We Happy Few

Rolando Hinojosa

apr. 2006 · Arte Publico Press

Om denne e-bog

In the tragicomic novel, We Happy Few, internationally recognized author Rolando Hinojosa takes us inside the politics of a tumultuous university campus set in a quiet university town on the Texas-Mexico border. The chaotic politics of faculty promotions and tenure, the zany protests of a student group representing the majority Mexican-American ethnic group on campus, and the complex work of a search committee to replace a high-level university administrator unfold at Belken State University in Klail City, Texas. From the offices of deans and professors to those of familiar power brokers such as banker Arnold ñNoddyî Perkins and police chief Rafe Buenrostro, and even to the State House in Austin, Hinojosa sets up a beguiling game of life„and death. Racism and political machinations raise the stakes in the battle for the future of the university, the outcome of which will decide the fate of the faculty, staff, and especially the students, who place their hope for advancement in education. With We Happy Few, Hinojosa once again invites readers to observe the goings-on in his quixotic literary landscape, which the New York Times compared to Gabriel GarcÕa MàrquezÍs Macondo and William FaulknerÍs Yoknapatawpha.

Om forfatteren

ROLANDO HINOJOSA, the Ellen Clayton Garwood Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award; the most prestigious prize in Latin American fiction, Casa de las Am?ricas, for the best Spanish American novel in 1976; and the Premio Quinto Sol in 1974. His novels include The Valley / Estampas del Valle, Ask a Policeman, The Useless Servants, and Dear Rafe / Mi querido Rafa, all published by Arte PÏblico Press.