Jaime Martínez Tolentino

Jaime Martinez Tolentino at home office

Jaime Martínez Tolentino (born January 10, 1943 in Salinas, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican writer.[1]

Early life and education

At the age of four, Martinez Tolentino contracted polio, which has left him crippled.[2] In 1951, he and his family emigrated to New York City where he lived until 1966. He attended New York University where he majored in French and French literature, while also studying Spanish literature and German. As an undergraduate he participated actively in the theater.

Academic career

After earning a B.A. and an M.A in French literature, he returned, briefly, to his native Puerto Rico where he was named French professor at The University of Puerto Rico. Then he left for Europe to pursue further studies. In France, he studied French at the Sorbonne, and then he relocated to Spain, where he studied both French and Hispanic Literature. He received a PhD in French Literature from the University of Madrid, and then he returned to Puerto Rico.[1][3]

Between 1970 and 1984, Martinez Tolentino taught French at the Mayaguez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, and he also published three books on French. Also during this period, he published a full-length play, and in 1984, he directed its staged version. One of his short stories was adapted for the stage in Puerto Rico in 1979.[4]

Writing career

It was also during this period that he joined the group of young Puerto Rican writers connected to the literary magazine Mester: the novelist Carmelo Rodríguez Torres, the narrator Wilfredo Ruiz Oliveras, and the poets Luis Cartañá and Sotero Rivera Avilés. Under their influence, Martinez Tolentino began publishing short stories in journals and newspapers, and in 1975, he edited an anthology of their short stories. In 1980, he published his play La imagen del otro, and three years later, an original collection of short stories of the fantastic.[5]

As he continued publishing in Spanish, his interest in Hispanic literature grew. He began taking graduate courses in Spanish and Puerto Rican literature, and then taught Spanish literature at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, while still also teaching French at the UPR.[6]

In 1984, Martinez Tolentino resigned from his position as a French professor. He attended Purdue University in Indiana, where he acquired fluency in Portuguese, and then he transferred to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he received a second M.A. and a second PhD in Spanish and Latin American literature.

In 1990, he became a Spanish professor at the State University of New York's College at Buffalo, where he continued writing and producing plays.[7] He retired from teaching in 2002, but not from writing and publishing.

Publications

Fiction – books

Fiction – short stories and one-act plays

Non-fiction – books

Non-fiction in journals and newspapers

Published Translations

Published Books With large portions devoted to Jaime's writings

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 "La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity, Incorporated". Lambda Upsilon Lambda. 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Martinez-Tolentino v. Buffalo State College". Professional Employer Organization and Employee Leasing. 2000. Retrieved February 5, 2010. page 2
  3. ↑ "La Unidad Latina – Zeta Chapter". La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity. 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ Ayala-Richards, Haydee (1995). "La presencia de los Tainos en la literatura puertorriquena". University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  5. ↑ Tolentino, Jaime Martínez (1980). "La imagen del otro". Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (San Juan de Puerto Rico). pp. Serie Literatura hoy. Retrieved February 4, 2010.
  6. ↑ "El cuento fantástico en Puerto Rico y Cuba: Estudio teórico y su aplicación a varios cuentos contemporáneos by Mervin Román Capeles". 65 (1). University of Pennsylvania Press. 2007: 128–130. JSTOR 474846.
  7. ↑ "Directory of Faculty/Staff with International Qualifications at BSC". Buffalo State College. 2001. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
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