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As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, the all-powerful newspaper magnate and land baron, lies confined to his bed and, in dreamlike flashes, recalls the pivotal episodes of his life. Carlos Fuentes manipulates the ensuing kaleidoscope of images with dazzling inventiveness, layering memory upon memory, from Cruz’s heroic campaigns during the Mexican Revolution, through his relentless climb from poverty to wealth, to his uneasy death. Perhaps Fuentes’s masterpiece, The Death of Artemio Cruz is a haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico. Carlos Fuentes, born in Panama in 1928, has received many awards for his accomplishments as a novelist, essayist, and commentator, among them the Cervantes Prize. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Old Gringo and The Eagle’s Throne. He divides his time between Mexico City and London. Hailed as a masterpiece upon its original publication in 1962, The Death of Artemio Cruz is Carlos Fuentes's haunting voyage into the soul of modern Mexico. Its acknowledged place in Latin American fiction and its appeal to a fresh generation of readers have warranted this new translation by Alfred MacAdam.
As the novel opens, Artemio Cruz, the all-powerful newspaper magnate and land baron, lies confined to his bed and, in dreamlike flashes, recalls the pivotal episodes of his life. Carlos Fuentes manipulates the ensuing kaleidoscope of images with dazzling inventiveness, layering memory upon memory, from Cruz’s heroic campaigns during the Mexican Revolution, through his relentless climb from poverty to wealth, to his uneasy death. As in all his fiction, but perhaps most powerfully in this book, Fuentes is a passionate guide to the ironies of Mexican history, the burden of its past, and the anguish of its present. "This is more than a retranslation of a masterpiece. It amounts to a restoration: here is the magnificent book that Fuentes wrote originally, superbly rendered by Alfred Mac Adam into an English version that precisely meshes with Fuentes's Spanish."—Douglas Day "This is more than a retranslation of a masterpiece. It amounts to a restoration: here is the magnificent book that Fuentes wrote originally, superbly rendered by Alfred Mac Adam into an English version that precisely meshes with Fuentes's Spanish."—Douglas Day
"Remarkable, in the scope of the human drama it pictures, the corrosive satire and sharp dialogue."—Mildred Adams, The New York Times Book Review
"Carlos Fuentes is perhaps the only living Latin-American writer who has it in him to do for his country what Euclides da Cunha did for Brazil in Os Sertoes, and to make the passion of the land's rebirth and repossession comprehensible to the outsider."—Anthony West, The New Yorker
"First translated into English more than a quarter-century ago, Fuentes's acclaimed novel about modern Mexico has since gone through nearly 30 printings. Despite its popularity, the original English version often was unclear, obscuring Fuentes's language and intent. MacAdam's meticulous new rendering gives the English-reading public a fresh slant on the fictional Cruz, a newspaper owner and land baron. The novel opens with Cruz on his deathbed, and plunges us into his thoughts as he segues from the past to his increasingly disoriented present. Drawn as a tragic figure, Cruz fights bravely during the Mexican Revolution but in the process loses his idealism—and the only woman who ever loved him. He marries the daughter of a hacienda owner and, in the opportunistic, postwar climate, he uses her family connections and money to amass an ever-larger fortune. Cocky, audacious, corrupt, Cruz, on another level, represents the paradoxes of recent Mexican history. Written before Fuentes's masterpieces A Change of Skin and Terra Nostra, this novel, with its freewheeling experimental prose and psychological exploration, anticipates many of the author's later themes."—Publishers Weekly ...
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To celebrate the happy occurrence of Carlos Fuentes' 80th birthday, and his masterpiece's 50th anniversary, the Real Academia Espanola and the Asociacion de Academias have enthusiastically joined the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua in the creation of a commemorative edition of this memorable work of fiction. A pioneer work in the exploration of the use of language, Fuentes's masterpiece, La region mas transparente, is credited with influencing not only Fuentes' subsequent works, but also that of his contemporaries. Received with mixed opinions on its publication, the novel was soon flagged as the initial blaze in the historical boom of the New Latin American Novel. The first grand urban novel about post-revolutionary Mexico, it is an unsparing portrayal of Mexico City's upper class and a critical view of Mexico City's past and present. Departing from a traditional linear narrative, Fuentes constructs his novel around a series of encounters with members of this world. Exposing the social and psychological processes of Mexico, Fuentes shows the struggle between god and devil, ancient and modern, and the price a country must pay after revolution. As with other works in this collection, scholars from various countries have contributed to this edition, and Carlos Fuentes himself has revised the text. Prepared by the Concepcion Company in conjunction with the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua and the Instituto de Lexicografia of the RAE, an essential bibliography, a glossary of voices used in the novel, and an index of Saint's days, round off this commemorative volume. Description in Spanish: Carlos Fuentes cumple ochenta anos en este 2008, cuando hace cincuenta que vio la luz La region mas transparente. Mas alla del facil convencionalismo, la feliz coincidencia presta ocasion para rendir homenaje al gran escritor, maestro en muchos generos de las letras hispanas. La Real Academia Espanola y la Asociacion de Academias han acogido con entusiasmo la invitacion de la Academia Mexicana de la Lengua a sumarse a las celebraciones con una edicion conmemorativa de aquella novela memorable. Recibida en el momento de su publicacion con una fuerte division de opiniones respuesta comprensible a una obra que rompia los moldes tradicionales de la narrativa y presentaba una vision critica del pasado y presente de la ciudad de Mexico , muy pronto fue senalada como el primer estallido del llamado bum de la Nueva Novela Hispanoamericana. Su valor sustancial radicaba, sin duda, en una exploracion pionera del lenguaje. ''Territorio de La Mancha'' ha llamado el a nuestra lengua, intensamente mestiza en si misma y abierta por ello a la comunicacion y a la integracion. En la preparacion de esta edicion, que por encargo de la Academia Mexicana ha cuidado con esmero don Gonzalo Celorio, miembro de ella, han colaborado academicos de diversos paises. Abre los estudios el propio Gonzalo Celorio, que hace la semblanza de Carlos Fuentes como maestro de varias generaciones; sigue otro de Jose Emilio Pacheco (Mexico) referido a la recepcion de la novela en su momento y a la importancia que en ella cobra la ciudad de Mexico, mientras Vicente Quirarte (Mexico) amplia la perspectiva al ambito de la narrativa mexicana del siglo xx. Carmen Iglesias (RAE) estudia las relaciones entre historia y literatura en la obra de Fuentes, particularmente en La region mas transparente, y Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua) destaca el carácter inaugural de esta novela en el contexto de la literatura hispanoamericana. Nelida Pinon (Brasil) da cuenta de las fuentes literarias universales en que abreva Carlos Fuentes, en tanto que Juan Luis Cebrian (RAE) atiende al papel de Carlos Fuentes en el pensamiento critico contemporaneo....
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Spanish Description: Adan Gorozpe es un arribista, y lo reconoce sin ambages. Su matrimonio con Priscila, codiciada heredera del poderoso empresario Celestino Holguin (mejor conocido como el Rey del Bizcocho), fue un afortunado lance que, en palabras llanas, se llama dar el braguetazo, y lo llevo de pobreton pasante de la carrera de Leyes a influyente abogado empresarial dueno de vidas y haciendas, aun mas encumbrado que su suegro. Como le queda claro que la dicha conyugal, si acaso estuvo en sus planes, jamas llegara, establece una tajante frontera: de un lado quedan el tedio matrimonial y la ridiculez familiar, y del otro su esfera de poder y los encuentros eroticos con su amante Ele, real mujer de su vida. Asi las cosas entra en escena Adan Gongora, ministro a cargo de la seguridad nacional, chiquito, pero picoso: minusculo hombrecito por su baja estatura, pero gran calamidad por los alcances de su malicia. Dada la corrupcion gigantesca de las fuerzas del orden, en las que la mitad de los policias son criminales y la mitad de los criminales, policias, tiene plena certeza de cual es la mejor estrategia para combatir ese caos: Todos sabemos que la seguridad nacional es insegura. Las fuerzas del orden se alian facilmente con las fuerzas del desorden. Los policias ganan sueldos de miseria. Los criminales les multiplican el sueldo. De tres mil pesos mensuales a trescientos mil. El Ejercito nacional hace labores impropias de la fuerza armada. Es un Ejercito dedicado a labores de policia y derrotado por los criminales, mejor armados que ellos… Yo hare una limpia de las fuerzas del orden. Menos policias y mejor pagados. A ver si asi. Pero, en los hechos, los metodos de Gongora son espeluznantes: se alia con los peores criminales y encierra o manda matar a los menos aptos; encarcela inocentes y a veces a uno que otro culpable, exhibe a estos y a aquellos y se gana a la opinion publica como garante de la justicia; tambien procede contra clasemedieros con dificultades hipotecarias y uno que otro millonario, para dar sabor al caldo; falsea las estadÃsticas de la lucha contra el crimen con su cosecha propia de jovenes inocentes a los cuales manda asesinar y luego presenta como presuntos guerrilleros… Un dia, Gongora le propone a Gorozpe coludirse para elevar su jueguito al mas alto nivel publico: Todos los politicos estan quemados. Son inutiles. No saben gobernar. No saben administrar… Que tal si usted y yo, tocayo, apoyamos a un candidato imposible para la primera magistratura del pais?. Ese candidato, claro, seria Gorozpe, solo que para este momento este sabe que debe deshacerse de Gongora, o al menos neutralizarlo. Esta asqueado del personaje, de sus metodos, de tanta podredumbre. Incluso los cerdos ponen limites a la mierda que tragan. Y para mayor inri, un condimento: Gongora y Priscila parecen haber iniciado un affaire. Como proceder contra tan formidable adversario? Como detener el remolino que arrastra al pais hacia la cloaca? La unica via abierta siempre es la del espiritu. Ciega e irracional, pero tambien poderosa, avasalladora, la fe sigue ahi. Un Nino Dios alado empieza a predicar en medio del trafico de la mayor avenida de la ciudad y su madre, la Virgen, lo acompana. Las alas del nino son postizas y su madre es quien se las coloca, pero eso no importa. La gente cree, quiere creer, necesita creer, y eso basta. La novela ofrece un gran final que da destino a todos los personajes, sin descuidar a ninguno, a traves de la irrupcion de los Sigfridos, brazo armado de la muerte que, convocados por Adan Gorozpe, llegan para arrasar con la plaga....
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The intimate life of artist Frida Kahlo is wonderfully revealed in the illustrated journal she kept during her last 10 years. This passionate and at times surprising record contains the artist's thoughts, poems, and dreams; many reflecting her stormy relationship with her husband, artist Diego Rivera, along with 70 mesmerising watercolour illustrations. The text entries in brightly coloured inks make the journal as captivating to look at as it is to read. Her writing reveals the artist's political sensibilities, recollections of her childhood, and her enormous courage in the face of more than thirty-five operations to correct injuries she had sustained in an accident at the age of eighteen....
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Published in this volume are three never before published short stories: El robot sacramentado, Un fantasma tropical, and Pantera en jazz this last one was Carlos Fuentes first short story and was published in a Mexican literary magazine in 1948. Also included are: Tlactocatzine del jardÃn de Flandes, Chac mool, LetanÃa de la orquÃdea, and Aura, a masterpiece in the short story genre. Description in Spanish: En este volumen se publican tres cuentos inéditos: El robot sacramentado, Un fantasma tropical y Pantera en jazz, que se publicó en una revista literaria mexicana en 1948 y es el primer cuento escrito por el autor; además incluye, entre otros: Tlactocatzine del jardÃn de Flandes, Chac mool, LetanÃa de la orquÃdea, y Aura, una verdadera obra maestra....
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In these spectacular vignettes, the internationally acclaimed author Carlos Fuentes explores Tolstoy’s classic observation that “happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In “A Family Like Any Other,” each member of the Pagán family lives in isolation, despite sharing a tiny house. In “The Mariachi’s Mother,” the limitless devotion of a woman is revealed as she secretly tends to her estranged son’s wounds. “Sweethearts” reunites old lovers unexpectedly and opens up the possibilities for other lives and other loves. These are just a few of the remarkable stories in Happy Families, but they all inhabit Fuentes’s trademark Mexico, where modern obsessions bump up against those of the mythic past–and the result is a triumphant display of the many ways we reach out to one another and find salvation through irrepressible acts of love....
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Laura Diaz is a passionated character, intimately connected to many historical events. Through her story, Carlos Fuentes writes the journal of the Mexican twentieth century, supporting his novel with facts and characters that define the shape of today's Mexico. Description in Spanish: A través de la historia de un personaje entrañable que es testigo de los acontecimientos nacionales e internacionales, Carlos Fuentes escribe la memoria del siglo XX mexicano, apoyando su narración en hechos y personas que determinaron la conformación del México actual. De manera simultánea, el autor realiza un recorrido por la vida Ãntima de una mujer, Laura DÃaz, y de las pasiones, los obstáculos, los prejuicios, el amor filial, las alegrÃas y los dolores que la conducen a conquistar su propia libertad y su libertad creativa. Los años con Laura DÃaz es la historia de una saga familiar, originada en Veracruz, que sirve de sustento a la novela. Como nunca antes, Fuentes es fiel a su propósito de describirnos el cruce de caminos donde se dan cita la vida individual y la vida colectiva....
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A detailed vision of the powers and miseries of Mexican politics. It is the year 2020, in a Mexico without telecommunications or computers because the United States (owner and exclusive supplier of everything) has punished them. This is also the year in which the presidency is being disputed, in other words, it will be decided who will seat in the Seat of Power to never leave it. The winner, the Anointed one, hides an amazing secret that he must conceal at all costs. Description in Spanish:
El Presidente Lorenzo Teran, un hombre bueno pero abulico. Su intrigante jefe de Gabinete, Tacito de la Canal. Su calculador secretario de Gobernacion, Bernal Herrera. Mondragon von Bertrab, el severo secretario de la Defensa, portador de un terrible secreto. El jefe de la policia, Cicero Arruza, que no tiene enemigos porque los ha matado a todos.
Y dominandolo todo, Maria del Rosario Galvan, operadora politica y sexual suprema que un dia le dice a su joven amante, Nicolas Valdivia: Tu seras presidente de Mexico.
Te ponen en el pecho la banda tricolor, te sientas en la Silla del Aguila y ¡vamonos! Es como si te hubieras subido a la montana rusa, te sueltan... y haces una mueca que se vuelve tu mascara... la Silla del Aguila, es nada mas y nada menos que un asiento en la montana rusa que llamamos La Republica Mexicana....
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One of Carlos Fuentes’s greatest works, The Old Gringo tells the story of Ambrose Bierce, the American writer, soldier, and journalist, and of his last mysterious days in Mexico living among Pancho Villa’s soldiers, particularly his encounter with General Tomas Arroyo. In the end, the incompatibility of the two countries (or, paradoxically, their intimacy) claims both men, in a novel that is, most of all, about the tragic history of two cultures in conflict. ...
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As Cain and Abel, two brothers confront each other for their father's lover, the most powerful man in the country. La voluntad y la fortuna is the great novel of Mexico s past and the present of a Narconation . An incredible and real story; Fuente s most awaited novel. Caressed by the gentle nighttime waves of a beach in the Pacific Ocean, the severed head of Josue Nadal remembers, digresses and tells its story. It knows that in the course of that year, his is the thousandth. It also knows the country cannot offer half of its population jobs, food or education. It knows that is why crime reigns. As if that weren t enough, it also knows that evil is celebrated as the greater good, as the natural consequence of will and fortune. Description in Spanish: Lamida por mansas olas nocturnas en una playa del Pacifico, la cabeza cortada de Josue Nadal cuenta, recuerda, divaga. Sabe que es la numero mil en lo que va de ano y que gobierna la delincuencia (traficante o corporativa) con tal cinismo que incluso se celebra el mal como si fuera el bien de la voluntad y la fortuna. En Mexico no hay tragedia: todo se vuelve telenovela. Josue aspiro a entender el mundo en tanto Jerico, su amigo entranable, llego a admirar a Cain. Ambas voluntades chocan tras recabar agravantes en la premeditacion y alevosia de Asunta Jordan, mujer indomita. En cambio, Lucha Zapata representa el peligro de la generosidad y el amor. El vasto reparto de esta obra incluye Filopater, el cura rebelde; el magnate Max Monroy; el abogado Antonio Sangines, intermediario entre estado y empresa; Miguel Aparecido, encarcelado por propia voluntad, y por encima (o por debajo) la matriarca, la Antigua Concepcion. Por que si hay cinco tigres en una jaula cuatro se alian para matar a uno? Esta novela iniciatica, espesa como el corazon de las tinieblas, propone algunas respuestas....
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After his first work, Los dÃas enmascarados, was published in 1954, it became clear to all that Carlos Fuentes is one of the contemporary masters in the art of short story writing. This volume includes, among other stories, Vieja moralidad, Las dos Elenas, Malintzin de las maquilas, La sierva del padre, and La lÃnea de la vida. Description in Spanish: Desde su primera obra publicada, el volumen Los dÃas enmascarados(1954), empezó a quedar claro que el autor es uno de los maestros contemporáneos del arte de escribir cuento. Esta obra incluye, entre otros, Vieja moralidad, Las dos Elenas , Malintzin de las maquilas, La sierva del padre y La lÃnea de la vida....
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''I cling desperately to my mother's womb.'' Acid rain bathes Makesicko City, the world's most populated and polluted city. The government's control and manipulation mechanisms are ruthless. Festivities and contests keep the masses under their spell. To win one of these contests a couple must give birth to their child on October 12, within the first minute of the day. Sensing the world's clamor from his mother's womb, Cristobal is left to ponder -is being born really worth it? Description in Spanish: Una lluvia acida cae sobre Makesicko City, la urbe mas poblada y mas contaminada. Los mecanismos de control politico son implacables y la manipulacion mantiene a las masas enajenadas en festejos y concursos, uno de ellos, el premio a la pareja cuyo hijo nazca en el primer minuto del 12 de octubre. En el vientre de su madre, donde cavila y desde donde percibe los fragores del mundo, Cristobal se pregunta: vale la pena nacer?....
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''I want to love her to goad her into loving herself more.'' In a room that is also a house, a city, and a world, an old man, a woman and a child make up a Trinity in the ephemeral depths of an instant. Time is the true narrative space of this novel -a story that is played by transposable identities. A story that was not, is not, nor will it ever be since continuity is, in fact, resurrection. Description in Spanish: Un cuarto que es tambien una casa, una ciudad, un mundo. Alli, un viejo, una mujer y un nino forman una Trinidad en las profundidades de un instante. El tiempo es el verdadero espacio narrativo de esta novela; su relato no fue, es ni sera, ya que esta siendo encarnado en identidades canjeables, porque la continuidad es la resurreccion....
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