Book Fever
By Marcia Loy September 12, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Mexicans novelists: Rulfo, Fuentes and Esquivel

Everyone asked Rulfo why he did not publish another book, as if the point of a writer’s life is to go on writing and publishing. In fact, the point of a writer’s life is to produce a great book—that is, a book which will last—and this is what Rulfo did. —Susan Sontag

This month Book Fever looks at Latin American authors, starting with Mexico. There are many to chose from, but these are some of my favorites.

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, 1955. This novel is one of the most famous examples of magical realism in Latin American literature. Rulfo was born in the state of Jalisco and at age 15 moved to Mexico City, where he studied law and began writing. His first stories appeared in magazines in the forties and a collection was published in 1953 called The Burning Plain and Other Stories. Pedro Páramo came next and is considered a masterpiece. Rulfo influenced later Latin American authors such as Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez. 

First paragraph: I came to Comala because I had been told that my father, a man named Pedro Páramo, lived there. It was my mother who told me. And I had promised her that after she died I would go see him. I squeezed her hands as a sign I would do it. She was near death, and I would have promised her anything. “Don’t fail to go see him,” she insisted. “Some call him one thing, some another. I’m sure he will want to know you.” At the time all I could do was tell her I would do what she asked, and from promising so often I kept repeating the promise even after I had pulled my hands free of her death grip.

Still earlier she had told me:

“Don’t ask him for anything. Just what’s ours. What he should have given me but never did. . . . Make him pay, son, for all those years he put us out of his mind.”

“I will, Mother.”

I never meant to keep my promise. But before I knew it my head began to swim with dreams and my imagination took flight.

The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes, 1985. This is one of the most famous of Fuentes’ books. One of my favorite short story writers is Ambrose Bierce (1842-1910?). There’s a question mark after his date of death because he disappeared in Mexico during the revolution. Fuentes imagines what happened to him in this novel. If you like this one, try The Death of Artemio Cruz.

Excerpt: The woman called La Luna said it was strange to hear a bell and not recognize the reason for its sound. That’s how she knew the Revolution had arrived at her small provincial town in Durango: the bells started ringing at a time no one could call vespers or matins or anything else. It was like a new time, she said, a time we could not imagine, and then she thought of the regularity of our time, generation after generation abiding by the traditional seasons, the traditional hours, even the traditional minutes; she had been brought up that way, decent, not too wealthy but with enough to be well-off, her father a grain merchant, her husband a moneylender in that same little town where, child or woman, you got up at five, so you could dress while it was still dark (that was extremely important, not to see your own body ever), then be at church at six in the morning and walk back hungry even if you had swallowed the body of Christ (the mystery that enlivened her memories, the mystery that teased her imagination: a body in a piece of bread, the body of a man born from a woman who had never known man’s flesh. . . 

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, 1989. The subtitle of this novel is “A Novel in Monthly Installments, with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies.” It takes place in northern Mexico at the turn of the 20th century. Tita is the youngest of three girls and according to tradition is not to marry, but to stay home and care for her mother.

When the mother decides the young man she loves is to marry her older sister, Tita is heartbroken. She turns to cooking to heal her sadness. An award-winning movie was made from this popular novel.

Excerpt: For months she’d been tormented by the thought that Pedro had lied to her on his wedding day, that he’d told her he loved her just so she wouldn’t suffer, or that as time went on, he really had grown to love Rosaura. These doubts started when he suddenly, inexplicably, stopped raving about her cooking. Crushed, Tita took elaborate pains to cook better meals each day. In despair, at night . . . she would invent new recipes, hoping to repair the connection that flowed between them through the food she prepared. Her finest recipes date from this period of suffering.

Just as a poet plays with words, Tita juggled ingredients and quantities at will, obtaining phenomenal results, and all for nothing: her best efforts were in vain. She couldn’t drag a single word of appreciation out of Pedro’s mouth. What she didn’t know was that Mama Elena had “asked” Pedro to stop praising the meals, on the grounds that it made Rosaura feel insecure, when she was fat and misshapen because of her pregnancy, to have to listen to him compliment Tita in the guise of praising the delicious food she cooked.


Next week: Book Fever examines the pulse of Gabriel García Márquez. Happy reading! 

Marcia Loy is a member of the steering committee of the Authors’ Sala and a volunteer at the Biblioteca Pública. She can be contacted at marciabookfever@hotmail.com.

Epic city, epic poetry 
By Kimberly Kinser

Authors’ Sala Reading
Fri, Sep 12, 5–7pm
David Lida & Wim Coleman
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
50 pesos

The Authors’ Sala Special Series features David Lida reading from his recently published book, First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century, and Wim Coleman performing The Comedy of Falstaff: A Cabaret Epic.

Coleman is a writer not limited by genre. He has written novels, plays and this epic poem in collaboration with his wife, Pat Perrin. If he and Pat are not actually writing the work together, Wim is relying on Pat’s visual art expertise for design and layout, as he did with Falstaff. How do they live together and create together? The answer is simple. Creativity is a cornerstone of their marriage, making collaboration as natural as when one partner washes and the other dries the dishes.

Coleman is the performer in the partnership, however. He comes from an acting family and grew up reading and performing Shakespeare. He was introduced to John Falstaff early in his life and found an engaging character that lives far beyond the pages of Shakespeare’s plays. 

Coleman performs the first canto of his epic piece some call “a massive nursery rhyme for adults.” When asked about the rigid rhyming form that he used for a piece that he believes he may never actually finish, Coleman says that within the strictness of the form he experienced a new level of creative energy. Maybe that is why Coleman continues to return to the epic over the years. 

On Coleman and Perrin’s website, playsonideas.com, we read that their “interests are widely varied and their works are hard to characterize.” Their most recent collaboration, Anna’s World, a young adult novel, will be published in December 2008. Together they have written and published many educational books, videos and plays for young readers. Eight years ago, a two-year old Mexican girl came into their lives. The couple adopted Monse two years ago, making their commitment to literature, art and education even more integral to their lives. Monse helped with Anna’s World, joining the two-decade collaboration of her parents. 

In an evening of epics, David Lida will lead us through the streets of Mexico City. His recently published book is as concise as the city is obtuse. The Los Angeles Times said: “Streetwise and up-to-date … a charmingly idiosyncratic, yet remarkably comprehensive portrait of one of the planet’s most misinterpreted urban spaces.”

Tonight the Sala takes on the epic challenge of both educating and entertaining our writing and reading community.

Kimberly Kinser leads creative writing workshops in San Miguel.

About the San Miguel Authors' Sala

The San Miguel Authors' Sala provides a wide variety of literary programming that encourages community and literature appreciation for readers and writers living in or visiting San Miguel de Allende. The public can attend events without joining or can become members of the San Miguel Literary Society and receive additional benefits of membership as well as supporting this cause.

The San Miguel Authors' Sala sponsors monthly readings and book signings featuring local and international authors. 

Authors scheduled for upcoming readings are:

October 10, Jeannie Ralston (The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming) and Walter Meagher (Wild and Wonderful)

November 7, Nani Power (Feed the Hungry)

January 9, 2009, Terrence N. Hill (Two Guys Read Jane Austen) and Andrea Adler (The Science of Spiritual Marketing)

In addition, the Authors' Sala organizes an annual writers' conference featuring top authors, agents, editors and over 20 different workshops, held every February. The 4th Annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference and Literary Festival will be February 20–22, 2009, at Hotel Real de Minas.

The Authors’ Sala website is www.sanmiguelauthors.com/ .

This week’s special at La Tienda

Tony Cohan’s On Mexican Time is on sale for 150 pesos.

Each week La Tienda at the Biblioteca Pública offers great specials and discounts. Drop by and discover what’s on sale!

For interesting and inspiring books come to La Tienda, inside the Biblioteca Pública, Mon–Fri, 10am–2pm, 3–6pm, Sun 10am–noon, closed Sat. Tel: 152-0293.