José Ramón Vilahomat González was born in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba. His family settled in a Havana suburb in 1962, where he lived until he was 27 years old. In 1978, Vilahomat began a physics degree at the University of Havana, where he later worked for eight years as a planar technician, building silicon solar cells and in charge of scientific literature in a laboratory of the Solid State Department. Vilahomat combined his years in the lab with a new career in philology that was more in line with his love of poetry and creative writing. During his college years, he was an accomplished swimmer.
Vilahomat graduated in 1992 in philology with a specialization in Cuban literature and a thesis on the Cuban writer Ezequiel Vieta. After defecting from Cuba in 1994, he completed a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in Spanish, both at Florida International University, with a dissertation on aesthetic issues in Borges and Lezama. Some of Vilahomat’s work experience includes being a librarian at the cultural institution "Casa de las Americas" in Havana, a high school science teacher with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a professional printer, a translator, an editor, and a photojournalist.
Vilahomat enjoys the ambiance and integrated nature of the liberal arts at Hendrix College and sees a well-rounded education and experiential learning as vital components of society. His own life reflects this with his love of family, nature, traveling, writing, and research.
Scholarly Publications
BOOKS:
Sátira y géneros menores: apuntes sobre
literatura latinoamericana contemporánea. Madrid/Frankfurt a. M.:
Iberoamericana/Vervuert. 2021
Ficción de racionalidad: La memoria como operador
mítico en las estéticas polares de Jorge Luis Borges y José Lezama Lima.
Newark: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic
Monographs. 2004
ARTICLES:
“Borges: La explosión de Babel, causa y efecto. [Borges: The
Explosion of Babel, cause, and effect]. Variaciones Borges. 55 (2023):
3-20.
“La radiación cósmica de fondo de Jorge Luis Borges en el universo
literario de hoy” [Borges Microwave Background Radiation in Today’s Literary Universe]
Argus-a Artes & Humanidades,
Argentina/California, Vol.
XII Edición N° 47 (March 2023). https://www.argus-a.com/archivos-dinamicas/1689-1.pdf
“Construcción
paródica del paisaje policial en Máscaras de Leonardo Padura Fuentes” [The
Parodic Making of Crime Fiction Landscape in Máscaras by Leonardo Padura
Fuentes] Argus-a. Vol. VIII Edición N° 32 (June 2019). California - U.S.A. / Bs. As.- Argentina. https://www.argus-a.com/publicacion/1414-construccion-parodica-del-paisaje-policial-en-mascaras-de-leonardo-padura-fuentes.html
“Distopía,
parodia, utopía: repensando México a través de Rumbo y Leyenda.”
Argus-a Artes & Humanidades, Argentina/California, V. 21 (Julio
2016). https://www.argus-a.com/publicacion/1137-distopia-parodia-utopia-repensando-mexico-a-traves-de-rumbo-y-leyenda.html
“Margen genérico y tema antisocial: una respuesta
fragmentaria a un universo fractal.” Argus-a Artes & Humanidades,
Argentina/California, II. 6 (Octubre 2012). https://www.argus-a.com/publicacion/273-margen-generico-y-tema-antisocial-una-respuesta-fragmentaria-a-un-universo-fractal.html
“Sátira menipea en
trayecto: La literatura latinoamericana actual vuelve a los orígenes.” Pterodáctilo:Revista de Arte, Literatura y Lingüística, The University of Texas at Austin. Fall; 9
(2010): 1-25. https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/22880/Pterodactilo9_Critica_Vilahomat.pdf?sequence=9&isAllowed=y
“Sátira híbrida y sujeto menipeo:
la literatura cubana y latinoamericana actual.” Espéculo. Revista de estudios
literarios. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 44. XIV (March-June 2010) http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero44/satirahi.html
“Lazarillo de Tormes: Preinstancias del discurso postmoderno desde el
sujeto híbrido.” Lemir: Revista Electrónica sobre Literatura Española
Medieval y del Renacimiento, 2005;
9: (no pagination). (journal article) https://parnaseo.uv.es/Lemir/Revista/Revista9/Vilahomat/Lazarillo.htm
“La
historia por el tragaluz: una aproximación cortazariana.” Pterodáctilo: Revista de Arte, Literatura y Lingüística.
The University of Texas at
Austin 2005 Fall; 4 (4): 48-54. (journal article) https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/22832?show=full
"Sor María de Jesús Ágreda: la autoridad de la fe.” Lemir: Revista Electrónica sobre Literatura
Española Medieval y del Renacimiento
2004, 8: (no pagination) (journmal article) https://parnaseo.uv.es/Lemir/Revista/Revista8/Vilahomat/Agreda.htm
Acknowledgment
as planar technician in the fabrication of solar cells:
“Infrared response in monocrystalline silicon solar cells” Revista Cubana de Física, Spring 1987.
“Fabrication
of silicon solar cells with textured surface.” Cuban Journal of Physics.
IX.1. 1989.
http://www.revistacubanadefisica.org/RCFextradata/OldFiles/1989/Vol.%209,%20No.%201/09001063.pdf
“Study
and use of nickel contacts in silicon solar cells.” Cuban
Journal of Physics. XI.1. 1991.
http://www.revistacubanadefisica.org/RCFextradata/OldFiles/1991/Vol.%2011,%20No.%201/11001003.pdf