COLLIGNON, Rick 1948-

PERSONAL: Born 1948; children: three.

ADDRESSES: Home—Taos, NM. Agent—c/o MacAdam/Cage Publicity, 820 16th St., Ste. 331, Denver, CO 80231.

CAREER: Novelist. Has worked as a roofer for over twenty years.

WRITINGS:

The Journal of Antonio Montoya: A Novel, MacMurray & Beck (Denver, CO), 1996.

Perdido: A Novel, MacMurray & Beck (Denver, CO), 1997.

A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García, BlueHen Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Journal of Antonio Montoya has been translated into twelve languages, and A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García has been translated into ten languages.

SIDELIGHTS: Rick Collignon burst upon the literary scene with the widely reviewed and well-received novel The Journal of Antonio Montoya. The novel concerns a series of supernatural events occurring in the town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, after an accident that leaves a young boy orphaned. Custody of José Montoya is left to his father's brother, but after the funeral, the boy's dead mother rises in her coffin to request a change. She asks Ramona Montoya, her husband's unmarried sister, to take the boy in. On Ramona's return home with the boy, she is awaited by her long-dead grandparents, who, between fixing dinner and running errands in her car, bequeath to her the journal of her great-uncle, her grandfather's cousin. Ramona reads the journal, which is spliced into the action of the novel. Like Ramona, who has given years of her life to try to establish a career in painting, Antonio Montoya was an artist, a sculptor of santos (small figures of the saints). The novel weaves parallels between Antonio's and Ramona's lives, and between all the living and the dead.

A number of critics, including Lawrence Olszewski, who reviewed the novel for Library Journal, linked Collignon's surreal situations to the writing of Gabriel García Márquez, the renowned South American author. But critics were mixed in their appreciation for the novel as a whole. Olszewski called the book an "enchanting work," and Wendy Cavenett of Between the Lines maintained that "in The Journal of Antonio Montoya, Collignon beckons us to drink from the cup of divine omniscience, to believe that the world is a vast realm of the improbable and that life, in its many guises, exists concurrently, each effecting the other." She also called the book "an astonishing debut, one that heralds a clear, imaginative voice from the contemporary chasm of post-modernism." Others, however, though finding much to like in the novel, had criticisms as well. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Collignon's "spare style" and "bracingly fresh descriptions," but requested more plot line. Andy Solomon, writing for the New York Times Book Review, commented that "the problem . . . is less that the novel's dead characters are still living than that its living ones are half dead."

Collignon worked as a roofer for twenty years before publishing his first novel, but published his second novel, Perdido, only a year after the first. Like The Journal of Antonio Montoya, Perdido is also set in Guadalupe, New Mexico, which is inhabited almost exclusively by Mexican Americans. The protagonist is Will Sawyer, an Anglo who drifted into Guadalupe nearly twenty years prior to the beginning of the novel. Sawyer's sense of belonging in the community is challenged, however, after he discovers that a mysterious death has occurred—the hanging of a young Anglo woman at a bridge—shortly before his arrival in town. When he starts asking questions, it is not long before tensions bloom into violence, revealing just how tentatively accepted Will is in the town.

Nancy Pearl of Booklist praised Perdido. Although she thought some readers might be distracted by the author's habit of "dropping the reader into the middle of the story," she admired the novel's style and its "simple and direct narrative." In a review of the book for Library Journal, Faye A. Chadwell expressed appreciation for Collignon's ability to explore the connections between ethnic and racial groups "while delving into the concept of identity." An Atlantic Monthly reviewer believed Collignon "created a distinct and meaningful world," while New York Times Book Review critic Denise Gess concluded, "Driven by Collignon's decisive prose, his strong characters and his deep knowledge of New Mexico folklore, Perdidois a one-sitting read, a novel that captivates and surprises all the way to its chilling end."

In the final installment of the Guadalupe trilogy, A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García, an elderly Flavio Montoya, Ramona's brother, is the protagonist. Ramona has long since been dead, and Flavio continues to tend the fields of his family, of which he is the only remaining member. Magic realism returns when Flavio sees his childhood friend Felix García—who has been incapacitated since he suffered a stroke years ago—walking through the fields. A terrible fire threatens to consume the entire town, and when Felix speaks for the first time in years, he accuses Flavio of starting the blaze. Reality and imagination blur as many of the story's events are told through flashbacks and Flavio's dreams. Using these devices, Collignon provides readers with the history of the town and its founder, Cristóbal García, answering many questions readers may have had from the first and second novels.

Critical reception of this book, like that of the first, was varied. "Though it situates itself squarely in a tired genre, Collignon's book is not without merit," wrote one Publishers Weekly contributor. "Dreamlike and melancholy," the reviewer continued, A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García "is a worthy read, if slow-paced and often painfully—though not tritely—sentimental." Olszewski, reviewing A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García in Library Journal, maintained, "As in the earlier works, the narrative carries strong strains of oral tradition." Olszewski also thought, however, that since Collignon reintroduces characters from The Journal of Antonio Montoya and Perdido, "this new book won't mean much outside of their context." Dan Wickett, however, in a review of the book for the Emerging Writers Forum Web site, thought that A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García "works by itself," but encouraged readers to start with the first two books, explaining that "it would be a shame to not enjoy the town as it was meant to be." Wickett praised the author's efforts in writing the final book of the trilogy, stating, "Collignon is hitting on all cylinders with this effort—the writing is fantastic and further develops the dancing use of the English language established in the first two novels." Writing for Booklist, Brendan Dowling also had much praise to offer Collignon. Claiming the author "deftly blends history and magic realism," Dowling found A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García "a fitting and evocative end to his trilogy."

In an interview with Kathryn Eastburn for the Colorado Springs Independent, Collignon admitted, "I dropped out of two colleges and never took any writing classes. My training was reading, which I did and still do voraciously." Collignon explained to Eastburn that his brother, who is also a writer, encouraged him to pursue his neglected passion. The author confessed, "Writing for me is a struggle. . . . I wouldn't do it if I didn't thrive on it. I think if you're going to write you're going to write, no matter what else is going on in your life."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Atlantic Monthly, August, 1997, review of Perdido, p. 98.

Booklist, July, 1997, Nancy Pearl, review of Perdido, p. 1794; October 15, 2002, Brendan Dowling, review of A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García, p. 385.

Library Journal, May 1, 1996, Lawrence Olszewski, review of The Journal of Antonio Montoya, p. 129; June 15, 1997, Faye A. Chadwell, review of Perdido, p. 94; November 15, 2002, Lawrence Olszewski, review of A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García, p. 99.

New York Times Book Review, August 25, 1996, Andy Solomon, review of The Journal of Antonio Montoya, p. 19; February 14, 1999, review of Perdido, p. 32.

Publishers Weekly, April 29, 1996, review of The Journal of Antonio Montoya, p. 53; October 28, 2002, review of A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García, p. 50.

Western American Literature, spring, 1997, p. 88.

ONLINE

Between the Lines, http://www.thei.aust.com/isite/btl/btlrvmontoya.html/ (1998), Wendy Cavenett, review of The Journal of Antonio Montoya.

Colorado Springs Independent Web site,http://www.csindy.com/ (November 14-20, 2002), Kathryn Eastburn, "Fine Print, The Journal of Rick Collignon: On Writing, Roofing, and His New Mexico Trilogy."

Emerging Writers Forum Web site,http://www.breaktech.net/EmergingWritersForum/View_Review.aspx?id=33/ (September 13, 2002), Dan Wickett, review of A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García.

San Francisco Chronicle Web site,http://www.sfgate.com/ (December 29, 2002), Jules Siegel, review of A Santo in the Image of Cristóbal García.*