The True Mexican Novel
The best Mexican novel of the 19th century. The book “Clemencia”
Mexican Romantic literature was influenced by European trends in early 19th century, from France with Rene de Chateaubriand and Andre Chenier, and from Britain with Lord Byron and Edward Young.
The Mexican war of independence against the Spanish crown took place in this century, in the second decade of the 19th century, this social movement would influence the romanticism in the literature of independent Mexico, because it awakened deep nationalist feelings, due to the social agitation for the liberation from a system of colonisation imposed by the Spanish crown, Literature was responsible for the dissemination of information through newspapers, where heroic stories with Mexican traditions and liberal tendencies were disseminated, all of which took place at the Academy of Letran from 1836-1838, a literary institution where illustrious figures of the time, such as Guillermo Prieto, Andres Quintana Roo, Ignacio Ramirez, Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan, etc., studied. , the latter being Mexico’s first Romanticist.
The second generation, who worked in another academic institution, the Liceo Hidalgo, between 1849-1893, were Manuel Acuña, Jose Péon Contreras, Manuel Flores and Ignacio Manuel Altamirano.
These figures and many others had a very important political charge in their literature, some were in a better social position than others, so there was a split, just like in 19th century Mexican society, where the privileged classes represented the interests of foreign powers such as Spain, the USA, France and England, and on the other hand the middle and less privileged classes represented the value of liberal thought that sought democracy and an independent country.
The characteristics of the romantic period in Mexico were:
Subjectivity – exaltation of the “I”: themes such as melancholy, love and the love of nature.
Intense emotions: mystery, patriotism (colonial), religiosity, death and dreams
Ideal of freedom: The ideal of freedom was the promotion of Mexico’s independence.
I’d like to recommend one of these literary figures, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, who also wrote Clemencia.
His first novel, written in 1869 and published in instalments in the literary magazine El Renacimiento, combines the forms of the romantic-sentimental novel and the realistic-historical novel. Clemencia tells the story of war heroes and makes visible the civilians who also live in difficult situations, talking about the customs and habits of nineteenth-century Mexican society.
The novel tells the story of Fernando Valle, a soldier in the Republican army. He falls in love with Clemencia, a beautiful, wealthy woman from a liberal family in Guadalajara. It is set in 1863, at the height of the war against the Second French Intervention (1862-1867). The plot is based on an axiological axis, with betrayal and loyalty as its poles.
It is considered to be the best novel of the 19th century written in Mexico, for this reason it is my highest recommendation to begin the description of Mexican literature, a novel that could well be in the Netflix catalogue if they decided to film it, I don’t think it will happen, but I will leave the link the audio book on YouTube so you can enjoy it on the plane when you visit Mexico.
