Durante la Revolución Mexicana, Mariano Azuela (1873-1952) fue médico de una de las facciones la que comanda a Francisco Villa, de ahí que algunas de sus más notables obras literarias. ( )

“I love the revolution like a volcano in eruption; I love the volcano because it’s a volcano, the revolution because it’s the revolution! What do I care about the stones left above or below after the cataclysm? What are they to me?”

Set in 1910-1915, this story follows protagonist Demetrio Macías, a peasant who becomes involved in the Mexican Revolution after a disagreement with a local landowner. He forms and leads a band of outcasts as they travel the country, committing random acts of violence in support of the cause. They do not seem to understand exactly what or for whom they are fighting. Pancho Villa and other historic figures are mentioned but are not the focus.

My favorite part is the way the author portrays the mental and behavioral changes exhibited by the outcasts. It portrays how the oppressed become the oppressors. The novel feels rather fragmented, which could be due to the translation. Published in 1916, it is short and worth reading solely for the historical context and the fact that the author experienced the Mexican Revolution first-hand.
( )

This interesting novel about the Mexican Revolution is cynical toward everyone concerned. The main characters are peasants who become rebels. There are a lot of funny bits. The most depressing part is how the women are treated like garbage by everyone. You get the impression that the people of Mexico will get the shaft, no matter who wins. ( )

If this didn’t influence Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy, I’d be surprised. Azuela’s sparse prose and depiction of individuals caught up in events and landscape that they have little control over gives us a raw novel inspired by events the author witnessed.

The narration begins with the peasant Demetrio as he starts to participate in what would become the Mexican Revolutionary War. He barely understands what he is doing as events carry him along with an array of characters who eventually form his army.

While there are moments when Demetrio and his compatriots believe they know what they are fighting for, the novel ends in disillusionment and confusion. Throughout, Azuela writes with irony if not outright satire to give us a view of revolution that is realistic and therefore shorn of any ideologies or heroes.

For that, it’s important. The fact that it’s written in Latin America makes it all the more important: noone does revolutionary ideology or heroism like our fellow Latinos. To show that this particular emperor wears no clothes was daring and as one of the first Latin American novels to be published in English, it was very influential. ( )

An anti war book I think, from someone who was in one. Cast new light on Blood Meridian which seems to have been influenced by this (along with Westerns or others I'm not familiar with). Rang true about uglier aspects of human behavior. Simple descriptions created a visual picture of revolutionary period Mexican landscapes and towns.