The Mexican Dream, or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations explained

The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations
Title Orig:Le Rêve mexicain ou la pensée interrompue
Translator:Teresa Lavender Fagan
Author:J.M.G. Le Clézio
Country:France
Language:French translated into English
Subject:Mesoamerican History
Publisher:University of Chicago Press (translation)
Pub Date:1965
English Pub Date:1993
Media Type:Print
Pages:221 pp
Isbn:978-0-226-11002-8
Dewey:972/.018 20
Congress:F1230 .L3413 1993
Oclc:27814151

The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations is an English translation of an essay written in French by J. M. G. Le Clézio first published in 1988.

Contents

Subjects

Aim

In the essay, Le Clézio conducts an inquiry into the brutal disappearance of the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica in the 16th century, particularly the end of the Mexican civilization at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors.The author analyses the personalities of characters such as Hernán Cortés, La Malinche, Moctezuma II, Cuauhtémoc, and other key players in the conquest of Mesoamerica. He refers extensively to the descriptions offered by Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España in analysing the events. He imagines what might have happened if the native populations had not been reduced to silence by brutality, and what their impact on Western civilization might have been. Understanding that the West holds both economic and cultural sway over the contemporary world because of the colonization of America, he wonders how the cultural life of Mesoamerica – particularly that of the Aztecs – would have evolved if the arrival of the Europeans had not decimated the indigenous societies through war, disease and slavery.[2]

Publication history/Editions

11 editions published between 1988 and 2004 in 5 languages and held by 835 libraries worldwide.[3]

First French Edition

second French Edition

other French Edition

Also published in French under Book: Le Clézio, J.M.G. . Le Rêve mexicain . 1992. Gallimard Folio. Paris . 978-2-07-032680-8 . 273.

First English Edition

Second English Edition

Reviews

Le Figaro and Kirkus Reviews reviewed the book.[4]

The University of Chicago Press

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Mexican Dream Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations . 15 December 2008 . The University of Chicago Press . 1993.
  2. Web site: The Mexican Dream by JMG Le Clézio . 10 December 2008 . Archived in Books for the News . University of Chicago Press . 2008-10-09. Teresa Lavender Fagan said"I am delighted—but not at all surprised!—that Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. When I read Le rêve mexicain—The Mexican Dream—for the first time, I was transported by Le Clézio’s language and message. The author imagined how the thought of early Indian civilizations might have evolved if not for the interruption of European conquest. And how our own civilization might have been different had we had the continued input of such advanced, now vanished, peoples." .
  3. Web site: Most widely held works about J.-M. G Le Clézio . 2008-12-15. OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. . 2008 .
  4. Book: The Mexican Dream, Or, The. registration. 1993. Internet Archive. 27 November 2008 . University of Chicago Press. 9780226110028.

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