Hermán Carrillo, Cuban writer, dies in Washington

May 24, 2020

"Hache was always a difficult person to know, a beautiful chaos," the Washington Post published to pay tribute to Cuban-American writer Hermán G. Carrillo, who died on April 20 in the United States from coronavirus.

The important newspaper dedicated an extensive chronicle to him where it recognizes the important Afro-Cuban American writer, who served as an assistant professor of English at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

"Hache," as his friends called him, was recognized for his defense of the Afro in Cuban-American culture and for his writing, whose focus was the experience in the United States of immigrants from the island where he was born in 1960.

He died in the garden of his home, after losing the battle against COVID-19, while picking flowers for his partner, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, two days before turning 60 years old, the newspaper reported.

In 2002 Carrillo received his bachelor's degree in Spanish and English from DePaul University in Chicago. In 2007 he obtained his master's degree in Fine Arts from Cornell University.

Journalist Gerard Wozek, from Windy City, stated that the writer imprinted a mythical atmosphere to the architecture of Havana, which became a defense of Cuban identity and its immigrants.

Likewise, he recalled how difficult it was for Haché to grow up in the United States, where he wanted to rewrite American culture and be understood from his roots in the country that welcomed him.

Among his publications stand out "The Kenyon Review," "Conjunctions," "The Iowa Review," "Glimmer Train," "Ninth Letter" and "Slice." He wrote works of fiction, and was interested in Latino literature and American visual culture.

Also among his areas of academic interest were literature and culture of the 1960s, American literature of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and gender studies.

His first novel, Loosing My Espanish (Pantheon, 2004), approaches the complexities of Latino immigration in the U.S., as well as cultural shock – from the perspective of a Cuban immigrant – with religious education, homosexuality and the struggles of the lower classes.

When this novel was published, The Washington Post wrote an extensive review of the work, which it described as a "complexly structured novel."

According to the newspaper, his narrative was capable of going in several directions, alternating between present and historical time.

"If one considers the present moment as a force field that holds together all the disparate elements in the book, a coherent story emerges from a series of apparently disordered scenes," the newspaper said.

Washington was one of the first states in the country to report cases of coronavirus. Currently the confirmed cases there reach the figure of 18,811 infected patients and the number of deaths rose to 1,031 this Friday.