Equestrian Rebels: Critical Perspectives on Mariano Azuela and the Novel of the Mexican Revolution

Mariano Azuela (Mexico, 18731952) was a medical doctor by profession, recipient of Mexicos Premio Nacional de Literatura (1949), a distinguished member of El Colegio Nacional and, by mid-century, one of Mexicos leading novelists and literary critics. The author of novels, novellas, plays, biographies, and literary criticism, Azuela served as field doctor under Francisco Villa during the Mexican Revolution and, after Villas military defeats in 1915, published Los de abajo (The Underdogs, 1915) while in exile in El Paso, Texas. This book of essays commemorates the first centenary of Los de abajo, and traces its impact on twentieth-century autobiographies, memoirs and, more specifically, on the Novel of the Mexican Revolution.Equestrian Rebels: Critical Perspectives on Mariano Azuela and the Novel of the Mexican Revolution includes a full-length introduction and nineteen essays by leading international scholars who study Azuela and other novelists of the Mexican Revolution such as Martín Luis Guzmán, Nellie Campobello and, among others, José Rubén Romero from current, yet contrasting and innovative theoretical perspectives. Especially written for this volume, these critical essays are grouped into five sections that separately probe and analyze Azuelas realism and contemporary affinities with photography; Azuelas literary criticism; centennial studies on Los de abajo; critical approaches to other novels by Azuela; three independent analyses of Nellie Campobellos Cartucho (1931); and a concluding section on literary representations of Mexican colonialism and revolution in the narratives of Juan Rulfo (El llano en llamas), Carlos Fuentes (Gringo viejo), and David Toscana (El último lector). This book will be of importance to scholars, teachers, students, and the general reader interested in topics related to the literary, cultural, and political forces and conflicts that led to the transformation of Mexico into a modern nation. See more