Mariano Azuela González (January 1, 1873 – March 1, 1952) was a Mexican writer and medical doctor, best known for his fictional stories of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He wrote novels, works for theatre and literary criticism. He is the first of the "novelists of the Revolution," and he influenced other Mexican novelists of social protest.
Among Azuela's first published writing were some short pieces for the magazine Gil Blas Cómico, where he wrote under the pen name of "Beleño", and his writing published under the heading Impresiones de un estudiante (Impressions of a Student) in 1896. His first novel, Maria Luisa, was written in 1907, followed by Los fracasados (The Failures) in 1908, and Mala yerba (Weeds) in 1909. The theme of his beginning novels are about fate. He wrote of the social life of Mexicans during the DÃÂaz dictatorship. After experiencing the Mexican Revolution first-hand, his writing style became sarcastic and disillusioned. His first novel with the Revolution theme is Andrés Pérez, maderista in 1911, followed by Sin Amor (Without Love) in 1912, and his most popular, Los de abajo (The Underdogs) in 1915. He continued to write short works and novels influenced by the Revolution. It includes El camarada Pantoja (Comrade Pantoja) in 1937, Regina Landa in 1939, La nueva burguesÃÂa (The New Bourgeoisie) in 1941, and La maldición (The Curse, published posthumously) in 1955. These works mainly depicts the satirical picture of life in post revolutionary Mexico sharply and angrily stigmatizing demagoguery and political intrigue.
Azuela was born in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco to a small, but successful rancher, Evaristo Azuela and Paulina Azuela, on January 1, 1873. He grew up in a small farm owned by his father, which later influences the settings in many of his fictional works. He was first admitted to a Catholic seminary at the age of fourteen, but soon abandoned his religious studies. He studied medicine in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He received his M.D. in 1899, practicing medicine first in his home town of Lagos de Moreno, and later, after the Mexican revolution, practiced in Mexico City. In 1900, he married Carmen Rivera, niece of AgustÃÂn Rivera, priest and historian of Lagos de Moreno. He went on to have five sons and five daughters.
Like most young students, Azuela was opposed to the dictatorship of the Porfirio DÃÂaz regime. During his days in the Mexican Revolution, Azuela wrote about the war and its impact on Mexico. After Porfirio DÃÂaz was overthrown in 1911, Azuela served as state Director of Education of Jalisco under President Francisco I. Madero. Following Madero's 1913 assassination, Azuela joined the Constitutionalist cause, which sought to restore the rule of law. He traveled with the military forces of Julián Medina, a follower of Pancho Villa, where he served as a field doctor. His participation in the conflict gave him ample material to write Los de abajo (The Underdogs) (1915). He later was forced for a time to emigrate to El Paso, Texas, when the counterrevolutionary forces of Victoriano Huerta were temporarily triumphant. It was there that he wrote Los de abajo, which was his first-hand description of combat during the Mexican revolution, based on his experiences in the field. It was first published as a serial in the newspaper "El Paso del Norte" from October 1915 to December 1915. The book did not receive general recognition until 1924, and it was hailed as a novel of the Revolution. Los de abajo (The Underdogs) depicts the futility of the Revolution, the opportunists in power, and the underprivileged majority of his country. He fought for a better Mexico, and he believed the Revolution corrected some injustices, but it has given rise to others equally deplorable.
In his encyclopedia entry âÂÂAzuela, Mariano (1873-1952)âÂÂ, Nicolás Kanellos underscores Azuela's physical involvement in the war, and its influence on Azuela's literary career. Kanellos begins by describing Azuela as, âÂÂone of MexicoâÂÂs greatest novelists and chroniclers of the Mexican Revolutionâ (Kanellos, 105). In describing Azuela as a âÂÂchroniclerâÂÂ, Kanellos immediately highlights one important feature of Azuela and his work, which is his tendency to record and portray history. In highlighting Azuela's relationship between history and literature, Kanellos establishes the inseparability of political and global contexts within Azuela's literary works; for example, Azuela's novel The Underdogs recounts the events of The Mexican Revolution from the perspective of the rebel soldiers. Therefore, Kanellos emphasizes the existing relationship between history and its involvement in Azuela's work. Kanellos then describes the reason as to why Azuela's literary works are deeply infused with Mexican politics and history stating, âÂÂAzuelaâÂÂs early career as a writer, in fact, was developed while participating in the Revolution first-hand as a physician in the army of Francisco âÂÂPanchoâ Villaâ (Kanellos, 105). The terms âÂÂfirst-handâ and âÂÂparticipatingâ underscore Azuela's physical involvement in the war. Kanellosâ use of the word âÂÂdevelopedâ then underscores the manner in which Azuela's physical involvement paved the way for his writing to grow and mature as a result of his experiences participating in the Mexican Revolution. Kanellos stresses in his encyclopedic entry the persisting role of history and its portrayal in Azuela's work, but he also emphasizes the manner in history, in particular the Mexican Revolution, essentially birthed Azuela's writing career.
In Margy McCrary's article, âÂÂThe Aztec Connection: Exploring the Construction of Azuela's Revolutionaries in The UnderdogsâÂÂ, she examines the description of Demetrio as a âÂÂfull-blooded AztecâÂÂ. She argues he gains authority over the land, and constructs a cultural identity where he and Mexican peasants must establish in order to resist the Spanish conquerors. McCrary contends that the purpose of a revolution is to reject the identity of the colonizer, but in order to do this âÂÂsome sort of unified identity is necessary for a group to revolt successfullyâ (McCrary 31). The pre-colonial Aztec is embodied by Demetrio MacÃÂas because he is connected to both his ancestors and the land. Demetrio is depicted as âÂÂriding proudly on his horseâ with âÂÂpure-blooded Aztec cheeksâÂÂ, however, Demetrio âÂÂseems devoid of any defined identityâ because he never acknowledges a greater reasoning to his involvement in the revolution other than either revenge or satisfaction in being the revolutionaries' leader (Azuela 72). This illuminates that Azuela may care about the revolution more than the characters do. McCrary further explains that on page seventy-two of the novel, Macias and his âÂÂmen threw out their chests as if to breathe the widening horizonâ and the âÂÂimmensity of the skyâ illustrating how Demetrio's freedom is connected to the earth itself and that Demetrio is a legitimate inhabitant of the land. Furthermore, the sense of freedom that Demetrio and the Mexican men feel on the land serves to âÂÂdistance them from their oppressed identities as colonized beingsâ because they immediately forget their bleak lives as conquered peasants (36). By depicting Demetrio as a pure-blooded Aztec, Azuela reveals that he as an author is âÂÂdispleased with the current, colonized identity of his peopleâ and wishes to reconstruct a strong Mexican identity before it had âÂÂbeen influenced by the Spanish colonizersâ (37). As a result, Azuela emphasizes the consequences of colonization because Demetrio is âÂÂso far separated from his own heritage and identity that he does not even recognize it consciouslyâ (39). When Demetrio begins to forget his identity it results in âÂÂpetty fighting, looting, and anarchyâ (34). Azuela emphasizes Demetrio's heritage so that readers understand what is at stake if cultural identity is lost.
In 1917 he moved to Mexico City where, for the rest of his life, he continued his writing, and worked as a doctor among the poor.
In 1942 he received the Mexican National Prize for Literature. On April 8, 1943 he became a founding member of Mexico's National College, where he gave lectures on Mexican, French, and Spanish novelists, and on his own literary experiences. In 1949 he received the Mexican National Prize for Arts and Sciences. He died in Mexico City March 1, 1952 and was placed in a sepulchre of the Panteón Civil in the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres.
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