WRITER

Oscar Hijuelos

1951 - 2013

Photo of Oscar Hijuelos

Icon of person Oscar Hijuelos

Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013) was an American novelist. Of Cuban descent, during a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Oscar Hijuelos has received more than 143,624 page views. His biography is available in 23 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 22 in 2019). Oscar Hijuelos is the 6,344th most popular writer (down from 6,187th in 2019), the 11,527th most popular biography from United States (up from 13,448th in 2019) and the 844th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 140k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 41.71

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 23

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.48

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.27

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Empress of the splendid season
Cuban Americans, Conduct of life, Empleadas de la limpieza
1999
Our House In the Last World
Fiction, Cuban Americans, Cuban American families
1983
A simple Habana melody (from when the world was good)
Cantantes (Mujeres), Composers, Compositores
It is 1947 and Israel Levis, a Cuban composer whose life had once been a dream of music, love and sadness, is returning to Habana, Cuba, from Spain, where he has just recovered from the physical and spiritual malaise resulting from his experiences in Paris, then Buchenwald, during the Nazi occupation of France. (A devout Catholic, Levis had been mistakenly identified as a Jew because of his name.) When Levis arrives back in Habana, after an absence of many years, his mind is reeling with beautiful memories of his life in Cuba and in Paris before the war, a life of pleasure and excitement that he owes, in part, to an unrequited, nearly "chivalrous" romance with a certain Rita Valladares, a singer for whom Levis had written his most famous song, "Rosas Puras," or "Pretty Roses." This 1928 composition becomes the most famous rumba in the world and changes both American and European tastes in music and dance forever; and it is the song, symbolic of the composer's love for Rita Valladares, that sets Levis's life in Europe in motion.
2002
Twain & Stanley enter paradise
Voyages and travels, Male friendship, Fiction
This story follows the friendship between 19th-century journalist-explorer Henry Stanley and Mark Twain throughout a journey to Cuba in search of Stanley's father. Chronicles the sojourn of journalist-explorer Henry Stanley; his wife, the painter Dorothy Tennant; and Mark Twain, Stanley's longtime friend, as they head for Cuba in search of Stanley's father.
2015
The mambo kings play songs of love
Fiction, Cuban Americans, Musicians
1989
The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien
Fiction, Cuban Americans, Irish Americans
1993

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Oscar Hijuelos ranks 6,344 out of 7,302. Before him are Angie Sage, Dominique Bona, Damon Galgut, Arthur Kopit, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, and Elizabeth Moon. After him are Frances Power Cobbe, Susan Hill, Ann Coulter, Compton Mackenzie, Kim Leine, and John Skelton.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1951, Oscar Hijuelos ranks 586. Before him are Héctor Rodríguez, Mustafa A. G. Abushagur, Jonathan Richman, Péter Baczakó, Johanna Wanka, and Maureen Caird. After him are Jeannot Ahoussou-Kouadio, Charles Shyer, Kaye Hall, Rubén Cano, Edward Albert, and Burglinde Pollak. Among people deceased in 2013, Oscar Hijuelos ranks 465. Before him are Audrey Totter, Bryan Forbes, Nadezhda Ilyina, José María Maguregui, Don Meineke, and McDonald Bailey. After him are Noel Harrison, Louis-Paul M'Fédé, Ilya Segalovich, Reg Presley, Sylvia Browne, and Vladimir Vikulov.

Others Born in 1951

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Others Deceased in 2013

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Oscar Hijuelos ranks 11,527 out of 20,380. Before him are Margaret Chase Smith (1897), Jon Kyl (1942), Keone Young (1947), Josh Stewart (1977), Félix Sánchez (1977), and Bob Denver (1935). After him are Lynn Hill (1961), Michael Oher (1986), Alan Baxter (1908), Milt Campbell (1933), Kathryn Erbe (1965), and Tom Paxton (1937).

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Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Oscar Hijuelos ranks 844. Before him are Terry Southern (1924), Veronica Roth (1988), Bill Prady (1960), Pat Conroy (1945), Arthur Kopit (1937), and Elizabeth Moon (1945). After him are Ann Coulter (1961), Mark Boal (1973), Chris Hedges (1956), Damon Runyon (1880), James Truslow Adams (1878), and John Scalzi (1969).

American born Writers

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