sharply in recent decades, with tens of thousands of arrivals since 1961...
- List of Puerto Ricans
- List of Puerto Rican writers
- Puerto Rican literature