The Shadow of the Strongman

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A searing novel of the post-1910 Mexican revolutionary era that itself challenged the Mexican political establishment, Guzmn's The Shadow of the Strongman (La Sombra del Caudillo) stands beside Azuela's The Underdogs (Los de abajo) in the pantheon of Mexican fiction. Unmasking the years of political intrigue and assassination that followed the Revolution, the novel was adapted in the 1960 film La Sombra del Caudillo, which was banned in Mexico for thirty years.

Reviews

[Guzmn] throws the cruel spotlight on all the treachery, the sycophancy, and corruption of generals, politicians, and labor leaders; here is oil graft, murder, plotting, the vileness of the local political and military scenes pinned down by the dagger of truth ... from the faade gilded withfine words regarding the freeing of the peasants to the grimy back stairs of Mexicos political edifice. -- Carleton Beals, in Saturday Review of Literature (1930)
At last, an English translation of Martn Luis Guzmns great novel of the Mexican Revolution!Readers will be intrigued not only by Guzmns representation of authoritarianism and personalism, but also his nuanced and lyrical descriptions of Mexico City in the 1920s. Pellns translation is a marvelous piece of work. -- Jrgen Buchenau, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
" Guzmn was uniquely qualified to offer his critique of the Mexican political scene . His resume reveals a man who lived the Revolution as military commander, advisor, confidant, emissary, politician, academic, and writer. The style of The Shadow of the Strongman borrows from each of those diverse experiences to become, in many ways, a mixed genre that hovers between novel and biography, invention and history. Great reading for anyone interested in Mexico . "The novel is not easy to translate. Guzmn is writing about political and historical events that require realistic accuracy while also incorporating complex and poetic descriptions of people and places. Pelln is to be congratulated for his translation that understands this duality ." Douglas J. Weatherford, Brigham Young University

Author Bio

Martn Luis Guzmn (1887 - 1976) was a Mexican journalist and novelist who served under Pancho Villa, and was the author of a five-volume biography of Villa. Gustavo Pellon is Associate Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, University of Virginia.