Key Takeaways
- People in Mexico have been writing stories and telling folk tales since Aztec times.
- Key historical events like the arrival of the Spanish, life under an empire, the struggle for independence, and the Mexican Revolution have inspired generations of writers.
- Contemporary Mexican literature and authors publish some of the most popular novels in the Latin American and global markets.
Mexican literature and authors can be traced back to Aztec times. Mexican folklore and legends can be seen in the form of hieroglyphics decorating temples and have been passed down from generation to generation through oral storytelling.
The arrival of the Spanish to Mexico brought the Latin alphabet. Some pre-Columbian stories were preserved while the country underwent radical upheaval.
Fast forward to modern-day Mexico, and the country is a literary powerhouse. Some of its writers, novels, and poems are among the best in Latin American literature, with a global reach. Moreover, Mexico’s stories reflect its soul and tumultuous history.
This guide will help you understand Mexican literature and authors, offering handy, must-read suggestions to give you a sense of this richly talented nation.
Tell Me About the History of Mexican Literature and Authors
Pre-Hispanic Mexico featured elaborate folklore and myths that varied among the many cultures in the region. Some evidence remains on preserved Mesoamerican ruins — a few of these stories are understood, while many more are still to be interpreted.
Of note is Acolmiztli Nezahualcoyotl (1402–1472), whose name means “strong lion, hungry coyote.” This pre-conquest ruler was famed for his poetry. After landing ashore in Mexico in 1517, Spanish priests transcribed some of his works for posterity.
Even before the Spanish conquest, Mexico City was emerging as a hub for Spanish poets and writers. By the late 16th century, Mexican-born Francisco de Terrazas gained renown for his prose. In 1632, Bernal Díaz del Castillo published the seminal “Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España” (“The True History of the Conquest of Mexico”), a soldier’s view of the Spanish colonization of Mexico.
The 17th-century literary world in Mexico featured heavily ornamented and extravagant Baroque writing steeped in European influence. In the 19th century, the struggle for Mexican independence from Spain was rocket fuel for the country’s creative writers, who explored romanticism, realism-naturalism, and modernism.
A century later, the Mexican Revolution inspired writers once again, creating a new genre, the revolutionary novel. Mexican culture flew off the printing presses and into the pages of books, to be read around the globe.
The 20th century and beyond became fertile times for Mexican literature and authors. Society needed its writers to give the people a voice and speak up about social, political, and economic ills — a role that writers continue to this day.
What Themes Are Commonly Explored in Mexican Literature?
Mexican literature has often reflected society. Common themes include:
- History
- Hispanic and Indigenous culture
- Identity
- Politics
- Fantasy and magic realism
- Mexican independence and rebellion
- The Mexican Revolution and revolutionary literature
- Journalistic-style novels
- Satire
- “Infrarealismo,” the idea that nothing is as it seems
What Is the Revolutionary Novel?
The bloody Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) led to Mexico becoming a constitutional republic after living for 30 years under a dictatorship. This traumatic event flooded writers’ minds and morphed into a new genre.
Revolutionary novels, also called “Novels of the Revolution,” follow popular uprisings, social changes, and military actions during the decade-long conflict, with human suffering at their heart.
Mariano Azuela’s 1915 novel “Los de Abajo: Cuadros y Escenas de la Revolución Actual” (“The Underdogs: Scenes and Portraits of the Ongoing Revolution”) is recognized as the first of the genre. It tells the gritty tale of a peasant soldier during the revolution. In the following 32 years, more than 280 novels from 100-plus authors were published in this genre, with Indigenous culture also sifting into the narratives.
Experts agree that the revolutionary novel impacted not just Mexico but all of Latin American literature. Working- and lower-class people recognized their struggles in the pages. Gone were the romanticized and aspirational tales of middle-class people. Instead, the genre created new mythologies to frame the conflict and speak of the ills that befell the Mexican people at this time.
All this ran alongside the Mexican Renaissance, an awakening of Mexican culture and identity, which flourished through art, literature, and, famously, murals.
Magical Realism in Mexican Literature
Magical realism, or “el realismo mágico” in Spanish, formed part of a wider branch of creative writing that spread throughout Latin America from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Mexico was no exception. With its incredible mythology, Mexico was ripe to explore the boundaries of reality and fantasy. Strange worlds, undead warriors, and even the seemingly ordinary act of cooking bubbled up into magical worlds that Mexicans, well used to abstract and imaginative tales, lapped up.
Stories could include fantasy elements that mixed with the mundane, combining with legends or historical moments. Timelines skewed, while characters accepted the magic without questioning it, allowing a submerged and subversive experience while often referring back to Mexican landmarks.
The four most important Mexican writers of magical realism are:
- Juan Rulfo, with his 1955 novel “Pedro Páramo,” flicks between first- and third-person perspectives in a tale about the village of Colomo told through 68 short story fragments.
- Carlos Fuentes’ “Aura” from 1962 contains lovely, dream-like writing that explores themes of identity and love.
- Elena Garro published the short story “La Culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas” (“Blame the Tlaxcaltecas”) in 1964 to great acclaim, its core themes sweeping through Mexican identity, the Spanish conquest, the treatment of women, and the ongoing role of European culture in Mexico.
- Laura Esquivel’s 1989 novel “Como Agua Para Chocolate” (“Like Water for Chocolate”) spotlights the Mexican love of food, blurring the boundaries between what people eat and how they live their lives. Each of the 12 chapters represents a month of the year and contains a recipe.
Are There Prominent Female Authors in Mexican Literature?
Female writers have been at the forefront of Mexican literature in the last century.
With the glass ceiling in literature now largely broken, many women have published radical and far-reaching works covering everything from mythology to gender suppression and sci-fi.
Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695)
Juana Inés de la Cruz was many things: nun, scholar, dramatist, poet, and feminist. A woman ahead of her time, she had access to one of the largest libraries in Hispanic America. Her most famous work, “The Reply to Sister Filorea of the Cross,” tackled women’s right to knowledge in a male-dominated world. Contemporaries have dubbed her “the phoenix of America.”
Founded in 1993, the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Literary Prize recognizes female writers in the Hispanic world, with a $10,000 reward for the annual winner.
Guadalupe Nettel (1918-2000)
Guadalupe Nettel, also known as Pita Amor, had Mexican aristocratic bloodlines and shocked many by posing nude as a model. She published four novels, wrote poetry, and won several literary awards.
Titles include “Yo Soy Mi Casa,” “Poesía,” and “Polvo.”
Rosario Castellanos (1925-1974)
Poet, author, and one of Mexico’s most important 20th-century voices — this is Rosario Castellanos.
Castellanos wrote about gender and cultural oppression and is credited with helping female writers navigate their careers in Mexican literature. Her literary works include poems, essays, plays, and three novels. “Oficio de Tinieblas” (“The Book of Lamentations”) tells of a fictitious Mayan uprising.
Elena Garro (1916-1998)
Alongside Rulfo and Fuentes, Elena Garro won acclaim as one of the initiators of Mexico’s magical realism movement. She married fellow Mexican writer Octavio Paz and had a daughter, but they later divorced.
Racism and the oppression of women appear in her literary works. Indeed, Garro was accused of fanning an anti-authority student riot in 1968 called the Tlatelolco Massacre. Between 20-200 people died in skirmishes between students and military police. “Los Recuerdos del Porvenir” (“Recollections of Things to Come”) and “La Culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas” (“Blame the Tlaxcaltecas”) are among her best-known pieces.
Elena Poniatowska (1933-)
Elena Poniatowska is a French-born Mexican author and journalist responsible for essays and fiction and nonfiction novels. Favored themes include human rights and oppression of the poor and women, particularly in the books “La Noche de Tlatelolco” (“Massacre in Mexico”) and “Lilus Kikus.”
Poniatowska is the niece of Guadalupe Nettel.
Laura Esquivel (1950-)
Novelist, screenwriter, and erstwhile politician Laura Esquivel hit the headlines in 1989 with her novel “Como Agua Para Chocolate” (“Like Water for Chocolate”). This classic love story of forbidden marriage blends magic realism with heartache and delicious food and was a bestseller in Mexico.
Esquivel, a New York Times bestselling author, has also written sci-fi. Her novel “Malinche” from 2006 gives a new take on Mexican history, reimagining the tale of Malinche, an enslaved Mexican woman, and her relationship with the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Valeria Luiselli (1983-)
Valeria Luiselli is a Mexican-American author who is writing her way to the top. Her triptych and first novel, “Los Ingrávidos” (“Faces in the Crowd”), won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. She doesn’t only write in Spanish; Luiselli also wrote “Desierto Sonoro” (“Lost Children Archive”) in English.
Sandra Cisneros (1954-)
Sandra Cisneros is an American writer whose work crosses into the Mexican-American genre. She is best known for her first novel, “The House on Mango Street,” in which the main character, Esperanza, deals with prejudice and coming of age in a man’s world in Chicago.
Ángeles Mastretta (1949-)
Ángeles Mastretta’s work reflects Mexico’s social and political fractures. Her first work, “Arráncame la Vida” (“Tear This Heart Out”), gained instant success. A love story set after the Mexican Revolution, it became a Latin American bestseller, as the poor Catalina marries for status and then spends her adulthood fighting for liberation.
Who Are Some Famous Mexican Authors?
There are many more famous Mexican authors. This list is not exhaustive but offers a fantastic introduction to some of Mexico’s finest talents and their best-known works.
Martín Luis Guzmán (1887-1976)
Martín Luis Guzmán fought in and then wrote about the Mexican Revolution. His experiences from that time flowed into his writing, making him, along with Mariano Azuela, a pioneer of the revolutionary novel genre.
Between 1914 and 1934, he lived in exile in Spain and New York and wrote “El Águila y la Serpiente” (“The Eagle and the Serpent”), his masterpiece about the Mexican Revolution and Mexican identity. Guzmán’s biography of Mexican Revolution general Pancho Villa is also considered an essential read.
Juan Rulfo (1917-1986)
Juan Rulfo is a Mexican writer and photographer whose novel “Pedro Páramo” and collection of short stories “El Llano en Llamas” (“The Burning Plain”) brought worldwide fame. He excelled at capturing the idiosyncrasies of Mexicans.
Octavio Paz (1914-1998)
Poet and diplomat Octavio Paz won many awards during his career, including the Nobel Prize, the first Mexican writer to do so. He published his first collection at age 19, founded and edited many Spanish-language magazines, and was married to writer Elena Garro, although they later divorced.
Crucial works include his study on Mexican culture, “El Laberinto de la Soledad” (“Labyrinth of Solitude”), the epic poem “Piedra de Sol” (“Sunstone”), and “Libertad Bajo Palabra” (“Liberty Under Oath”).
Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)
Carlos Fuentes made his writing debut with his tale about a revolutionary after the Mexican Revolution, called “La Región Más Transparente” (“Where the Air Is Clear”). Fuentes is one of Mexico’s most famous 20th-century writers; other works include his masterpiece “La Muerte de Artemio Cruz” (“The Death of Artemio Cruz”), “Gringo Viejo” (“The Old Gringo”), and “Aura.”
Salvador Elizondo (1932-2006)
Salvador Elizondo, a journalist, critic, playwright, poet, and novelist, is revered as a heavyweight of Mexican literature. His contemporary and innovative style appealed to many people. It shone through in works such as “Farabeuf” and “El Hipogeo Secreto” (“The Secret Crypt”).
José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014)
José Emilio Pacheco came to prominence as a Mexican poet in the second half of the 20th century. His surrealist beginnings morphed into more forthright pieces about poverty, pollution, and politics, with the underlying theme that history is cyclical.
Pacheco’s writing earned him the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious Spanish-language award.
What Are the Most Important Works in Mexican Literature?
There are countless Mexican novels, poems, short stories, and novellas. Here’s a guide to some of the unmissable and most important Mexican books that will give an excellent overview of the country’s literature.
In no particular order, here are some classic Mexican novels everyone should read:
- “El Laberinto de la Soledad” (“The Labyrinth of Solitude”) by Octavio Paz
- “Pedro Páramo” by Juan Rulfo
- “La Culpa es de los Tlaxcaltecas” (“Blame the Tlaxcaltecas”) by Elena Garro
- “La Muerte de Artemio Cruz” (“The Death of Artemio Cruz”) and “Gringo Viejo” (The Old Gringo) by Carlos Fuentes
- “Poemas (1953-1955)” and “Cuidad Real” (“City of Kings”) by Rosario Castellanos
- “Las Muertas” (“The Dead Girls”) by Jorge Ibarguengoitia
- “El Libro Vacío” (“The Empty Book”) and “Los Años Falsos” (“The False Years”) by Josefina Vicens
- “Noticias del Imperio” (“News from the Empire”) by Fernando del Paso
- “Cartucho: Relatos de la Lucha en el Norte de México” (“Cartucho: Tales of the Struggle in Northern Mexico”) by Nellie Campobello
- “El Águila y la Serpiente” (“The Eagle and the Serpent”) and “La Sombra del Caudillo” (“The Shadow of the Strongman”) by Martín Luis Guzmán
- “Como Agua Para Chocolate” (“Like Water for Chocolate”) by Laura Esquivel
Can You Recommend Some Contemporary Mexican Authors and Their Books?
Similarly, many contemporary Mexican authors are producing fabulous work. Here are a few modern works to add to the recommended reading list:
- “Los Niños Perdidos” (“Lost Children Archive”) by Valeria Luiselli
- “Signs Preceding the End of the World” by Yuri Herrera
- “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros
- “Salón de Belleza” (“Beauty Salon”) by Mario Bellatín
- “Nadie Me Verá Llorar” (“No One Will See Me Cry”) by Cristina Rivera Garza
- “El Testigo” (“The Witness”) by Juan Villoro
- “Los Detectivos Salvajes” (“The Savage Detectives”) by Roberto Bolaño
Time to Check Out the Best Mexican Literature and Authors
Mexican literature and authors started with the Aztecs, with hieroglyphics and a spoken word tradition. Some of these old folktales still exist today, passed through the generations. The Spanish colonization took Mexico’s writing in a new direction, one of heavily European-influenced prose in Spanish.
Huge social upheaval — the struggle for independence and the Mexican Revolution — afforded Mexico’s writers the opportunity to reassess their country and its history. With colonialism cast aside, a new Mexican cultural identity blossomed, culminating in the revolutionary novel. Magical realism and contemporary styles have kept Mexico’s literary scene fresh and vibrant as authors capture the essence of Mexico’s past, present, and future in book form.
What’s certain is that Mexican literature is as rich as the country’s cuisine. We’re sure you’ll gobble these recommended works as quickly as a tasty tortilla.
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