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1910 Mexican Revolution saw Francisco "Pancho" Villa
grow from social bandit to famed revolutionary leader. Although
his rise to national prominence was short-lived, he and his
followers (the villistas) inspired deep feelings of pride
and power amongst the rural poor. After the Revolution (and
Villa's ultimate defeat and death), the new ruling elite,
resentful of his enormous popularity, marginalized and discounted
him and his followers as uncivilized savages. Hence, it was
in the realm of culture rather than politics that his true
legacy would be debated and shaped.
Mexican literature
following the Revolution created an enduring image of Villa
and his followers. Writing Pancho Villa's Revolution
focuses on the novels, chronicles, and testimonials written
from 1925 to 1940 that narrated Villa's grassroots insurgency
and celebrated — or condemned — his charismatic
leadership. By focusing on works by urban writers Mariano
Azuela (Los de abajo) and Martín Luis Guzmán
(El águila y la serpiente), as well as works
closer to the violent tradition of northern Mexican frontier
life by Nellie Campobello (Cartucho), Celia Herrera
(Villa ante la historia), and Rafael F. Muñoz
(¡Vámonos con Pancho Villa!), this book
examines the alternative views of the revolution and of the
villistas. Max Parra studies how these works articulate different
and at times competing views about class and the cultural
"otherness" of the rebellious masses. This unique
revisionist study of the villista novel also offers a deeper
look into the process of how a nation's collective identity
is formed.
Max Parra is Associate Professor of Latin
American Literature at the University of California, San Diego.
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