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OBEMA Volume 1 Rolando Hinojosa: Korean Love Songs Biography: Hinojosa was born in 1929 in the Southwest region of the United States of a Mexican-American father and an Anglo-American mother and grew up bilingually. Both cultures and traditions - Chicano and American - are equally important to him. In his family storytelling was an old tradition and fostered his passion for reading which made him a good writer. He read everything he could get hold of, the books did not have to be extraordinary at first, he learned little by little to pick up those that were most useful for him. Place is a very important factor in the work of Hinojosa, but it transcends the small communities; though his books remain rooted there they go far beyond regionalism and treat the American and Mexican culture at large. He joined the army in 1946 and served in the Caribbean as radio announcer and editor of a Caribbean Army Defense Command newspaper. In 1954 he continued studying at the University of Texas in Austin in order to become a teacher at a Brownsville High-school. In 1960 Hinojosa started graduate studies in New Mexico and earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1969. Since then he has been teaching at numerous universities and is now Professor of English at the University of Texas in Austin and served as director for the Texas Center for Writers from 1984 to 1993. Probably most known is his collection of short novels "The Klail City Death Trip" which describe over sixty years of a Anglo-Mexican community in the mythical Rio Grande Valley with more or less fictional characters. Some of these novels were originally written in English, others were written in Spanish first and then translated. They are meant to be both, bilingual and bicultural. His first novel in this series, Estampas del Valle won him the national award for Chicano literature in 1972 and four years later he won the highest award for the novel in Latin America, the Premio de las Casas de las Americas for Klail City y sus alrededores. Many other awards followed and his work has been translated into several languages. Major Works Estampas del valle y otras obras (1973). Korean Love Songs from Klail City Death Trip (1978). Rites and Witnesses (1982). Mi Querido Rafe (1981). English translation - Dear Rafe (1985). Partners in Crime: A Rafe Buenrostro Mystery (1985). Claros varones de Belken/Fair Gentlemen of Belken County (1986, bilingual edition). Klail City y sus alrededores (1976). Generaciones y semblanzas (1977). Becky and Her Friends (1989). The Useless Servants (1993). Excerpt from "Korean Love Songs" Friendly Fire Light travels faster than sound, But sound travels fast enough for some. The burnt hand caught the shrap direct and sailed off As the abandoned arm shot upward Looking for its partner Now partly buried in the mud. The hip, too, felt the smoking clumps Which now don't have to be surgically removed: That wire-laying signalman is as good as dead. The spent shell Bounces and clangs with the others, As the hangman's lanyard sways and waits to reactivate the howitzer. Sometimes, however, sound doesn't travel fast enough:      "Raise those sights, Sergeant Kell,      The forward ob. Says you're still short." Still, sound travels fast enough for some As it did for them Who heard the first scream In time to hug the sodden field. Freundliches Feuer Licht reist schneller als Schall, Aber Schall reist schnell genug für manchen. Die verbrannte Hand fing das Schrapnell direkt und flog davon Während der verlassene Arm hochschoß Nach seinem Partner suchte, Der nun teils im Schlamm begraben lag. Auch die Hüfte fühlte die rauchenden Klumpen, Die jetzt nicht mehr chirurgisch entfernt werden müssen: Der kabel-legende Funker ist so gut wie tot. Die verschossene Hülse Fällt und klingelt unter die anderen, Während des Henkers Schnur schwingt und darauf wartet, die Haubitze wiederzubeleben. Manchmal, jedoch, reist Schall nicht schnell genug:      "Höher mit der Sichtung, Feldwebel Kell,      Der Vornebeobachter sagt, Sie sind noch immer zu kurz." Dennoch, Schall reist schnell genug für manchen. So für die, Die den ersten Schrei hörten, Um rechtzeitig das durchweichte Feld umarmen. Internet: http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/portales/hinojosa.htm http://www.writerscenter.org/hinojosa.html http://www.lili.uni-osnabrueck.de/hinojosa_intro.html http://www.scottforesman.com/families/authors/hinojosa-smith.html http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/1997/lee.htm Contact: RORRO@mail.utexas.edu