Carlos fuentes the old gringo. Carlos Fuentes THE OLD GRINGO A Novel 1st Edition 3rd Printing 2022-10-10
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Carlos Fuentes was a Mexican novelist, short story writer, and essayist who is considered one of the most important and influential figures in Latin American literature. His novel "The Old Gringo," published in 1985, is a classic work that explores themes of identity, memory, and history in the context of the Mexican Revolution.
The story follows the character of Harriet Winslow, a middle-aged spinster from New England who travels to Mexico in the 1920s to teach at a girls' school. Along the way, she meets an old gringo named Ambrose Bierce, a journalist and soldier of fortune who has come to Mexico to fight with the revolutionaries.
As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that Bierce is a complex and mysterious figure, and his true motives for coming to Mexico are slowly revealed. Through his interactions with Winslow and other characters, Bierce comes to embody the contradictions and ambiguities of the Mexican Revolution, as well as the larger struggles of Latin America to come to terms with its tumultuous past.
One of the key themes in "The Old Gringo" is the way in which history shapes our understanding of the world. Bierce, as a gringo, represents the outsider's perspective on the Mexican Revolution, and his encounters with the country's culture and history force him to confront his own preconceptions and biases. Similarly, Winslow's journey to Mexico leads her to question her own identity and the values she has inherited from her privileged upbringing.
Another important theme in the novel is the idea of memory and its role in shaping our sense of self and our place in the world. Bierce, as an old man nearing the end of his life, is haunted by his past experiences and the choices he has made. His encounter with Winslow and the Mexican Revolution prompts him to confront his own mortality and the legacies he will leave behind.
Overall, "The Old Gringo" is a thought-provoking and beautifully written novel that offers a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and history. Through its complex and nuanced characters and its rich and evocative setting, it offers a powerful meditation on the human condition and the ways in which the past shapes our present and our future.
Carlos Fuentes THE OLD GRINGO A Novel 1st Edition 3rd Printing
The gringo displays considerable courage under fire, risking what seems like obvious death, and gains a reputation for valor. None of that, however, takes away from the overall success of El gringo viejo — a highly popular novel that was adapted for cinema in 1989, with Gregory Peck as Bierce, Jane Fonda as Harriet, and Jimmy Smits as Arroyo. Kane, the novel begins with the titular protagonist on his deathbed; the story of Cruz's life is then filled in by flashbacks as the novel moves between past and present. To be a Gringo in Mexico — ah, that is euthanasia! At the hacienda, the reader meets Harriet Winslow, a young Anglo woman from Washington, D. His frequent journalistic sarcasm was self-directed as much as it was comment on American society. But it did not work for me when it came to reading the parts of the story told from the point of view of Harriet Winslow, a starting-to-age American school marm who takes up with Bierce and the Villa general. The book thus inverts the common pattern in which metropolitan critics summon U.
It will be interesting to see if his other books have a cleaner narrative like Hemingway. Fuentes writes so eloquently, strands of consciousness woven together, and I felt at the end like I had read a true tale, the kind that used to be told over firesides many moons ago, the kind of story one ruminates on again and again, knowing it might not be real, but enjoying the story nonetheless. In my rating I rounded up from 3. Magill's Survey of World Literature. Retrieved May 15, 2012. In the end I came sort of round to the book, but lots of impediments to the liking.
Women often write off books like this, in much the same way my husband brushes off "chick lit", not as he says all fiction by women, but those that rely over heavily on woman standing as sisters together to sob in each other's tea cupsm and defeat a cartoonishly evil male character. He asked, "Do words need anything else? Not only did Bierce experience the horror of the Civil War, he also watched as the country subsequently was transformed into a dominantly corporate society controlled by men like Leland Stamford and Randolph Hearst, that is to say by finance and information Bierce had investigated the former on behalf of the latter. His book became a companion of my young adulthood, confirming my own less than positive attitude about things as diverse as military life, patriotism, and so-called family values in America. Retrieved August 23, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2012. That being said, after reading Fuentes's Crystal Frontier and being powerfully moved, The Old Gringo fell a bit short.
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The transcultural contours of Latino U. And the policy-objective had been achieved by the end of the 19th century. This is a short book but it may as well have been War and Peace based on how long it took me to read it, maybe because it's written more like poetry than prose, forcing me to slow down, re-read, savor the language and question its meaning. This is a short book but it may as well have been War and Peace based on how long it took me to read it, maybe because it's written more like poetry than prose, forcing me to slow down, re-read, savor the language and question its meaning. While his army enjoys previously unknown luxuries on the war-damaged palatial estate, Arroyo becomes obsessed with his past. Latino Dreams is remarkably successful at keeping the myriad identity categories associated with cultural studies in constant play, while pausing frequently to problematize each phase of its own argumentation.
And yet the uncertainties seem to come closer to approaching any semblance of real truth than bold and specific claims in black and white ever could. Masterplots II: American Fiction Series. And unfortunately not Faulkner's skill at making you feel like you really are peering into the heart of something very dark and mysterious, something which you really need and want to know about but never will. Fuentes influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages. Levander, Where is American Literature? It will be interesting to see if his other books have a cleaner narrative like Hemingway. I came across an old style copy in a used book store. One of Carlos Fuentes's greatest works, The Old Gringo tells the story of Ambrose Bierce, the American writer, soldier, and journalist, and of his last mysterious days in Mexico living among Pancho Villa's soldiers, particularly his encounter with General Tomas Arroyo.
The General lives in a railroad car with his wife, the Old Gringo and the American woman. Retrieved May 17, 2012. What did you gain by that? In 1978 he resigned as ambassador to France in protest over the appointment of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, former president of Mexico, as ambassador to Spain. I was very surprised that I liked it as much as I did. . Therefore he wants someone else to fire the fatal bullet, to put him out of his misery — and it is for that reason that he is in Mexico. The book goes into the Mexican Revolution, which I knew little to none about and wasn't sure if it was fictional or factual or perhaps both.
