Mexico in Mind: An Anthology

by Maria Finn Dominguez

Two centuries of writers drawn to Mexico—from D. H. Lawrence, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, and Tennessee Williams to Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, and Sandra Cisneros This scintillating literary travel guide gathers the work of great writers celebrating Mexico in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Ranging from 1843 to the present, Mexico in Mind offers a remarkably varied sampling of English-speaking writers’ impressions of the land south of the border. John Reed rides with Pancho Villa in 1914; Graham Greene defends Mexico’s priests; Langston Hughes describes a bullfight; Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs find Mexico intoxicating; Alice Adams visits Frida Kahlo’s house; Ann Louise Bardach meets the mysterious Subcommandante Marcos face to face. Fictional accounts are equally vivid, including poems by Muriel Rukeyser, Archibald Macleish, and Sandra Cisneros, short stories by Katherine Anne Porter and Ray Bradbury, and excerpts from John Steinbeck’s The Pearl , Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana , and Salman Rushdie’s The Ground Beneath Her Feet . From the bustle of Mexico City to coffee planations in remote Chiapas, from Mayan ruins to the markets at Oaxaca, the scenes evoked in this anthology reflect the rich variety of the place and its history, sure to enchant vacationers, expatriates, and armchair travelers everywhere.Alice Adams • Ann Louise Bardach • Ray Bradbury • William S. Burroughs • Frances Calderón de la Barca • Ana Castillo • Sandra Cisneros • Anita Desai • Erna Fergusson • Charles Macomb Flandrau • Donna Gershten • Graham Greene • Langston Hughes • Fanny Inglehart • Gary Jennings • Diana Kennedy • Jack Kerouac • D. H. Lawrence • Malcolm Lowry • Archibald Macleish • Rubén Martínez • Tom Miller • Katherine Anne Porter • John Reed • Luis Rodriguez • Richard Rodriguez • Muriel Rukeyser • Salman Rushdie • John Steinbeck • Edward Weston • Tennessee Williams

Genres: Travel

235 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2006

Reviews

[Renee]

I read this at the perfect moment (on a Mexico vacation), but have also read enough travel collections to know that this was particularly literary and gave a good cross-section of topics one might wish to read about in order to get a flavor of Mexico. Definitely worth the read, if only for the reminder about great writers like Richard Rodriguez, Ana Castillo, and Sandra Cisneros. There are also solid offerings from widely recognized greats such as Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck, and Tennessee Williams.

[Annet Teplitskaya]

Вроде бы Крутая идея - собрать много отрывков из произведений разных авторов, где говорится о Мексике, - но под конец я ужасно устала от постоянной смены стилей/ритмов/форм и уже, кажется, не воспринимала даже реально интересных писателей. Видимо, антологии - не мое. Да и вообще - хотя попалось несколько очень любопытных вещей, которые захотелось прочитать полностью, многие отрывки оказались нереальной тягомотиной.
Впрочем, вообще не жалею, что прочитала, - после путешествия по Мексике такая книга - самое то, несмотря на минусы.

[Mary]

If you are traveling to Mexico (and even if you're not) you will probably enjoy this collection of essays and short stories. The authors are all well established (D.H. Lawrence, John Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams etc.) and the subjects covered are everything from bull fights to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Each piece is introduced with information about the author, where the selection comes from and why it is important for understanding Mexican culture.

[Harry Brake]

A chance to catch up on reading and finish my Goodreads Challenge of 70 books for 2016. What to read, what to read… as I combed through the aisles of the Upper School Library, I found myself back at Mexico in Mind by Editor Maria Finn. Filled with pieces written by so many authors that truly had Mexico in mind, my colleague was skeptical. “Excerpts! I thought whoa, this had all of these (to be revealed shortly) works, but these are all excerpts of larger texts, not the whole texts at all!” I had to concur, I thought, what is the use of excerpts and yet, my mind told me this would provide a chance for me to gather a list of possibilities to add to the ongoing collection of texts I was trying to discover about Mexico itself. So be it, worth a go, right?

As I picked up this text in Puerto Escondido, the introduction – it said EVERYTHING :

“In Mexico, history is alive… When I started this project, my mother protested. “You can’t create a Mexico in Mind,” she said. “It’s too much. There needs to be a Mexico City in Mind, a Oaxaca in Mind. There are more than eleven types of indigenous people in Oaxaca alone.” …Through my sisters-in-law, I’ve come to learn about not only the hardship in Mexico and discrimination against Mexicans in the United States, but also about the warmth, generosity, humor, and spirit of Mexico.”

I realized, this gift from this collection of authors – is so extensive, and some I have read and others not listed I have read and others I have never heard of that I will read, but this was a treasure as I witnessed every state in Mexico addressed and laid out in front of me – and there could be no greater gift as the following writers represented and also, for the first time, a story of Mexico CAN be told when abbreviated – the treasure is being able to find the whole story at your OWN pace, thanks to the below authors:



Alice Adams

Edward Weston

Katherine Anne Porter

Muriel Rukeyser

Ray Bradbury

John Steinbeck

Luis Rodriguez

Francis Calderon de la Barca

Fanny Chambers Gooch Inglehart

Charles Macomb Flandrau
D.H. Lawrence

Diana Kennedy

Tom Miller

Archibald Macleish

John Reed

Anita Desai

Graham Greene

Ann Louise Bardach

Tennessee Williams

Malcolm Lowry

Jack Kerouac
William S Burroughs

Donna M Gershten

Richard Rodriguez

Ana Castillo

Ruben Martinez

Sandra Cisneros

Erna Ferguson

Langston Hughes

Gary Jennings

Salman Rushdie

[Rochelle]

A small, lightweight collection of stories, poetry and travel writing that will fit in your purse. Anyone who has been to Mexico will find something special written by English-language writers, several from the 19th century but most from the 20th. For me, the special three were Ray Bradbury's story "Calling Mexico" and the excerpts from Edward Weston's Daybooks and one of Diane Kennedy's books but I found much more that gave depth to my perception of the country and its people even after my dozen years here. And of course, there is the pleasure of seeing the take of writers as diverse as Tennessee Williams, Muriel Rukeyser, Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros and Salman Rushdie.

[Karen]

A wonderful view of Mexico by non-Mexican writers. Lovely selections that render various themes and locales in Mexico with clarity and grace. Some disappointments, such as the Rukeyser selection are outweighed by the surprising, ie Ray Bradbury. If you are interested in how non-Mexicans have experienced Mexico, this is the book!

[Ellen]

I picked up this anthology at a cool bookstore in Oaxaca, Mexico on a recent vacation. Excerpts from books & essays about Mexico from several famous authors. This country is rich in history and many writers have been greatly inspired by their time there.

[Don]

Writers from across the globe draw on Mexico as inspiration for their writing.

[Jennifer]

Another one I bought for the cruise (and haven't quite finished, but it's an anthology, so that's allowed). A great collection of Mexican themed essays and short stories.

[Joan Winnek]

This is an anthology of short pieces set in/about Mexico, which I'm reading one or two at a time.

[Hobotraveler85 Mataushek]

Very good!

[Krystle Downing]

Read this while in Mexico last week and it was perfect for the trip. And it gave me a bunch of new books to put on my "to read" list.