Bio

Héctor Jaimes (b. 1964, Venezuela) is Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, where he has taught since 1998. His research brings together literary criticism, cultural theory, and visual studies, with a sustained focus on Latin American narrative and artistic production from the twentieth century to the present. His work argues that Latin American literature and art function not merely as objects of analysis, but as sites of theoretical production that actively reshape contemporary critical discourse.

In addition to his research and teaching, Dr. Jaimes has played a significant role in international education. He served two terms as Program Director for the UNC System’s semester-long consortium in Santander, Spain, and founded a summer study abroad program in Buenos Aires, Argentina, expanding opportunities for students to engage directly with Hispanic cultures.

Scholarly Focus and Monographs

Dr. Jaimes’s scholarship examines the dynamic relationship between literary production and theoretical reflection in Latin America, with particular attention to moments of cultural rupture, historiographic revision, and aesthetic innovation. His work traces how writers and artists not only respond to theoretical paradigms but also generate new forms of critical thought through their creative practices.

He is the author of three monographs:

• The Mexican Novel in Times of Rupture: At the Intersection of Globalization and Postmodernism (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).
• Filosofía del muralismo mexicano: Orozco, Rivera y Siqueiros (Mexico: Plaza y Valdés, 2012).
• La reescritura de la historia en el ensayo hispanoamericano (Madrid: Fundamentos, 2001).

Taken together, these works articulate a sustained inquiry into how Latin American cultural production redefines the relationship among art, history, and theory.

Edited Volumes and Critical Studies

Dr. Jaimes’s editorial projects contribute to shaping contemporary debates in Hispanic literary studies through sustained engagement with major authors and movements. His edited volumes include:

• En torno a Jorge Volpi: La razón del discurso. El discurso de la razón (Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2026).
• Pedro Ángel Palou y la novela infinita: Lecturas críticas (Raleigh: A Contracorriente/UNC, 2023).
• Mario Bellatin y las formas de la escritura (Raleigh: A Contracorriente/UNC, 2020).
• The Mexican Crack Writers: History and Criticism (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).
• Octavio Paz: La dimensión estética del ensayo (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 2004).

Through these volumes, he has helped consolidate and extend critical conversations around key figures and aesthetic movements in contemporary Latin American literature.

Archival Scholarship

A distinctive dimension of Dr. Jaimes’s work lies in his engagement with archival materials and documentary editing. He has prepared and annotated important collections of previously unpublished or understudied texts, contributing to the preservation and reinterpretation of Latin American cultural history. These projects include Tu hija Frida: Cartas a mamá (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 2016), a critical edition of letters written by Frida Kahlo to her mother, and Fundación del muralismo mexicano (Mexico: Siglo XXI, 2012), prepared from unpublished materials in the archive of David Alfaro Siqueiros at the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, California).

 

Office Hours

• Tuesday: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
• Thursday: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Recent Publications

Jaimes, Héctor, ed. En torno a Jorge Volpi: La razón del discurso. El discurso de la razón (Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2026).

Jaimes, Héctor. The Mexican Novel in Times of Rupture: At the Intersection of Globalization and Postmodernism (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025).

Jaimes, Héctor. “From Heaven to Earth: Rivera, Siqueiros and the Mexican Muralist Project.” In Anti-Catholicism in the Mexican Revolution, 1913-1940. Eds. Jurgen Buchenau and David S. Dalton. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2024. pp. 191-212.

Jaimes, Héctor. “Mario Bellatin.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature (Online). New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

Jaimes, Héctor. “Paraíso clausurado: La forma con atributos.” In Pedro Ángel Palou y la novela infinita. Ed. Héctor Jaimes. Raleigh, NC: A Contracorriente, 2023. pp. 169-180.

Presentations

“History and the Archive in Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli.” XXVIII Annual Juan Bruce-Novoa Mexican Studies Conference. University of California, Irvine, 2024.

“La narrativa de Pedro Ángel Palou: Historia, estética y literatura.” Latin American Studies Association (LASA). San Francisco, CA, 2022 (virtual congress).

“Siqueiros y Rivera: ¿La estética radical o la radicalidad de la estética?” Latin American Studies Associatioin (LASA), 2021 (virtual congress).

“The Mexican Muralism and the question of Modernity.” Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA), 2021 (virtual congress).

“Fragmentos de la contemporaneidad: Muerte súbita de Álvaro Enrigue.”  Transient Bodies and Gender Politics in 21st Century Mexico Conference.  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 2019.

“The Mexican Muralism: Between Art and Philosophy.”  2019 Conference on Mexican Muralists.  California State University. Los Angeles, CA, 2019.

“Mario Bellatin: Una lectura sobre el dinero.”  (Des)conciertos literarios/Literary (Dys)functions. UC-Mexicanistas. Santa Barbara, CA, 2018.

“Cuauhtémoc by Pedro Angel Palou: Entre mito e historia.” Latin American Studies Association (LASA). Barcelona, Spain, 2018.

“Spaces of love in Guadalupe Nettel’s Después del invierno.” Modern Language Association (MLA). Philadelphia, PA, 2017.

“Octavio Paz y el muralismo mexicano.” Latin American Studies Association (LASA). New York, NY, 2016.

“Veinte años después: La generación del ‘Crack’ y la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea.” Modern Language Association (MLA). Austin, TX, 2016.

“Frida Kahlo: Writing oneself. Letters to her mother.” Southern Eastern Council of Latin American Studies (SECOLAS). Charleston, SC, 2015.

Area(s) of Expertise

Latin American Literature and Culture, Mexican Studies, Cultural Theory, Aesthetics