Issues and Themes
Experimental Writing Style- Fuentes's work, like that of several writers associated with the "boom," is technically experimental, featuring disjointed chronology, varying narrative perspectives, and rapid cuts between scenes, through which he creates a surreal atmosphere. For example, in his first novel, La región más transparente (1958; Where the Air Is Clear), Fuentes uses a series of montage-like sequences to investigate the vast range of personal histories and lifestyles in Mexico City. This work, which provoked controversy due to its candid portrayal of social inequity and its socialist overtones, expresses Fuentes's perception of how the Mexican Revolution failed to realize its ideals. The frustration of the revolution, a recurring theme in his writing, forms the basis for one of his most respected novels, La muerte de Artemio Cruz (1962; The Death of Artemio Cruz). The title character of this work is a millionaire who earned his fortune through unscrupulous, ruthless means. Using flashbacks, the novel shifts back and forth from depicting Cruz on his deathbed to his participation in the Revolution and his eventual rise in business. Through this device, Fuentes contrasts the exalted aims that fostered the Revolution with present-day corruption. The Death of Artemio Cruz is generally considered a complex work that demands the reader's active participation. In Aura (1962), Fuentes displays less concern with social criticism and makes greater use of bizarre images and the fantastic. The plot of this novella involves a man whose lover mysteriously begins to resemble her aged aunt. Fuentes employs a disordered narrative in Cambio de piel (1968; A Change of Skin) to present a group of people who relive significant moments from their past as they travel together through Mexico. Fuentes's concern with the role of the past in determining the present is further demonstrated in Terra Nostra (1975), one of his most ambitious and successful works. In Terra Nostra Fuentes extends the idea of history as a circular force by incorporating scenes from the future into the text. In La cabeza de hidra (1978; The Hydra Head), Fuentes explores the genre of the spy novel. Set in Mexico City, this work revolves around the oil industry and includes speculations on the future of Mexico as an oil-rich nation. Una familia lejana (1982; Distant Relations) involves a Mexican archaeologist and his son who meet relatives in France. In this novel, an old man relates a tale to a man named Carlos Fuentes, who in turn relates the tale to the reader. Through the inclusion of ghosts and mysterious characters, Fuentes also introduces fantastic events into otherwise realistic settings, a technique prevalent in Latin American literature that is often termed "magic realism." In the novel El gringo viejo (1985; The Old Gringo), which examines Mexican-American relations, Fuentes creates an imaginative scenario of the fate that befell American journalist Ambrose Bierce after he disappeared in Mexico in 1913. Cristóbal nonato (1987; Christopher Unborn), a verbally extravagant novel, continues Fuentes's interest in Mexican history. This work is narrated by Christopher Palomar, an omniscient fetus conceived by his parents in hopes of winning a contest to commemorate the quincentenary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The novel's nine chapters symbolize Christopher's gestation and allude to Columbus's voyage, which is presented as a symbol of hope for Mexico's rediscovery and rebirth. Narrating from his mother's womb, Christopher uses wordplay, literary allusions, and grotesque humor, combining family history with caustic observations of the economic and environmental crises afflicting contemporary Mexico. Christopher Unborn satirizes Mexico's government as inept and its citizenry as complacent, warning that the country's collapse is imminent without change. | The Search for Identity- Fuentes's overriding literary concern is to establish a viable Mexican identity, both as an autonomous entity and in relation to the outside world. In his work, Fuentes often intertwines myth, legend, and history to examine his country's roots and discover the essence of modern Mexican society. Fuentes once commented: "Our political life is fragmented, our history shot through with failure, but our cultural tradition is rich, and I think the time is coming when we will have to look at our faces, our own past." This tradition incorporates elements of Aztec culture, the Christian faith imparted by the Spanish conquistadors, and the unrealized hopes of the Mexican Revolution. Fuentes uses the past thematically and symbolically to comment on contemporary concerns and to project his own vision of Mexico's future. U.S.-Mexico Relations- "In 1997 in World Press Review, Fuentes claimed that Mexico had become the scapegoat for all of the problems in the United States." Fuentes discussed the need for a bilateral effort for peace between Mexico
and the United States. He also mentioned the importance of the arts in
directing progress for the Mexican nation.
Literature, Fuentes said, becomes timeless not from its message, but from the quality and imagination that is contained in it. He stated that whatever the political situation in a country, it is the caliber of the imagination and language in literature that creates the condition out of which another literary creation will emerge. He said that art presents the problems of the country to the readers or the viewers, and that it is this explicit awareness that art brings that stimulates progress. |
