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Literature of Mexico

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Mexican literature plays an important role in Mexican culture. In particular, there were many important Mexican scholars and writers during the time of the Mexican Revolution.

Several periods characterize Mexican literature: the Pre-Columbian epoch, which lasted until the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1521; the Colonial Era, defined by the baroque movement and influences from Spain; the Independence Era, which reached a nebulous climax in the second half of the 19th century, dominated by the influence of the French Revolution; the Revolutionary Era, from 1910 to 1960, proletarian and socialistic in its impulses and themes; and a contemporary fragmentary era from the 1960s onwards.

From pre-Hispanic times, the writer best known today is the poet-king Nezahualcoyotl. Notable pre-Columbian literary works include the Maya Chilam Balam and Popol Vuh, which provide literary insight on the myths and legends of the Mayans.

Hernan Cortés, a conquistador from Spain, detailed the conquest of Mexico in the 16th century in Cartas de Relación, a series of letters written to the Spanish homeland. Another work, Historia Verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (True History of the Conquest of New Spain), was written by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a Spanish conqueror, and published in three volumes in 1632.

During the colonial period, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695), a self-taught intellectual nun, is credited with many fine poems and won fame for her defense of women's rights. In the poem "Hombres necios" she rebels by defending a woman's right to be respected as a human being. In Respuesta a Sor Filotea, a counter to the Catholic Church's insistence that she devote herself to theology, she defended the woman's right to any education they desired. She was ultimately coerced by the Archbishop of Mexico to cease her writing and sell all her books.

The playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón wrote dramas of nationalism and ethical dilemmas. A writer who bridged the colonial and independence eras was José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi.

Perhaps the most famous and influential writer of the Revolutionary years was Mariano Azuela. He is known for writing the first novel of the Revolution. He was born in 1873, in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco. He started writing early. He was a liberal who supported Francisco I. Madero. During the war he was a doctor on the battlefield under the leadership of General Francisco "Pancho" Villa, so he witnessed many horrific scenes himself. He wrote Los de abajo (translated into English as "The Underdogs") in Texas in 1915. "The Underdogs" depicted the chaotic first days of the Revolution, describing discouragement and feelings of revenge. Azuela continued writing after that, but he became disappointed with all of the corruption that was occurring in his country. This can be seen in the sarcasm of his later works Las moscas (The Flies), El camarada Pantoja (Comrade Pantoja), and La luciernaga (The Gloworm).

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Mexico has produced postmodern writers, essayists, and poets of critical success, including Octavio Paz, who in 1990 became the first Mexican to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature for his literary contributions to arts and politics. Carlos Fuentes is another Mexican writer whose novels and essays are widely read in Europe and the United States. He often writes about social issues in contemporary Mexico; his best known works are Aura (1962), La Muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962), and Gringo Viego (1985), which was later adapted into a film starring Gregory Peck. The rise of American globalization and imperialism have been recent topics of debate for Fuentes.

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Pre-Columbian writers

Colonial writers

Essayists

Novelists

Poets

Playwrights

Historians

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