Goodbye, if you hear of my being stood up against
a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please
know that I think it a pretty good way to depart
this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down
the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico--ah,
that is euthanasia!
-Ambrose Bierce in a letter to a friend
In 1914, the great American journalist and short story writer (see review)
Ambrose Bierce, age 71, traveled to a Mexico that was in the midst of Revolution
and promptly disappeared. He thereby fulfilled the dark prediction
above and provided one of the great literary mysteries of the 20th Century.
In The Old Gringo, Carlos Fuentes offers his take on Bierce's
fate. An "Old Gringo", carrying just a couple of his own books, a
copy of Don Quixote, a clean shirt and a Colt .44, joins a group
of Mexican rebels under General Tomas Arroyo. In turn, they meet
up with a young American school teacher named Harriet Winslow, who was
supposed to tutor the children of the wealthy landowner who illegally holds
Arroyo's family property. The three become enmeshed in an unlikely
romantic triangle, which necessarily ends in tragedy.
Fuentes uses the story to explore a plethora of themes, some of which
I followed and some of which I could not. Perhaps the most interesting
aspect of the book is the degree to which it reflects Latin American obsession
with the United States, an obsession which it must be admitted is met by
only a fleeting interest on our part. Fuentes and the tragic chorus
of Mexican characters elevate the tale of the Old Gringo to the status
of myth; ironic, since Bierce is barely remembered here, but then one of
his themes is that we are a people without memory, while the very soil
of Mexico carries memories.
It all adds up to a diverting speculation about an interesting historical
puzzle, but I'm not sure that the story will bear all of the psychological
and political weight that Fuentes loads upon it.
(Reviewed:12-Nov-99)
Grade: (C+)
Websites:
See also:
Carlos Fuentes (
2 books reviewed)
Latin American
Book-related and General Links:
-FEATURED
AUTHOR: NY Times Book Review
-PROFILE
: The Guardian Profile: Carlos Fuentes
-ARCHIVES
: "carlos fuentes" (NY Review of Books)
-BOOK
SITE : The Years With Laura Diaz (FSB Associates)
-EXCERPT
: Chapter One of The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes
-ESSAY
: WHEN DON QUIXOTE LEFT HIS VILLAGE, THE MODERN WORLD BEGAN (Carlos
Fuentes, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution.
By John Mason Hart (Carlos Fuentes, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of STARING AT THE SUN By Julian Barnes (Carlos Fuentes, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of I THE SUPREME By Augusto Roa Bastos (Carlos Fuentes, NY Times
Book Review)
-Carlos
Fuentes (b. 1928 México)(reading guides, links, etc)
-LINKS
: Carlos Fuentes (About.com)
-Fuentes
Links (About.com)
-ESSAY:
A victim of Pinochet by Carlos Fuentes
-How
Zurich Invented the Modern World: A DISTINGUISHED MEXICAN NOVELIST
REFLECTS ON THOMAS MANN, ZURICH AND THE IMAGINATION OF EUROPE (Carlos Fuentes,
Salon)
-INTERVIEW
: Travails with Time: An Interview with Carlos Fuentes (Debra A. Castillo,
Center for Book Culture)
-INTERVIEW:
Carlos Fuentes searches for Spain's cultural past in 'The Buried
Mirror' (Julie Braun Kessler, Book Page)
-PROFILE:
REBEL, INTERNATIONALIST, ESTABLISHMENTARIAN: THE MEANDERING ROAD OF CARLOS
FUENTES (Jim Tuck, Mexico Connect)
-PROFILE
: CARLOS FUENTES: LIFE AND LANGUAGE (Nicholas Shrady, NY Times)
-PROFILE:
Carlos Fuentes Has Made Mark as Writer, Diplomat (BARBARA YOST, The
Arizona Republic)
-The
Day I Met Carlos Fuentes (TOMAS ELOY MARTINEZ, New York Times Special
Features)
-Carlos
Fuentes Talks about Migrants, Democracy and More (Cox News Service)
-Carlos
Fuentes: Bawdy verse to elegant prose (Nando.net)
-ARTICLE
: Fuentes In a TV Film, On Life And Himself (JEREMY GERARD, NY Times)
-ARTICLE
: CARLOS FUENTES TURNS TO THEATER (Arthur Holmberg, NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Diaz (Richard Eder, NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Diaz (Rudolfo Anaya, Washington Post Book
World)
-REVIEW
: of Laura Diaz (Bill Vourvoulias, Newsday)
-REVIEW
: of The Years With Laura Diaz (Alan Michael Parker, Salon)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Diaz (Book Browser)
-REVIEW
: of 'The Years With Laura Diaz' By Carlos Fuentes (Brian Bouldrey,
SF Chronicle)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes ( Alex Clark,
The Guardian)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes (David Robson,
booksonline uk)
-REVIEW
: of Years with Laura Diaz (Eileen Battersby, Irish Times)
-REVIEW
: of The Years with Laura Díaz by Carlos Fuentes (Emily
Banner, Pif Magazine)
-REVIEW
: The Crystal Frontier: a Novel in Nine Stories by Carlos Fuentes (David
Horspool, booksonline uk)
-REVIEW:
THE OLD GRINGO By Carlos Fuentes Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
and the author (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
-REVIEW:
THE OLD GRINGO (Earl Shorris, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW:
of The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes (Thomas R. Edwards, NY Review of
Books)
-REVIEW:
THE CAMPAIGN By Carlos Fuentes Translated by Alfred MacAdam (Roberto
Gonzalez Echevarria, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Christopher Unborn By Carlos Fuentes (Michiko Kakutani,
NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of CHRISTOPHER UNBORN By Carlos Fuentes (Suzanne Ruta, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW
: of DIANA The Goddess Who Hunts Alone. By Carlos Fuentes (Paul Theroux,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins By Carlos Fuentes (HERBERT
MITGANG, NY Times)
-REVIEW
: of CONSTANCIA And Other Stories for Virgins. By Carlos Fuentes (Denis
Donoghue, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of THE CRYSTAL FRONTIER A Novel in Nine Stories. By Carlos Fuentes
(Jay Parini, NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of DISTANT RELATIONS By Carlos Fuentes (Guy Davenport, NY Times Book
Review)
-REVIEW
: of A New Time For Mexico By Carlos Fuentes (Peter Canby, NY Times
Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of MYSELF WITH OTHERS Selected Essays. By Carlos Fuentes (Wendy Lesser,
NY Times Book Review)
-REVIEW
: of THE BURIED MIRROR Reflections on Spain and the New World. By Carlos
Fuentes (Nicolas Shumway, NY Times Book Review)
GENERAL :
-Rethinking
History and the Nation State : Mexico and the United States (Indiana
U)
-Webliography
: Rivera & Kahlo
-Diego
Rivera Virtual Museum
-Mural
Museum : Diego Rivera
-Frida Kahlo
& Contemporary Thoughts
-REVIEW
: of THE DIARY OF FRIDA KAHLO An Intimate Self-Portrait. Essay and
commentary by Sarah M. Lowe (Deborah Solomon, NY Times Book Review)
-ESSAY
: Diary of a teacher's last year : Artemio Cruz is just a character
in a book Gen. Obregon really happened! (David Alford, Salon)
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
