Who Was H. G. Carrillo? D. T. Max on a Novelist Whose Fictions Went Too Far

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

H. G. Carrillo was a writer’s writer—not a household name, but esteemed in literary circles. He began writing later in life, and was in his mid-forties when his first novel, “Loosing My Espanish,” was published. The book, which describes a Cuban-immigrant experience, was hailed as a triumph of Latino fiction; Junot Díaz praised the author’s “formidable” talent, calling his “lyricism pitch-perfect and his compassion limitless.” Carrillo went on to literary positions in and outside of the academy. He was an early casualty of the COVID pandemic, dying in the spring of 2020 at the age of fifty-nine. But his obituary—instead of tying a bow on the historical record—unspooled in quite a different direction, revealing secrets that Carrillo had worked for decades to conceal. For two years, the staff writer D. T. Max has been trying to trace what happened, and why.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:08.7	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. H.G. Carrillo, known as Ace Cario,
0:14.8	was a writer's writer, not a household name, but esteemed in literary circles.
0:20.2	Carrillo was in his mid-40s when his first novel was
0:23.0	published, and it's called Losing Maya Spanish. It was considered a triumph of Latino fiction. Juno Diaz,
0:29.9	among others, praised it very highly. Corrio died in April of 2020, an early casualty of the COVID pandemic.
0:39.1	Now, usually after a writer's death,
0:45.3	the story is told in obituaries and remembrances, giving a sense of closure and evaluation,
0:51.5	tying a bow for the historical record. But after his obituary was published, the story unspooled in quite a different direction, revealing secrets that he had worked for decades to conceal.
0:57.7	For two years, staff writer D.T. Max has been trying to trace what happened and why.
1:04.0	Here's Dan.
1:05.6	About five months after Ace Crewe died, I went to see his husband, Dennis Van Engelsdorp.
1:12.5	You know, Dennis was about 10 years younger, and he's from the Netherlands, and he was an entomologist.
1:16.9	His expertise was bees.
1:18.7	He was a bee guy.
1:20.2	And they had lived in this really, really pretty salmon-colored, clabbard house house in this nice little neighborhood in suburban Washington.
1:29.5	So all of these pottery and these wonderful items?
1:33.1	These are things we just bought on eBay and different places. I mean, I wish I had it
1:37.1	displayed better because I don't know. This is the way it should be.
1:39.5	Acey had been known for his vibrancy, for his exuberance, for his absolute lust for things and colors and experiences.
1:46.3	And I saw that everywhere when Dennis took me on a tour of the house.
1:50.1	For instance, the artwork, the walls were just covered.
	...

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