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

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and the New Yorker.
0:09.2	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnik.
0:12.0	H.G.
0:13.0	Kareo, known as Ache Kareo, was a writer's writer, not a household name, but a steamed in literary
0:19.1	circles.
0:20.4	Kareo was in his mid-40s when his first novel was published and it's called Losing My
0:25.4	Spanish.
0:26.4	It was considered a triumph of Latino fiction.
0:29.0	Juno Diaz, among others, praised it very highly.
0:32.4	Kareo died in April of 2020, an early casualty of the COVID pandemic.
0:37.5	Now usually, after a writer's death, the story is told in obituaries and remembrances, giving
0:42.8	a sense of closure and evaluation, tying a bow for the historical record.
0:47.8	But after his obituary was published, the story unspulled in quite a different direction,
0:53.8	revealing secrets that he had worked for decades to conceal.
0:58.0	For two years, Staff writer D.T. Max has been trying to trace what happened and why.
1:04.2	He is Dan.
1:05.9	About five months after Ache Kareo died, I went to see his husband, Dennis Van Engelstorp.
1:11.9	Dennis was about 10 years younger and he's from the Netherlands and he was an entomologist.
1:17.3	His expertise was bees.
1:18.3	He was a bee guy.
1:20.6	And they had lived in this really, really pretty salmon-colored, clavoured house in this nice,
1:26.6	little neighborhood in suburban Washington.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.