Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican writer, has the following quote attributed to him:
Writing is a struggle against silence.
Of his many books, I have only read “Aura” and I wish he had remained silent.
Whenever I visit a country, I try to make it a point to read some of that country’s literature. “Aura” by Carlos Fuentes was one of the two books I picked when I travelled to Mexico in November 2008.
“Aura” starts with a strange atmosphere and no likeable characters, then goes downhill from there. It’s an illogical frenzy of crazy fantasies. One more warning: don’t read it if you like cats!
The second book I picked for my trip to Mexico was “The Labyrinth of Solitude” by Octavio Paz who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. That was even worse because I didn’t understand it at all. It is an obvious attempt to complicate any idea, statement and sentence as much as possible, even beyond comprehension. I reread the first couple of pages again and again, then gave up. If an author thinks he needs to write to impress, he can try to find another reader with more patience.
My experience with Mexican literature.
I am not giving up on Mexican literature yet. It can only get better. Your suggestions are welcome!
And no, the car crash was not my fault.
try carlos castaneda journey to ixtlan in mexican literature.As for the young boy from dingli who is revered by the whole town for his participation in the Good friday pageant ,whom you clearly identified with downs syndrome,is not considered as a handicapped person by any body in this town.
if you want to start with something fun by Carlos Fuentes try “The Campaign”. That is really one of his best!
You should definitively read “Pedro Paramo” by Juan Rulfo.
If Fuentes and Paz feel too complicated you should really try Juan Rulfo’s collection of short stories “El llano en llamas” (translated as “The Burning Plain and other Stories”). These are simple yet brilliant. It’s a very thin book so you will not waste much time in case you don’t like it. Worth to read it in Spanish if you can.
Try with Jorge Ibargüengoitia. He is a very enjoyable writer, maybe “Estas ruinas que ves” (translated as “Abendstunden in der Provinz”), “Las muertas” (“Die toten Frauen”) or “Dos crímenes” (“Zwei Verbrechen”) would like you.