Other Literary Forms
Known primarily as a novelist, Carlos Fuentes has also written plays and has collaborated on several screenplays. His numerous nonfiction works include political tracts, essays on Mexican life, and literary criticism. He has also been a frequent contributor to periodicals in the United States, Mexico, and France.
Achievements
Carlos Fuentes is regarded by many as Mexico’s foremost contemporary novelist. Perhaps the most valuable contribution of Fuentes’s writing is that it introduced innovative language and experimental narrative techniques into mainstream Latin American fiction. His concern for affirming a viable Mexican identity is revealed in his allegorical and thematic use of his country’s history and legends, from the myths of the Aztecs to the Mexican Revolution.
Aside from receiving honorary degrees from numerous colleges and universities, such as Columbia College, Harvard University, and Washington University, Fuentes has won many literary awards. These include the Rómulo Gallegos prize (Venezuela) in 1977 for Terra nostra (1975; English translation, 1976), the Alfonso Reyes Prize (Mexico) in 1979 for the body of his work, the National Award for Literature (Mexico) in 1984 for Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (pb. 1982; Orchids in the Moonlight, 1982), the Miguel de Cervantes Prize from the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 1987, and the Rubén Darío Order of Cultural Independence (Nicaragua), and the literary prize of Italo-Latino Americano Institute, both in 1988.
Fuentes received the Capita Maria Medal (1991), the Chilean Order of Merit (1992), the French Legion of Honor (1992), and the Menendez Pelayo International Award from the University of Santander (1992). He was named honorary citizen of Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, and Veracruz (1993) and received the Principe de Asturias Prize (1994). He was a candidate for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1996) and received honorary degrees from Bard College, Cambridge University, Columbia College, Chicago State University, Dartmouth College, Essex University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, and Washington University.
Other literary forms
In addition to his work as a novelist, Carlos Fuentes (FWAYN-tays) has cultivated short fiction throughout his career. His earliest work was a collection of short stories, Los días enmascarados (1954; the masked days); this volume and subsequent collections such as Cantar de ciegos (1964; songs of the blind) and Agua quemada(1980; Burnt Water, 1980) have been critically acclaimed. (Burnt Water, Fuentes’s first short-story collection to be translated into English, contains stories published in earlier collections as well as in Agua quemada.) The subjects of these stories are reminiscent of his novels. They are set in contemporary Mexico and are characterized by social and psychological realism. Several stories feature the interpenetration of the real and the fantastic, so much a part of the author’s longer fiction. In La frontera de cristal (1995; The Crystal Frontier, 1997) Fuentes explores in nine fictional stories the relationship gap that has occurred between Mexico and the United States as well as the internal problems that have pushed many Mexicans to emigrate to the United States. In El naranjo: O, Los círculos del tiempo (1993; The Orange Tree, 1994), a collection of novellas, Fuentes explores the creation of the Mexican culture as a result of language choice.
Fuentes has also written several plays. In 1970, he published El tuerto es rey (the blind man is king) and Todos los gatos son pardos (all cats are gray). The latter work dramatizes the author’s fascination with the subject of the Conquest of Mexico and portrays Hernán Cortés and other historical figures. Orquídeas a la luz de la luna (Orchids in the Moonlight), which premiered at Harvard University in 1982, was Fuentes’s first play produced in the United States.
Achievements
Carlos Fuentes is known the world over as one of Latin America’s premier novelists and...
(This entire section contains 501 words.)
Unlock this Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
intellectuals. He has earned this reputation through involvement in international affairs and prodigious creative activity. Fuentes has produced a broad spectrum of literary works in several genres that convey a sense of Mexican life, past and present. He has projected the image of Mexico by means of extremely varied treatments in his works, from the historical and legendary backgrounds of the Spanish Conquest inTerra Nostra to the analysis of contemporary social reality and the profound aftershocks of the Mexican Revolution in The Death of Artemio Cruz. While Fuentes has manifested his concern for the historical and social realities of Mexico, he has also experimented with fantastic fiction in his short stories and the novella Aura, and he has evoked the voluptuousness of decadent settings in Holy Place.
In view of Fuentes’s achievements in capturing and imagining the myriad faces of Mexican reality, it is hardly any wonder that his literary production must be analyzed from several critical stances. Fuentes has resisted any narrow categorization of his work with the dictum “Don’t classify me, read me.” Fuentes is one of Latin America’s most popular novelists, and his works are eagerly awaited by critics. He is considered to be on the same level with such luminaries of Latin American literature as Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel García Márquez in his desire to produce the “total novel” that epitomizes the aspirations and experiences of humankind.
Fuentes has been in the forefront of Mexican letters for decades. As a young writer in the 1950’s, he was a cofounder of the prestigious Revista mexicana de literatura (Mexican literary review). In 1972, he was elected to the Colegio Nacional of Mexico. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in 1974. From 1975 to 1977, Fuentes served as Mexican ambassador to France. Fuentes received an honorary doctoral degree from Harvard University in 1983 and one from Cambridge University in 1987.
The long list of literary prizes that Fuentes has received includes the Biblioteca Breve Award for A Change of Skin in 1967; the Villaurrutia Prize, one of Mexico’s most important literary awards, for Terra Nostra in 1976, and the Venezuelan Rómulo Gallegos Award in 1977 for the same novel; the prestigious Spanish Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1987; the Rubén Darío Award and the New York City National Arts Club Medal of Honor in 1988; and the Instituto Italo-Latino Americano Award for The Old Gringo in 1989. His literary production as a whole was recognized with the Alfonso Reyes Award in 1979 and the National Literature Prize in Mexico in 1984. In 1991, Fuentes was honored with the University of Chile’s Presidents Medal, and in 1994 he received the Principe de Asturias Award, the International Grizane Cavor Award, and the Picasso Prize, awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In 2008, Fuentes became the first recipient of Spain’s new International Don Quijote Prize in recognition of his outstanding career.
Discussion Topics
What is Carlos Fuentes’s view of the United States’ influence on Mexico?
How does Fuentes use art and artists to convey his ideas about politics?
What is the relationship between myth and history in Fuentes’s works?
What is the importance of Santiago’s The Fall of Man painting that Laura renames The Ascent of Humanity in The Years with Laura Díaz? How does it relate to Fuentes’s portraits of the two priests?
To what extent has “General” Arroyo, a character in The Old Gringo, crossed a frontier to die?
Discuss Harriet’s feelings about her father and how those feelings affect her actions in The Old Gringo.
What point does Fuentes make about the writing of history in The Old Gringo?
Laura Díaz seems driven to probe her lovers’ deepest secrets, to know their private and public selves. How does her desire affect her relationships, and if she changes her mind, what prompts her change of heart?
Bibliography
Brody, Robert, and Charles Rossman, eds. Carlos Fuentes: A Critical View. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982. This well-written collection of essays takes various critical approaches to Fuentes’s major works of prose, drama, and literary criticism. The work also includes bibliographical references and a chronology.
Brushwood, John S. Mexico in Its Novel. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966. This book takes account of a nation’s search for identity through an examination of its fiction. The section devoted to Fuentes discusses the author’s major works (published before 1966). Brushwood underscores Fuentes’s belief that Mexico has accepted realities that prevent the realization of its potential. Contains a chronological list of Mexican novels and a select bibliography.
Dupont, Denise. “Baroque Ambiguities: The Figure of the Author in Terra nostra.” Latin American Literary Review 30 (January-June, 2002): 5-19. Examines the interaction between the literal author and the author as envisioned within the text of Terra nostra.
Duran, Gloria. The Archetypes of Carlos Fuentes: From Witch to Androgyne. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1980. The first work in English to deal exclusively with the body of Fuentes’s novels that have been translated into English. Duran maintains that an examination of the place of witchcraft and occultism is critical to an understanding of Fuentes’s work as a whole. Contains biographical data, an appendix, and a bibliography.
Fainaru, Steve. “Poisoned Pen.” The Boston Globe, November 4, 1997, p. E1. A detailed account of the bitter feud between Fuentes and Octavio Paz; discusses the origin of the feud in the 1980’s over an attack on Fuentes that Paz allowed to be published in a journal he helped establish.
Faris, Wendy B. Carlos Fuentes. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1983. Faris’s book offers both biographical information and an insightful critical assessment of Fuentes’s early novels, short fiction, and plays. Complemented by a useful bibliography, a chronology, and an index.
Guzmán, Daniel de. Carlos Fuentes. New York: Twayne, 1972. The author provides a brief but insightful view on the historical context (specifically, the Mexican Revolution) of Fuentes’s fiction. Guzman’s book also includes a select bibliography, an appraisal of the author’s works, a historical and sociocultural background, and a chronology of Fuentes’s works.
Helmuth, Chalene. The Postmodern Fuentes. Lewisburg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press, 1997. Studies the postmodern features in Fuentes’s novelistic production, particularly since 1975. According to Helmuth, the postmodern novels hold a nonmimetic view of the textual representation of reality, which becomes evident when considering the continual reminders of the artificial nature of the written word that Fuentes scattered in his later narratives.
Ibsen, Kristine. Author, Text, and Reader in the Novels of Carlos Fuentes. New York: Peter Lang, 1993. A reader-oriented analysis of four major novels: A Change of Skin, Terra Nostra, Distant Relations, and Christopher Unborn.
Morton, A. D. “The Social Function of Carlos Fuentes: A Critical Intellectual or in the ‘Shadow of the State’?” Bulletin of Latin American Research 22 (January, 2003): 25-51. Uses Fuentes as a case study on the role of public intellectual in Latin American society.
O’Connor, Anne-Marie. “The Sum of Unequal Parts.” Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1997. An extended discussion, based on an interview with Fuentes, of his treatment of the border between Mexico and the United States in his The Crystal Frontier. Fuentes talks of Latin American writers and intellectuals, criticizes the news media for ignoring the plight of the poor, and comments on his efforts to reflect the changes that have taken place in Mexican society.
Van Delden, Maarten. Carlos Fuentes, México and Modernity. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998. Analyzes the ongoing tension in Fuentes’s works between nationalism and cosmopolitanism, which stands in a complex relationship to the problem of Latin American modernization.
Weiss, Jason. “At the Frontier.” Review of The Crystal Frontier, by Carlos Fuentes. The Boston Globe, November 16, 1997, p. L1. A review of Fuentes’s collection, praising especially “Rio Grande, Rio Bravo”; criticizes the frequent didactic message in many of the stories.
Williams, Raymond Leslie. The Writings of Carlos Fuentes. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. Considering Terra Nostra a keystone in Fuentes’s narrative production, the author maintains that the early novels contained all major themes and topics later developed by the writer and, by the same token, that the later novels are reworkings and expansions of many of the motifs found in Fuentes’s masterpiece.
