Américo Paredes (1915–1999)

I have not taken enough time to ingest media particular to my life experiences and cultural background - finishing this book makes me think I really ought to. I wouldn't call this book predictable - that would indicate that I was bored or displeased with it and I absolutely am not - but I would say that Paredes wrote this so perfectly that if you exist within Mexicotexan culture you know exactly how it's all going to play out. What an achievement.

As with all great legends the stories about them are passed down through the generations to the point where no one knows the truth anymore. Ballads are sung to remember (misremember) and honor (or exaggerate) the legendary events and humans throughout history. "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez" is the ballad for Gregorio Cortez. No one can agree on what he looked like or where he was born. Legend has it he shucked corn for a living. Maybe he picked cotton. Maybe he was a barber? Everyone said show more he could shoot a pistol and talk to horses. He might have been an expert trail tracker. He certainly was a weather predictor and a womanizer (No one can agree on who he actually married, though). He was also crafty and smart. He often got away from posses by blending in with the common folk on either side of the Rio Grande. He was peaceful yet he killed many men "in self defense." Posse after posses chased the infamous man and his little mare across the wild Texas countryside. Cortez is able to walk amongst the commoners because, while they all knew of his exploits, he was unrecognizable in a crowd. Exaggerating the villainous nature of the Mexican people only increased the paranoia and prejudice against Cortez. When Gregorio Cortez is finally caught his legal battles raged for over three and a half years. For one trial Cortez's supposed wife testified in his defense but by the next trial she had divorced him. Despite being found guilty, he was pardoned in July of 1913.
In the end, no one could decide how Cortez died. Was it a heart attack? Poison? He was only forty-one years one.
The second section of "With His Pistol in His Hand" is not nearly as exciting. Paredes spends this time comparing and critiquing the variations of the El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez ballad and describing the narrative elements and the development and quatrain structure of a ballad. show less

Paredes primarily traces the evolution and styles of popular Mexican poetry and song around the southern Rio Grande border until about mid-20th century, best understood and appreciated by knowing some of the historical and political context, most particularly the conflicts between the two cultures and among the political forces there, and going back as well even to Spanish-Mexican and French-Mexican conflicts, as well as some within Mexico associated with revolutions therein. Paredes sets show more out some of this historical background.

This is well researched and written by a scholar, yet easy to read. show less