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Tinisima
For this fictionalized account of the life of Tina Modotti (1896-1942), Elena Poniatowska devoted ten years of research to fully understand the woman who was so caught up in the social and political turbulence of the pre-World War II decades. At different times in her life, Modotti was a silent screen actress, a model for Diego Rivera's murals, and a lover of photographer Edward Weston. She was also a champion for the Mexican people who lovingly referred to her as Tinisima. In 1929, Modotti was accused of the murder of Julio Antonio Mella, her Cuban lover. She fled to the U.S.S.R. to escape the Mexican press and then to Europe, where she became a Soviet secret agent and a nurse under an assumed name, returning to Mexico to meet an early death at the age of forty-five.
"Poniatowska has made an art form of blending journalism and fiction. She tells this novel in an urgent present tense, segueing among short, vivid scenes with cinematic virtuosity. Ten years of research and a thorough knowledge of the currents of history contribute to this portrait, but equally important is Poniatowska's intuitive appreciation of a woman shaped and destroyed by her tumultuous times."-- Publishers Weekly
"Poniatowska's profoundly moving evocation of her heroine's boundless soul flows like blood through the carefully erected factual structure of the real Modotti's astonishing life story. . . . A tour de force, Tinisima is a work to treasure."-- Booklist
"Poniatowska has made an art form of blending journalism and fiction. She tells this novel in an urgent present tense, segueing among short, vivid scenes with cinematic virtuosity. Ten years of research and a thorough knowledge of the currents of history contribute to this portrait, but equally important is Poniatowska's intuitive appreciation of a woman shaped and destroyed by her tumultuous times."-- Publishers Weekly
"Poniatowska's profoundly moving evocation of her heroine's boundless soul flows like blood through the carefully erected factual structure of the real Modotti's astonishing life story. . . . A tour de force, Tinisima is a work to treasure."-- Booklist
365 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
99 people are currently reading
1582 people want to read
About the author
Elena Poniatowska
170 books817 followersHélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor was born on May 19, 1933, in Paris, France. Her father was French of Polish ancestry and her mother a Mexican who was raised in France. When she was nine Poniatowska's family moved to México City. She grew up speaking French and learned English in a private British school. However, her knowledge of Spanish came from talking with the maids, so her written Spanish was largely colloquial. Poniatowska developed ties with the Mexican lower class in her youth and thus gained a sense of belonging to and an understanding of the Mexican culture. She felt and thought of herself as completely Mexican and of Spanish as her native language. Her works include characters who belong to the underprivileged classes, and she often gave voice to the powerless of her country.
She started writing as a journalist in 1954 and interviewed many famous Mexican and international writers. Many of these interviews can be found in her Palabras Cruzadas (1961; Crossed Words) and later in her Todo México (1990; All of Mexico). Besides her famous interviews, she also wrote several novels, short stories, chronicles, plays, and poems.
Among her novels are Hasta no verte, Jesús mío (1969; Until I see You, My Jesus), which earned her the Mazatlan Prize; Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (1978; Dear Diego, love Quiela); La "Flor de Lis" (1988; The "Flower of the Lily"); and Tinísima (1992; Tinisima). Other narratives include Lilus Kikus (1954; Lilus Kikus; later an expanded edition appeared as Los cuentos [The Accounts] de Lilus Kikus in 1967); De noche vienes (1979; You Come at Night); Ay vida no me mereces (1985; Life, You Don't Deserve Me); Domingo 7 (1982; Seventh Sunday); Gaby Brimmer (1979; Gaby Brimmer); Todo empezó el domingo (1963; Everything Started on Sunday); and El último guajolote (1982; The Last Turkey).
Her chronicle La noche de Tlatelolco (1971; Massacre in Mexico) earned her the Javier Villarrutia Prize. She refused to accept it because she did not want to identify herself with then-President Echeverría's political establishment. Other chronicles include Fuerte es el silencio (1980; Silence Is Strong), and Nada, nadie: las voces del temblor (1988; Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake).
In theater, her play Melés y Teleo (1956; Melés and Teleo) uses a word game in the title, meaning "you read to me and I read to you." Finally, her poetry can be found in the Spanish publications Rojo de vida y negro de muerte, Estaciones, and Abside.
Ponistowska's skill as a novelist was her ability to combine fact with fiction. She lent her voice to the voiceless, but at the same time she took a step back and let the victims come forward to express their needs and pain, letting the Mexican people speak through her. Her settings were mostly in Mexico, and her characters were either Mexicans or people such as Angelina Beloff (Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela) or Tina Modotti (Tinísima) who lived important passages of their lives in Mexico. Many of her female characters are at the mercy of men. Their lives are ruled by a world made up of double standards. They try to do the right thing, but in the end they lose the men they loved and for whom they sacrificed. It is clear then that these women are never really appreciated.
Poniatowska had a great affinity with women and liked to write about them. But she also was interested in the poor, the weak, the street children, and the powerless. Interviewing the common people of Mexico became her trademark. After her first publication (Lilus Kikus, 1954), her writings became more and more political. For example, in Querido Diego (1978) Quiela's story is completely personal. It focuses upon her and her lover, the famous painter Diego Rivera. By comparison, in Tinísima (1992) Poniatowska reveals not just Modotti's emotional life but also her professional and political life as a communist.
However, Poniatowska's style often made it difficult fo
She started writing as a journalist in 1954 and interviewed many famous Mexican and international writers. Many of these interviews can be found in her Palabras Cruzadas (1961; Crossed Words) and later in her Todo México (1990; All of Mexico). Besides her famous interviews, she also wrote several novels, short stories, chronicles, plays, and poems.
Among her novels are Hasta no verte, Jesús mío (1969; Until I see You, My Jesus), which earned her the Mazatlan Prize; Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela (1978; Dear Diego, love Quiela); La "Flor de Lis" (1988; The "Flower of the Lily"); and Tinísima (1992; Tinisima). Other narratives include Lilus Kikus (1954; Lilus Kikus; later an expanded edition appeared as Los cuentos [The Accounts] de Lilus Kikus in 1967); De noche vienes (1979; You Come at Night); Ay vida no me mereces (1985; Life, You Don't Deserve Me); Domingo 7 (1982; Seventh Sunday); Gaby Brimmer (1979; Gaby Brimmer); Todo empezó el domingo (1963; Everything Started on Sunday); and El último guajolote (1982; The Last Turkey).
Her chronicle La noche de Tlatelolco (1971; Massacre in Mexico) earned her the Javier Villarrutia Prize. She refused to accept it because she did not want to identify herself with then-President Echeverría's political establishment. Other chronicles include Fuerte es el silencio (1980; Silence Is Strong), and Nada, nadie: las voces del temblor (1988; Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake).
In theater, her play Melés y Teleo (1956; Melés and Teleo) uses a word game in the title, meaning "you read to me and I read to you." Finally, her poetry can be found in the Spanish publications Rojo de vida y negro de muerte, Estaciones, and Abside.
Ponistowska's skill as a novelist was her ability to combine fact with fiction. She lent her voice to the voiceless, but at the same time she took a step back and let the victims come forward to express their needs and pain, letting the Mexican people speak through her. Her settings were mostly in Mexico, and her characters were either Mexicans or people such as Angelina Beloff (Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela) or Tina Modotti (Tinísima) who lived important passages of their lives in Mexico. Many of her female characters are at the mercy of men. Their lives are ruled by a world made up of double standards. They try to do the right thing, but in the end they lose the men they loved and for whom they sacrificed. It is clear then that these women are never really appreciated.
Poniatowska had a great affinity with women and liked to write about them. But she also was interested in the poor, the weak, the street children, and the powerless. Interviewing the common people of Mexico became her trademark. After her first publication (Lilus Kikus, 1954), her writings became more and more political. For example, in Querido Diego (1978) Quiela's story is completely personal. It focuses upon her and her lover, the famous painter Diego Rivera. By comparison, in Tinísima (1992) Poniatowska reveals not just Modotti's emotional life but also her professional and political life as a communist.
However, Poniatowska's style often made it difficult fo
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May 4, 2017
♥
Terminé este libro hace dos semanas y decidí no escribir mi opinión inmediatamente, con el propósito de digerirlo y asimilarlo. Es un libro estupendo, lleno, vibrante, sobre la vida y la época de la Modotti, sobre el México de principios de siglo (que conserva muchas similitudes con el actual) y sobre el amor. Es una biografía de la fotográfa italiana, pero también una biografía de México visto desde los ojos de un extranjero, si se considera que la autora, a pesar de haberse criado en México, era hija de extranjero y nació fuera. Sin embargo, eso le da una fuerza importante al libro, porque podemos ver la historia a través de un lente doble: un extranjero que se enamora de México y esa fuerza lo hace comprender la realidad del país.
Lo que más disfruté de libro fueron las descripciones de esa ciudad de México que tantas veces he caminando, que descubro cada día: cada esquina llena de historia, de pasado, de tragedia. La calle en donde Tina perdió a Mella, la casa en donde se ubicaba el pequeño estudio de ella y Weston en lo que ahora es Condesa, la última casa que compartió con Vitorio, y desde la cual aún veía claramente ambos volcanes. Tina amó y sufrió en México, y a pesar que al final, sus años en Europa acabaron todas sus ilusiones y ella misma sintió ya no pertenecer, resulta obvio que el país la hizo vibrar. Aquí, no sólo Tina conoció al amor de su vida, sino también se convirtió en una artista.
Hay pasajes conmovedores, iniciando por la pérdida de Mella, hasta las exposiciones que Weston y Modotti muestran juntos alabando a los campesinos y trabajadores mexicanos, hasta cuando un tímido Alvarez Bravo se acerca a ella en sus primeras incursiones como fotográfo.
Quizá la única parte que se siente pesada es toda la relativa a la Guerra Española, pero aunque no me gustó, tiene una lógica: Poniatowska plasma una guerra que destruyó a una nación pero que también destruyó a Tina: nunca volvería a ser la mujer coqueta, artística, libre. Pero lo que ella fue, lo que hizo, jamás la olvidaría a ella, ni nos permitirá olvidarla, a Tinísima.
Terminé este libro hace dos semanas y decidí no escribir mi opinión inmediatamente, con el propósito de digerirlo y asimilarlo. Es un libro estupendo, lleno, vibrante, sobre la vida y la época de la Modotti, sobre el México de principios de siglo (que conserva muchas similitudes con el actual) y sobre el amor. Es una biografía de la fotográfa italiana, pero también una biografía de México visto desde los ojos de un extranjero, si se considera que la autora, a pesar de haberse criado en México, era hija de extranjero y nació fuera. Sin embargo, eso le da una fuerza importante al libro, porque podemos ver la historia a través de un lente doble: un extranjero que se enamora de México y esa fuerza lo hace comprender la realidad del país.
Lo que más disfruté de libro fueron las descripciones de esa ciudad de México que tantas veces he caminando, que descubro cada día: cada esquina llena de historia, de pasado, de tragedia. La calle en donde Tina perdió a Mella, la casa en donde se ubicaba el pequeño estudio de ella y Weston en lo que ahora es Condesa, la última casa que compartió con Vitorio, y desde la cual aún veía claramente ambos volcanes. Tina amó y sufrió en México, y a pesar que al final, sus años en Europa acabaron todas sus ilusiones y ella misma sintió ya no pertenecer, resulta obvio que el país la hizo vibrar. Aquí, no sólo Tina conoció al amor de su vida, sino también se convirtió en una artista.
Hay pasajes conmovedores, iniciando por la pérdida de Mella, hasta las exposiciones que Weston y Modotti muestran juntos alabando a los campesinos y trabajadores mexicanos, hasta cuando un tímido Alvarez Bravo se acerca a ella en sus primeras incursiones como fotográfo.
Quizá la única parte que se siente pesada es toda la relativa a la Guerra Española, pero aunque no me gustó, tiene una lógica: Poniatowska plasma una guerra que destruyó a una nación pero que también destruyó a Tina: nunca volvería a ser la mujer coqueta, artística, libre. Pero lo que ella fue, lo que hizo, jamás la olvidaría a ella, ni nos permitirá olvidarla, a Tinísima.
August 26, 2010
Before reading this novel, what I knew of Tina Modotti came from a single Edward Weston photograph. A beautiful woman with penetrating eyes.
Once I began to read "TINISIMA", I became utterly captivated with the life of Tina Modotti. Elena Poniatowska has a way of making the narrative read as if Tina Modotti herself were relating various happenings from her life to the reader, while the author adds her own commentaries as a supplement.
The more I read of this novel, the more I found myself curious about this woman and her life. It got to the point that I could hardly tear myself away from finishing this novel, though it pained me to see how Miss Modotti was manipulated and abused both by some of her friends/compatriots and the Stalinist system she once served so faithfully. I believe it was a mistaken faith, but I respect Miss Modotti for the courage of her convictions. She had good intentions, a big heart, but was prone to blind herself to the evils of Stalinism. Therein lies the ultimate tragedy of her life.
Tina Modotti could have gone on to become one of the greatest photographers of the last century had she not threw herself wholly into Marxist/Stalinist politics. Perhaps it is for that reason that she is not widely known today.
I wish I could have known Tina Modotti. I would have loved to have had lots of conversations with her in some café or small restaurant. While I'm sure we would not agree on a number of issues, I like to think we would have become close friends.
Thank you, Elena Poniatowska, for a beautiful book.
Once I began to read "TINISIMA", I became utterly captivated with the life of Tina Modotti. Elena Poniatowska has a way of making the narrative read as if Tina Modotti herself were relating various happenings from her life to the reader, while the author adds her own commentaries as a supplement.
The more I read of this novel, the more I found myself curious about this woman and her life. It got to the point that I could hardly tear myself away from finishing this novel, though it pained me to see how Miss Modotti was manipulated and abused both by some of her friends/compatriots and the Stalinist system she once served so faithfully. I believe it was a mistaken faith, but I respect Miss Modotti for the courage of her convictions. She had good intentions, a big heart, but was prone to blind herself to the evils of Stalinism. Therein lies the ultimate tragedy of her life.
Tina Modotti could have gone on to become one of the greatest photographers of the last century had she not threw herself wholly into Marxist/Stalinist politics. Perhaps it is for that reason that she is not widely known today.
I wish I could have known Tina Modotti. I would have loved to have had lots of conversations with her in some café or small restaurant. While I'm sure we would not agree on a number of issues, I like to think we would have become close friends.
Thank you, Elena Poniatowska, for a beautiful book.
August 7, 2018
Una obra hermosa, muy conmovedora. Retrata el México y mundo de la década de 1920 y 1930 a través de la vida de Tina Modotti, una mujer que vivió con pasión en cada una de las facetas desu vida.
January 4, 2009
Mexico is like a noisy neighbor you do your best to avoid. A lot of the noise is unintelligible; in a different language.
Politicians want to build a wall to keep Mexican migrants out physically, but they might feel differently about our neighbors if language and culture were not the real barriers to that which might bridge the distance between us.
Understanding.
Mexican authoress Elena Poniatowska, for example, needs a translator. Barring calls from some important New York publisher seeking to enlist the scribe's bilingual talents, a brief discussion covering two of her books will have to serve as a small step toward the goal of mutual comprehension between our two cultures.
The writer was born Princess Helene Elizabeth Louise Amelie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor in France circa 1932. Her father was a Polish nobleman and her mother of Mexican nobility; something they must have had either prior to the revolution of 1910, or perhaps earlier, before the reforms of Benito Juarez.
She fled to Mexico during World War II and, in spite of her blue-blooded lineage, took up with the international left. This inclination comes forth loud and clear in her literature and in the columns she still pens for the progressive "La Jornada" out of Mexico City.
Her most famous work is "La Noche de Tlatelolco"; a journalistic work that recreates, through interviews and the perusal of public documents, the government's massacre of Mexican students in 1968.
In "El Tren Pasa Primero" (The Train Passes First), Poniatowska delivers a narrative and nonfictional portrait of a railroad workers union leader named Trinidad Pineda Chinas.
Thanks to a review of the book on a Spanish-language Web site "La Pagina de Cuentos" (The Story Page), we can tell you the actual subject is a gentleman by the name of Demetrio Vallejo.
Like Benito Juarez, Mexico's first indigenous president, Vallejo was an Indian from Oaxaca who grew up speaking Zapotec and had to learn Spanish along his difficult and arduous life path.
According to "The Story Page," Poniatowska interviewed the union leader extensively back in '70s and that work served as basis for "The Train Passes First."
It is a story in line with another book of hers, "Tinisima," about the actress, photographer, Soviet spy, and hospital nurse Tina Modotti in its scrupulous renderings of how rebels and militant leaders suffer at the hands of power.
Vallejo, a self-taught intellectual and telegraph worker employed with the then-national railway lines, took up cudgels against the government and the unions it was in cahoots with by forming a truly effective syndicate that delivered on bread-and-butter issues its members demanded.
So effective was Vallejo that in 1959 he paralyzed the country with a strike, forced the government's hand, and was thrown in jail for 11 years where he spent a lot of time defying brutal beatings, organizing common criminals against prison administrators, and hunger-striking.
Poniatowska opts for a shuffled narrative; later events recounted first, his odd youth as an overweight mama's boy in the tropical jungle next, followed by a strange and poignant epilogue wherein, if our Spanish is up to snuff, Vallejo/Chinas rides off (by train) into the sunset with his niece and loyal supporter Barbara, carrying his baby in her belly.
It is the story of an incorruptible public man with many private shortcomings that may ring familiar to those linked with the famous or supremely driven. He goes through women like water, his only wife leaving one day with the children never to see him again.
Very resourceful, Vallejo/Chinas manages to get himself a sultry, curvaceous women friend while in jail, but after he gets out and returns to "the fight," she tires of the routine and leaves, too.
In both books, Poniatowska spends a lot of time listing names of union members and leftist militants long-forgotten and, perhaps, known only to their contemporaries in the first place.
She seems to understand that rebels and outcasts are, well, cast out, pushed to the shadows by those who won the battles they lost and that, in writing a book, she can in some small way, recuperate them; inscribe their legacies on pages born of her own fight.
Kind to the workers movements of Mexico, "El Tren Pasa Primero" is also a loving tribute to the railroad itself. Poniatowski weaves beautiful passages that remind us that before there was a union of workers, endless meetings, and unmet demands, there was the powerful steam engine that promised escape from the mosquito-infested waterholes populated by peasants only waiting to be touched by word of that wondrous Mexico diverso.
Peasants like Vallejo.
"Tinisima," is the superior book probably because, all his nobility aside, Vallejo/Chinas can't hold a candle to Modotti in the personal story category.
A fox lady by anyone's standards, Modotti migrated with her family from Italy to San Francisco in the 20th Century's first years. Grown up fast, Tinisima went to Los Angeles and made for a fabulous flapper in silent films, made a lover of photography pioneer Edward Westin, who made a fabulous photographer out of her in turn.
Together they traveled to post-revolutionary Mexico and befriend Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky and other politico/cultural luminaries of that scintillating (or so Poniatowska makes it seem) place and era.
A rampant seductress, Modotti met her match in a Cuban exile and communist revolutionary assassinated by government agents as they walked arm-in-arm down a Mexico City street.
Leaving everything about her sexy past behind, except for the cigarettes, Modotti became part of the 1930s international communist ferment, moved to Russia, and barely escaped the Gulag before going to Spain where she worked in a war hospital on the Republican side.
Modotti was forced to flee the advancing fascist army over the Pyrenees into France, assisting the famous Spanish poet Antonio Machado to peace and sad death on the other side.
Being a player in history can suck, but Modotti's story, especially the Spanish chapter as rendered by Poniatowska, is one of the most heart-wrenching renderings to be found in contemporary lit.
From there, with a few more dramas betwixt, Tin-EEEEE-sima winds up on a boat full of Spanish Civil War refugees denied port entry the world over. Somehow she gets to Mexico, which was very kind to Spanish expatriates, and tries to reconstruct a life, while being disillusioned by what she sees as a betrayal of the revolution's promise.
Like the many cigarettes she smoked throughout every sacrifice and adventure, Modotti, 48, extinguished quietly in the back of cab, exhausted by the life Poniatowska masterfully transmits to print.
Politicians want to build a wall to keep Mexican migrants out physically, but they might feel differently about our neighbors if language and culture were not the real barriers to that which might bridge the distance between us.
Understanding.
Mexican authoress Elena Poniatowska, for example, needs a translator. Barring calls from some important New York publisher seeking to enlist the scribe's bilingual talents, a brief discussion covering two of her books will have to serve as a small step toward the goal of mutual comprehension between our two cultures.
The writer was born Princess Helene Elizabeth Louise Amelie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor in France circa 1932. Her father was a Polish nobleman and her mother of Mexican nobility; something they must have had either prior to the revolution of 1910, or perhaps earlier, before the reforms of Benito Juarez.
She fled to Mexico during World War II and, in spite of her blue-blooded lineage, took up with the international left. This inclination comes forth loud and clear in her literature and in the columns she still pens for the progressive "La Jornada" out of Mexico City.
Her most famous work is "La Noche de Tlatelolco"; a journalistic work that recreates, through interviews and the perusal of public documents, the government's massacre of Mexican students in 1968.
In "El Tren Pasa Primero" (The Train Passes First), Poniatowska delivers a narrative and nonfictional portrait of a railroad workers union leader named Trinidad Pineda Chinas.
Thanks to a review of the book on a Spanish-language Web site "La Pagina de Cuentos" (The Story Page), we can tell you the actual subject is a gentleman by the name of Demetrio Vallejo.
Like Benito Juarez, Mexico's first indigenous president, Vallejo was an Indian from Oaxaca who grew up speaking Zapotec and had to learn Spanish along his difficult and arduous life path.
According to "The Story Page," Poniatowska interviewed the union leader extensively back in '70s and that work served as basis for "The Train Passes First."
It is a story in line with another book of hers, "Tinisima," about the actress, photographer, Soviet spy, and hospital nurse Tina Modotti in its scrupulous renderings of how rebels and militant leaders suffer at the hands of power.
Vallejo, a self-taught intellectual and telegraph worker employed with the then-national railway lines, took up cudgels against the government and the unions it was in cahoots with by forming a truly effective syndicate that delivered on bread-and-butter issues its members demanded.
So effective was Vallejo that in 1959 he paralyzed the country with a strike, forced the government's hand, and was thrown in jail for 11 years where he spent a lot of time defying brutal beatings, organizing common criminals against prison administrators, and hunger-striking.
Poniatowska opts for a shuffled narrative; later events recounted first, his odd youth as an overweight mama's boy in the tropical jungle next, followed by a strange and poignant epilogue wherein, if our Spanish is up to snuff, Vallejo/Chinas rides off (by train) into the sunset with his niece and loyal supporter Barbara, carrying his baby in her belly.
It is the story of an incorruptible public man with many private shortcomings that may ring familiar to those linked with the famous or supremely driven. He goes through women like water, his only wife leaving one day with the children never to see him again.
Very resourceful, Vallejo/Chinas manages to get himself a sultry, curvaceous women friend while in jail, but after he gets out and returns to "the fight," she tires of the routine and leaves, too.
In both books, Poniatowska spends a lot of time listing names of union members and leftist militants long-forgotten and, perhaps, known only to their contemporaries in the first place.
She seems to understand that rebels and outcasts are, well, cast out, pushed to the shadows by those who won the battles they lost and that, in writing a book, she can in some small way, recuperate them; inscribe their legacies on pages born of her own fight.
Kind to the workers movements of Mexico, "El Tren Pasa Primero" is also a loving tribute to the railroad itself. Poniatowski weaves beautiful passages that remind us that before there was a union of workers, endless meetings, and unmet demands, there was the powerful steam engine that promised escape from the mosquito-infested waterholes populated by peasants only waiting to be touched by word of that wondrous Mexico diverso.
Peasants like Vallejo.
"Tinisima," is the superior book probably because, all his nobility aside, Vallejo/Chinas can't hold a candle to Modotti in the personal story category.
A fox lady by anyone's standards, Modotti migrated with her family from Italy to San Francisco in the 20th Century's first years. Grown up fast, Tinisima went to Los Angeles and made for a fabulous flapper in silent films, made a lover of photography pioneer Edward Westin, who made a fabulous photographer out of her in turn.
Together they traveled to post-revolutionary Mexico and befriend Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky and other politico/cultural luminaries of that scintillating (or so Poniatowska makes it seem) place and era.
A rampant seductress, Modotti met her match in a Cuban exile and communist revolutionary assassinated by government agents as they walked arm-in-arm down a Mexico City street.
Leaving everything about her sexy past behind, except for the cigarettes, Modotti became part of the 1930s international communist ferment, moved to Russia, and barely escaped the Gulag before going to Spain where she worked in a war hospital on the Republican side.
Modotti was forced to flee the advancing fascist army over the Pyrenees into France, assisting the famous Spanish poet Antonio Machado to peace and sad death on the other side.
Being a player in history can suck, but Modotti's story, especially the Spanish chapter as rendered by Poniatowska, is one of the most heart-wrenching renderings to be found in contemporary lit.
From there, with a few more dramas betwixt, Tin-EEEEE-sima winds up on a boat full of Spanish Civil War refugees denied port entry the world over. Somehow she gets to Mexico, which was very kind to Spanish expatriates, and tries to reconstruct a life, while being disillusioned by what she sees as a betrayal of the revolution's promise.
Like the many cigarettes she smoked throughout every sacrifice and adventure, Modotti, 48, extinguished quietly in the back of cab, exhausted by the life Poniatowska masterfully transmits to print.
September 17, 2023
Novela biográfica de Tina Modotti, actriz, fotógrafa, modelo, activista y lideresa comunista, espia, enfermera, intérprete, traductora... todo un personaje para ser sincero.
Poniatowska relata que la novela estaba pensada para ser el guión de una película que nunca se logró (yo creo que incluso sobra para que se haga una serie), pero que al juntar los testimonios de quienes la conocieron decidió convertir el guión en novela; y vaya que acertó con la decisión, pues personalmente solo reconocia el nombre por los murales de Rivera en Chapingo y jamas por mi cabeza pensé que aquella imagen fuera la de una persona tan polifacetica y con una vida facinante.
Nacida en Italia, trabajo en Austria desde los 16 años para emigrar a los Estados Unidos donde convivio con algunos de los artistas del momento, participó como actriz en peliculas de Hollywood y se mudo a México en los años 20 con el fotografo Edward Weston de quien aprendió el oficio y convivio con artistas mexicanos de la época. Poso para Rivera y empezo a retratar la miseria de los trabajadores mexicanos de la época postrrevolucionaria como fotografa del "El Machete" donde se unió al partido comunista. Fue injustamente acusada del asesinato de un lider comunista y conspirar en contra de la vida de un candidato presidencial y regreso a Europa y la URRS, donde colaboro como miembro del Socorro Rojo y del partido comunista sovietico, para formar parte de las brigadas internacionales en la guerra civil española y regresar a México a una vida que ya no reconocia trás el paso de la guerra. Murió en la pobreza, en medio de calumnias por su presunta participación en el asesinato de Trosky (otra falsa acusación) y con nulo reconocimiento por sus acciones.
Pero dejando de lado el hecho de que uno necesitaria 50 vidas para hacer lo que esta mujer hizo en vida, tambien nos narra la historia de como el dogmatismo e idealismo extremo puede desdibujar a una persona por completo. Al inicio Tina era una personalidad atrayente, liberadora pero conforme se fue internando mas en la lucha y en una ideologia política (en su caso fue el comunismo, pero podría ser cualquiera) esta parte de su personalidad se fue apagando hasta tomar una personalidad casí irreconocible, una sombre de quien fuera alguna vez. Quiero aclarar que aunque su personalidad se fue apagando, jamás su espiritu de lucha. Pero narra perfectamente los pasos de un adocrinamiento, pasando de solidaridad al activismo, una sensación de culpa sobre su pasado, y su militancia absoluta que en las últimas etapas de su vida la caracterizó, todo alimentado por una experiencia tan traumente como una guerra. Con esto no quiero decir que sus ideales y lucha no fueran validos, e incluso nobles, pero con el costo de su personalidad y las cosas que en su momento amó.
La historia es magnifica, pero por momentos la narración se estanca y se siente lenta. Los primeros episodios en México me gustaron mucho, ligeros llenos de guiños historicos de la época y de personajes que podemos ubicar, pero cuando es deportada la novela toma un giro más siniestro que por momentos se siente mas pesado, más serio, quiza por el cambio en Tina. Pero igual de informativa y en ese sentido la novela da una sensación muy buena de como el personaje cambia, pero el lector puede disadirse por ese cambio tan súbto en la novela. De las novelas de autora es de mis favoritas y vale mucho la pena leerla por su historia facinante, pero algunos episodios si pueden ser lentos y bastante duros (los de la guerra vaya que lo son). Recomendado si buscas una novela biográfica y bien documentada.
Poniatowska relata que la novela estaba pensada para ser el guión de una película que nunca se logró (yo creo que incluso sobra para que se haga una serie), pero que al juntar los testimonios de quienes la conocieron decidió convertir el guión en novela; y vaya que acertó con la decisión, pues personalmente solo reconocia el nombre por los murales de Rivera en Chapingo y jamas por mi cabeza pensé que aquella imagen fuera la de una persona tan polifacetica y con una vida facinante.
Nacida en Italia, trabajo en Austria desde los 16 años para emigrar a los Estados Unidos donde convivio con algunos de los artistas del momento, participó como actriz en peliculas de Hollywood y se mudo a México en los años 20 con el fotografo Edward Weston de quien aprendió el oficio y convivio con artistas mexicanos de la época. Poso para Rivera y empezo a retratar la miseria de los trabajadores mexicanos de la época postrrevolucionaria como fotografa del "El Machete" donde se unió al partido comunista. Fue injustamente acusada del asesinato de un lider comunista y conspirar en contra de la vida de un candidato presidencial y regreso a Europa y la URRS, donde colaboro como miembro del Socorro Rojo y del partido comunista sovietico, para formar parte de las brigadas internacionales en la guerra civil española y regresar a México a una vida que ya no reconocia trás el paso de la guerra. Murió en la pobreza, en medio de calumnias por su presunta participación en el asesinato de Trosky (otra falsa acusación) y con nulo reconocimiento por sus acciones.
Pero dejando de lado el hecho de que uno necesitaria 50 vidas para hacer lo que esta mujer hizo en vida, tambien nos narra la historia de como el dogmatismo e idealismo extremo puede desdibujar a una persona por completo. Al inicio Tina era una personalidad atrayente, liberadora pero conforme se fue internando mas en la lucha y en una ideologia política (en su caso fue el comunismo, pero podría ser cualquiera) esta parte de su personalidad se fue apagando hasta tomar una personalidad casí irreconocible, una sombre de quien fuera alguna vez. Quiero aclarar que aunque su personalidad se fue apagando, jamás su espiritu de lucha. Pero narra perfectamente los pasos de un adocrinamiento, pasando de solidaridad al activismo, una sensación de culpa sobre su pasado, y su militancia absoluta que en las últimas etapas de su vida la caracterizó, todo alimentado por una experiencia tan traumente como una guerra. Con esto no quiero decir que sus ideales y lucha no fueran validos, e incluso nobles, pero con el costo de su personalidad y las cosas que en su momento amó.
La historia es magnifica, pero por momentos la narración se estanca y se siente lenta. Los primeros episodios en México me gustaron mucho, ligeros llenos de guiños historicos de la época y de personajes que podemos ubicar, pero cuando es deportada la novela toma un giro más siniestro que por momentos se siente mas pesado, más serio, quiza por el cambio en Tina. Pero igual de informativa y en ese sentido la novela da una sensación muy buena de como el personaje cambia, pero el lector puede disadirse por ese cambio tan súbto en la novela. De las novelas de autora es de mis favoritas y vale mucho la pena leerla por su historia facinante, pero algunos episodios si pueden ser lentos y bastante duros (los de la guerra vaya que lo son). Recomendado si buscas una novela biográfica y bien documentada.
September 26, 2017
Me encantó! Desde hace ya un tiempo me he interesado en Tina, encontré este libro y fue una completa aventura para mi, una mujer extraordinaria llena de claroscuros, dentro de la ficción que pueda haber para la narración, me apasionan los momentos que vivió en la guerra civil española y previamente, su intensa estancia en México, que además de ser el lugar donde conoce a su gran amor J.A Mella, nuestro país se convierte en su gran inspiración y donde su vocación de fotógrafa la lleva a la cumbre de sus obras, Elena, dedica gran parte del libro al tiempo que le dedico a la militancia en el partido comunista y como la llena de experiencias y pasajes de auto reflexión. Me entristece bastante la forma en la que regresa a México, muchos años después, ya no encuentra a la misma gente ni el mismo ambiente, que hubiera sido sin su inseparable Enea Sormenti, considero que fue un personaje femenino bastante relevante que si bien merece mayor reconocimiento. Si te gustan las novelas biográficas, ampliamente la recomiendo, ya que nos hace recordar que en todos los tiempos, lugares y circunstancias menos esperadas siempre han habido grandes mujeres apasionadas con alma matriarca para con quienes se rodean.
July 21, 2015
Recordando la lectura de esta novela-biografía que me zambulló en una vorágine de personajes-historia de México y que me permitió escuchar, oler y mirar en forma diferente una época de la historia de mi país.
February 4, 2018
Eyes wide open---and focussed on the market
Tina Modotti led a fascinating life. If it were ultimately tragic, well, whose isn't ? Born into a poor family in northwestern Italy, she emigrated with them to America as a teenager. She married young, to an artistic sort of fellow, got into the silent movies, went to Mexico with her husband, and fell in love with Edward Weston the famous photographer, who left his wife and family to be with her. As one of the bright lights and sexual epicenters of the Mexican artistic renaissance of the 1920s, Modotti sparkled like a Roman candle. Her last (and true ?) lover was a Cuban revolutionary who got himself assassinated by her side in 1929. She was almost 33. The Mexican government tried to implicate her in the murder, finally deporting her to Europe the following year, despite the best efforts of Diego Rivera and the Mexican Communist Party. From then on, Tina floundered. Germany did not suit her, life in Russia in the `30s was anything but pleasant---she subordinated all her individuality to the needs of the party. She became a Comintern agent in Europe, winding up in Spain, where she slaved away throughout the whole Civil War, fleeing to France at the end, and returning to Mexico with her faithless last husband, also a Communist Party operative. She died there in 1941.
OK, that's the outline of her life in a single paragraph. If you want to know how she fit into all the various circles of her acquaintance, if you want to know what Tina thought about any of this, if you would like any sort of psychological grasp of what makes a person live this way, why so much insecurity, why the need to be controlled (ideas that don't even come up in this shallow work)---then, for God's sake, read another book. This is a journalistic, fictionalized biography. Nothing wrong there, such things could be excellent. It depends on what journal we are talking about, though. TINISIMA, in my opinion, derives from the "National Enquirer". We definitely learn about her sexual activities and feelings, because the writer had her eye firmly on the marketplace. We waltz through her love life, but Tina remains an enigma. We are treated to endless cascades of names, some of which may be more familiar in Mexico than in North America, true, but still the presence of many can only be likened to cameo appearances in certain flashy Hollywood movies. Ernest Hemingway, Leon Trotsky, Frida Kahlo, Palmiro Togliatti, Norman Bethune, Lazaro Cardenas, William Z. Foster, Octavio Paz, Garcia Lorca---the list is endless, but to what purpose ? As a novel, not a biography, Poniatowska could have portrayed Modotti's character as deeply and intimately as she wanted. There was nothing to stop her. Instead, we get "People" magazine.
I don't know another book about Tina Modotti unfortunately. I wanted to find out more about her, and, after a fashion, I did by reading TINISIMA, but I believe the real biography, fictional or serious, has yet to be written. The praises lavished on the book on the frontispiece and back cover should be taken with a large number of grains of salt. This book is seriously flawed-it is neither a biography nor a good novel. 3 stars is a generous rating.
Tina Modotti led a fascinating life. If it were ultimately tragic, well, whose isn't ? Born into a poor family in northwestern Italy, she emigrated with them to America as a teenager. She married young, to an artistic sort of fellow, got into the silent movies, went to Mexico with her husband, and fell in love with Edward Weston the famous photographer, who left his wife and family to be with her. As one of the bright lights and sexual epicenters of the Mexican artistic renaissance of the 1920s, Modotti sparkled like a Roman candle. Her last (and true ?) lover was a Cuban revolutionary who got himself assassinated by her side in 1929. She was almost 33. The Mexican government tried to implicate her in the murder, finally deporting her to Europe the following year, despite the best efforts of Diego Rivera and the Mexican Communist Party. From then on, Tina floundered. Germany did not suit her, life in Russia in the `30s was anything but pleasant---she subordinated all her individuality to the needs of the party. She became a Comintern agent in Europe, winding up in Spain, where she slaved away throughout the whole Civil War, fleeing to France at the end, and returning to Mexico with her faithless last husband, also a Communist Party operative. She died there in 1941.
OK, that's the outline of her life in a single paragraph. If you want to know how she fit into all the various circles of her acquaintance, if you want to know what Tina thought about any of this, if you would like any sort of psychological grasp of what makes a person live this way, why so much insecurity, why the need to be controlled (ideas that don't even come up in this shallow work)---then, for God's sake, read another book. This is a journalistic, fictionalized biography. Nothing wrong there, such things could be excellent. It depends on what journal we are talking about, though. TINISIMA, in my opinion, derives from the "National Enquirer". We definitely learn about her sexual activities and feelings, because the writer had her eye firmly on the marketplace. We waltz through her love life, but Tina remains an enigma. We are treated to endless cascades of names, some of which may be more familiar in Mexico than in North America, true, but still the presence of many can only be likened to cameo appearances in certain flashy Hollywood movies. Ernest Hemingway, Leon Trotsky, Frida Kahlo, Palmiro Togliatti, Norman Bethune, Lazaro Cardenas, William Z. Foster, Octavio Paz, Garcia Lorca---the list is endless, but to what purpose ? As a novel, not a biography, Poniatowska could have portrayed Modotti's character as deeply and intimately as she wanted. There was nothing to stop her. Instead, we get "People" magazine.
I don't know another book about Tina Modotti unfortunately. I wanted to find out more about her, and, after a fashion, I did by reading TINISIMA, but I believe the real biography, fictional or serious, has yet to be written. The praises lavished on the book on the frontispiece and back cover should be taken with a large number of grains of salt. This book is seriously flawed-it is neither a biography nor a good novel. 3 stars is a generous rating.
August 18, 2014
Muy bien escrito pero sumamente aburrido. A pesar de que hay contratiempos, traiciones, incógnitas y amor, me pareció aburridísimo. Creo que Poniatowska hizo una novela muy lograda y que cuenta detalladamente de su investigación sobre Tina Modotti y todo el aire revolucionario y comunista que la rodeó hasta su muerte. En las páginas se sienten los tiempos del cambio, el amor a México, al mundo, al arte. Según mi opinión, esta es una historia ficcionalizada: a pesar de que son hechos y fechas verdaderas, la narración se permite jugar con estos elementos y convertirlos en novela.
Obviamente, la novela trata sobre Modotti, fotógrafa italoamericana quien con los años se hace comunista y que también hace de agente (o quizá espía) de la URSS. La autora escribe de esta mujer sin conocerla personalmente, sólo basándose en las opiniones de quienes sí la conocieron y eso es fantástico. Cada emoción, cada miedo, cada alegría y cada tristeza están narrados como si Modotti le hubiese contado todo a Poniatowska. Llegar a profundizar tanto en un personaje célebre es increíble. La maestría con los detalles y con las conversaciones no la logra cualquiera.
Ahora, realmente Tina me llegó a exasperar en ocasiones por su tragedia, con aires de mártir y sufriente. Además que sus ideales son tan... eso, idealistas que no me agradó ni me identifiqué. Las historias de amor dentro de la novela creo que son las más logradas, las más tiernas y auténticas.
En fin, la novela, de resto, tiene una buena estructura, explora la figura de lo femenino desde lo débil hasta lo fuerte, desde el amor hasta el sexo, desde la creación hasta el dolor más profundo. Uno, en la narración, se da cuenta de los grandes cambios en la historia y es como si uno formara parte del proceso. Digo, la narración es espléndida pero aburruda. Lo demás, un montón de nombres en acontecimientos importantes: conspiraciones, triunfos, victorias, guerras, pérdidas y muertes.
Obviamente, la novela trata sobre Modotti, fotógrafa italoamericana quien con los años se hace comunista y que también hace de agente (o quizá espía) de la URSS. La autora escribe de esta mujer sin conocerla personalmente, sólo basándose en las opiniones de quienes sí la conocieron y eso es fantástico. Cada emoción, cada miedo, cada alegría y cada tristeza están narrados como si Modotti le hubiese contado todo a Poniatowska. Llegar a profundizar tanto en un personaje célebre es increíble. La maestría con los detalles y con las conversaciones no la logra cualquiera.
Ahora, realmente Tina me llegó a exasperar en ocasiones por su tragedia, con aires de mártir y sufriente. Además que sus ideales son tan... eso, idealistas que no me agradó ni me identifiqué. Las historias de amor dentro de la novela creo que son las más logradas, las más tiernas y auténticas.
En fin, la novela, de resto, tiene una buena estructura, explora la figura de lo femenino desde lo débil hasta lo fuerte, desde el amor hasta el sexo, desde la creación hasta el dolor más profundo. Uno, en la narración, se da cuenta de los grandes cambios en la historia y es como si uno formara parte del proceso. Digo, la narración es espléndida pero aburruda. Lo demás, un montón de nombres en acontecimientos importantes: conspiraciones, triunfos, victorias, guerras, pérdidas y muertes.
January 29, 2019
Vaya vida la de Tina Modotti.
Me encantaron sus relatos en México durante los años 20's. Su relación con artistas e intelectuales de la época. Un momento interesante en México por el impulso tan grande que Vasconcelos le dio a la educación.
Sin embargo el contraste tan fuerte con su exilio y las vivencias en Alemania, Rusia y sobre todo España. Esos años fueron duros y difíciles. Recordé las palabras de mi abuela: 'Cuando sonaban las sirenas para ir a los refugios, yo me quedaba en casa. Correr al refugio era más peligroso, la gente se empujaba y se aplastaba. La angustia y la locura se apoderaba de todos. En esas circunstancias era preferible quedarse en casa y cubrir a mis hijos con mi cuerpo... y rezar, sólo rezar'...
¡Qué triste es la Guerra!
Interesante el contexto en el que vivió.
¡Muy buen libro!
Me encantaron sus relatos en México durante los años 20's. Su relación con artistas e intelectuales de la época. Un momento interesante en México por el impulso tan grande que Vasconcelos le dio a la educación.
Sin embargo el contraste tan fuerte con su exilio y las vivencias en Alemania, Rusia y sobre todo España. Esos años fueron duros y difíciles. Recordé las palabras de mi abuela: 'Cuando sonaban las sirenas para ir a los refugios, yo me quedaba en casa. Correr al refugio era más peligroso, la gente se empujaba y se aplastaba. La angustia y la locura se apoderaba de todos. En esas circunstancias era preferible quedarse en casa y cubrir a mis hijos con mi cuerpo... y rezar, sólo rezar'...
¡Qué triste es la Guerra!
Interesante el contexto en el que vivió.
¡Muy buen libro!
August 21, 2018
Tinísima es la biografía que Elena Poniatowska escribió sobre la fotógrafa y militante de izquierda Tina Modotti. Más de una década tardó la escritora en terminar esta obra, y se nota. Una obra enorme, no solo por sus dimensiones sino por la profundidad que alcanza cuando recrea la vida de la gran artista. No sé si exista una biografía más extensa o más completa sobre Modotti, pero es probablemente el documento definitivo sobre esta mujer de vida tan complicada, tal como su obra.
July 19, 2022
El fragmento gratuito de kindle fue suficiente para regalarme excelentes noches de sueño.
El problema era que cuando quería leerlo por la tarde, también me daba por tomar una siesta.
Elena Poniatowska convirtió la vida de Tina Modotti en una telenovela melodramática con tintes discretamente políticos que me obligan a cerrar y abandonar el libro en la página 78.
El problema era que cuando quería leerlo por la tarde, también me daba por tomar una siesta.
Elena Poniatowska convirtió la vida de Tina Modotti en una telenovela melodramática con tintes discretamente políticos que me obligan a cerrar y abandonar el libro en la página 78.
September 13, 2019
Normalmente Poniatowska me encanta, pero éste la verdad, no me gustó nada. ¿Será que por andar en política ya perdió el toque la señora? Aburrido, repetitivo, parece más un reportaje que un relato o una biografía.
July 9, 2017
Los libros de Elena Poniatowska son siempre un viaje. Y este no sé si es un reflejo de México hace 80 años o el México de ahorita. Me sigue gustando más Leonora.
February 16, 2019
Truly excellent and unforgettable.
April 28, 2024
Me parece una historia increíble, llena de historia, amor, compromiso y tenacidad, el talento de la fotógrafa mostrado desde su esencia y llevado a ser parte de la historia de la humanidad .
May 15, 2014
Elena Poniatowska has written more than forty books in a variety of formats and genres. Probably her best-known work is the nonfiction investigative book, La noche de Tlatelolco (Massacre in Mexico) (1971), about the 1968 government repression of student protestors in Mexico City. She also wrote about the devastating 1985 Mexico City earthquake, Nada nadie. Las voces del temblor (Nothing No one: The Voices of the Earthquake) (1988.) In each of these books she used eyewitness accounts that she obtained herself by interviewing survivors, prisoners, victims and others who were directly impacted by the events.
Her fiction includes her first novel, Lilus Kikus (1954), a coming-of-age story about Mexican women before feminism. It centers on a young girl who is molded by society to become an obedient bride. In Hasta no verte Jesús mío (Here's to You, Jesusa!)(1969), a book labelled as "remarkable" by the New York Times, Poniatowska brilliantly tells the story of the "silent world of an illiterate campesina."
Tinisima is historical fiction based on the life of Tina Modotti -- artist's model, actor, world-class photographer, bohemian, revolutionary, and lover of some of the world's most famous men such as Edward Weston and Diego Rivera. She also was framed for the assassination of the charismatic Cuban revolutionary, Julio Antonio Mella, one of her many other lovers, spied throughout Europe for Stalin's Comintern, and suffered immensely during the Spanish Civil War, the conflict that finally broke her. During the twenties she was admired and loved throughout Mexico (the people affectionately referred to her as Tinísima) because of her sympathetic photographs that graphically and poetically depicted the plight of the poor and working people of her adopted country (she was born in Italy in 1896.) In the thirties she gave up photography but lived an exciting and dangerous life as a Communist operative in the cause of the revolution. She volunteered in Spain as a nurse and in other capacities during that country's tumultuous civil war. When she died in 1942 of heart failure, in Mexico, she was practically unknown, withdrawn and depressed.
Her story encompasses major events of the Twentieth Century and her life is filled with themes that are relevant today -- feminism, leftist sectarianism and male chauvinism, the betrayal of idealism, art vs. political art, etc. -- but, more importantly, her life is a testament to the power of the individual who sees wrong and wants to make it right, and then pursues that goal as her life's work.
Poniatowska researched this book for ten years. She dug into all the sources available to her at the time including several biographies. She also interviewed numerous people who were on the scene with Modotti including her last lover, and fellow spy, Vittorio Vidali. The author traveled to Italy to talk directly with Vidali. The interview lasted a week and resulted in more than 350 pages of questions and answers.
Based on all that research, in lesser hands the book could have ended up as a turgid academic tome. But Poniatowska's talent combined with the inherent richness of Modotti's life produced a marvelous read. The book is written in a straightforward, journalistic style (Poniatowska started as a reporter) that never loses its balance. Through the use of Modotti's letters and official references such as court transcripts, the reader is inserted in the middle of the historical events, but the intimate observations from Tina herself, as interpreted by the author, add texture and subjective flavor. Written in the present tense, for the most part, the book engages the reader at the most personal level. Without speaking directly to Modotti, this is as close as we are going to get to knowing what was on her mind, her motivations, fears, triumphs and disasters.
Poniatowska originally published Tinisima in 1992. I read the excellent trade paperback edition published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2006. One feature I especially liked about the book's layout is that each chapter begins with a photograph taken by Modotti or Weston, or that is relevant to the story such as a news shot of policemen questioning Modotti. The translation is by Katherine Silver.
This review originally appeared on La Bloga.
Her fiction includes her first novel, Lilus Kikus (1954), a coming-of-age story about Mexican women before feminism. It centers on a young girl who is molded by society to become an obedient bride. In Hasta no verte Jesús mío (Here's to You, Jesusa!)(1969), a book labelled as "remarkable" by the New York Times, Poniatowska brilliantly tells the story of the "silent world of an illiterate campesina."
Tinisima is historical fiction based on the life of Tina Modotti -- artist's model, actor, world-class photographer, bohemian, revolutionary, and lover of some of the world's most famous men such as Edward Weston and Diego Rivera. She also was framed for the assassination of the charismatic Cuban revolutionary, Julio Antonio Mella, one of her many other lovers, spied throughout Europe for Stalin's Comintern, and suffered immensely during the Spanish Civil War, the conflict that finally broke her. During the twenties she was admired and loved throughout Mexico (the people affectionately referred to her as Tinísima) because of her sympathetic photographs that graphically and poetically depicted the plight of the poor and working people of her adopted country (she was born in Italy in 1896.) In the thirties she gave up photography but lived an exciting and dangerous life as a Communist operative in the cause of the revolution. She volunteered in Spain as a nurse and in other capacities during that country's tumultuous civil war. When she died in 1942 of heart failure, in Mexico, she was practically unknown, withdrawn and depressed.
Her story encompasses major events of the Twentieth Century and her life is filled with themes that are relevant today -- feminism, leftist sectarianism and male chauvinism, the betrayal of idealism, art vs. political art, etc. -- but, more importantly, her life is a testament to the power of the individual who sees wrong and wants to make it right, and then pursues that goal as her life's work.
Poniatowska researched this book for ten years. She dug into all the sources available to her at the time including several biographies. She also interviewed numerous people who were on the scene with Modotti including her last lover, and fellow spy, Vittorio Vidali. The author traveled to Italy to talk directly with Vidali. The interview lasted a week and resulted in more than 350 pages of questions and answers.
Based on all that research, in lesser hands the book could have ended up as a turgid academic tome. But Poniatowska's talent combined with the inherent richness of Modotti's life produced a marvelous read. The book is written in a straightforward, journalistic style (Poniatowska started as a reporter) that never loses its balance. Through the use of Modotti's letters and official references such as court transcripts, the reader is inserted in the middle of the historical events, but the intimate observations from Tina herself, as interpreted by the author, add texture and subjective flavor. Written in the present tense, for the most part, the book engages the reader at the most personal level. Without speaking directly to Modotti, this is as close as we are going to get to knowing what was on her mind, her motivations, fears, triumphs and disasters.
Poniatowska originally published Tinisima in 1992. I read the excellent trade paperback edition published by the University of New Mexico Press in 2006. One feature I especially liked about the book's layout is that each chapter begins with a photograph taken by Modotti or Weston, or that is relevant to the story such as a news shot of policemen questioning Modotti. The translation is by Katherine Silver.
This review originally appeared on La Bloga.
January 9, 2019
I originally read this novel in Latin American Literature class as an undergrad at WVU with Dr. Pablo Gonzalez - beloved professor who opened up the whole world to me. I’ve wanted to read it again for a long time but my copy was left behind in Michigan when I moved years ago. I recently found an English copy at a library book sale in a nearby town that I happened to visit when I was supposed to be doing something else. Magic things happen at library book sales!
Although this is a fictionalized account of Tina Modotti's life, it is very well-researched and includes many letters and writings by Modotti and her companions during her time in Mexico, her exile to the USSR and her time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Her life cannot be contained - a "romantic revolutionary": lover of famous photographer Edward Weston, muse of Diego Rivera, secret agent for the Soviets, heroine to the Mexican people, lover of a young handsome Cuban revolutionary who was assassinated while walking arm in arm with her on the street...who can imagine such a life? It's hard to comprehend someone lived all of these experiences in such a short time - she died at age 46. Her life was shaped by activism and her desire to see the end of suffering for the poor. She knew she had power because she was beautiful and had full intent to change the world with this knowledge. This might be one of the most significant aspects of her life that the book doesn't address: how she wielded the power of her beauty to effect change. To a large extent, the book does not address the morality of her work and activism, which I found unfortunate. She is one of my favorite heroes of all time. It also provides some really good sociopolitical context for what was happening in the 1920s-30s across the world in the lead up to WWII, especially highlighting how the demonization of communism in the Western hemisphere connected to the rise of fascism in Europe.
The writing is not great in the translated version, but it doesn't have to be because the subject matter is so compelling. Elena Poniatowska is one of Mexico's most celebrated writers and she has been writing about women in Mexican history for a long time. She has a great book on the women of the Mexican Revolution that has some amazing photographs if one is interested in more of her work. I plan to read more of her in the coming months. Most of the time Tina Modotti spent in Mexico was in Mexico City and I've tried to locate some of the places where she may have lived and gathered with her friends there. Sadly, the city has not preserved much of it's small side streets and buildings in and around the main Zócalo, a lot of the colonial architecture has been replaced with "modern" structures from the 1960s-70s. But you can bring the book just four hours northwest to Guanajuato, very rich in colonial architecture, find a café on a side street and read it there to imagine what might have been.
Although this is a fictionalized account of Tina Modotti's life, it is very well-researched and includes many letters and writings by Modotti and her companions during her time in Mexico, her exile to the USSR and her time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Her life cannot be contained - a "romantic revolutionary": lover of famous photographer Edward Weston, muse of Diego Rivera, secret agent for the Soviets, heroine to the Mexican people, lover of a young handsome Cuban revolutionary who was assassinated while walking arm in arm with her on the street...who can imagine such a life? It's hard to comprehend someone lived all of these experiences in such a short time - she died at age 46. Her life was shaped by activism and her desire to see the end of suffering for the poor. She knew she had power because she was beautiful and had full intent to change the world with this knowledge. This might be one of the most significant aspects of her life that the book doesn't address: how she wielded the power of her beauty to effect change. To a large extent, the book does not address the morality of her work and activism, which I found unfortunate. She is one of my favorite heroes of all time. It also provides some really good sociopolitical context for what was happening in the 1920s-30s across the world in the lead up to WWII, especially highlighting how the demonization of communism in the Western hemisphere connected to the rise of fascism in Europe.
The writing is not great in the translated version, but it doesn't have to be because the subject matter is so compelling. Elena Poniatowska is one of Mexico's most celebrated writers and she has been writing about women in Mexican history for a long time. She has a great book on the women of the Mexican Revolution that has some amazing photographs if one is interested in more of her work. I plan to read more of her in the coming months. Most of the time Tina Modotti spent in Mexico was in Mexico City and I've tried to locate some of the places where she may have lived and gathered with her friends there. Sadly, the city has not preserved much of it's small side streets and buildings in and around the main Zócalo, a lot of the colonial architecture has been replaced with "modern" structures from the 1960s-70s. But you can bring the book just four hours northwest to Guanajuato, very rich in colonial architecture, find a café on a side street and read it there to imagine what might have been.
April 3, 2016
I struggle with fictional biographies as a genre--I find they skip over too many details to give a historical overview. In this way I think this book was similar to The Lacuna. But the history was really interesting, and clearly well-researched--Poniatowska spent ten years researching the life of Tina Modotti to write this novel. And you can see the details of her research on every page. But sometimes, it's too much. There are so many names that it's hard to keep track of people, some of whom appear to have their names dropped just to show where Tina intersected with this or that person in history--but it comes at the expense of character development of really any of the characters. Even Tina, the eponymous protagonist, only gives us glimpses into her head. We see her progression from joyful to tragic. But the story is not really told from her point of view.
Anyway, I learned a lot about the Spanish Civil War and different sects of communism throughout the early 20th century, so that was very interesting. It just didn't quite feel like a novel. I really would like to read more Elena Poniatowska, but maybe I should go for something a little less biographical next time.
Anyway, I learned a lot about the Spanish Civil War and different sects of communism throughout the early 20th century, so that was very interesting. It just didn't quite feel like a novel. I really would like to read more Elena Poniatowska, but maybe I should go for something a little less biographical next time.
February 5, 2010
I tried to read this in Spanish but Poniatowska's writing is too disjointed, each scene based on dialog or imagery rather than a narrative line, and it was too much of a struggle. The English translation took such liberties, not only leaving out large chunks (which is to be expected if the book is being somewhat abridged) but also rearranging what was there so completely (paragraph by paragraph, line by line, image by image) that it was no help for me as a guide for the Spanish. About halfway through, I abandoned the Spanish. So, Tina Modotti lived an interesting life, lover to Edward Weston who took her to Mexico and taught her photography, lover to a martyred Cuban communist, and to others, but once she threw in her allegiance with the Stalinist hardliners in Moscow, she was locked into the communist's spying and double-crossing and she was never truly free after that. I hadn't known that she was in Spain during the Spanish revolution. At any rate, an interesting portrayal of the times, when I finally could understand it.
August 6, 2011
Una biograf'ía muy al estilo de Elena Poniatowska. La vida de Tina Modotti, una mujer que siguió sus instintos, al amor, a las desventuras. Con una forma de ver la vida muy especial, y que se refleja en sus fotografías. A pesar del mundo tan turbulento que le tocó vivir, ve la belleza en las pequeñas y sencillas cosas a su alrededor. Eso es lo que más me gustó de esta novela - biografía - obra. Pero también me quedó el dolor de la desilusión, la impotencia, la desesperanza y la rabia que sintió ante los acontecimientos que le tocó presenciar. Definitivamente es una excelente obra, la recomiendo a los que se interesan por la historia de México desde principios hasta mediados del siglo XX. Aunque no es historia oficial, ofrece otro punto de vista de los acontecimientos nacionales, y en parte mundiales de esos años. Creo que me quedo con su fuerza de voluntad, y la esperanza que nunca perdió.
April 19, 2022
Aunque la abandoné por muchos meses, un poco intimidado por su extensión, finalmente retomé, terminé y disfruté esta novela biográfica que hay que llamar épica: la investigación le tomó a Poniatowska una década, y la cantidad de eventos, personajes y contextos puede marear al lector. Leerla requiere un esfuerzo que se va volviendo admiración por el esfuerzo paralelo de su escritura. Y admiración, también, por el personaje histórico de Tina Modotti, que vivió con verdadera pasión y entrega cada empeño artístico, personal y político en su vida. Entre muchas cosas, la novela incluye también un gran relato de la guerra civil española, que casi funciona como otro libro por sí mismo.
Con todo, y aunque es innegable el oficio y la maestría de Poniatowska, hay muchos momentos en la primera mitad del libro en que la única razón para seguir leyendo es Tina misma, pero no alguna tensión narrativa, secreto, duda, sorpresa o dilema.
Con todo, y aunque es innegable el oficio y la maestría de Poniatowska, hay muchos momentos en la primera mitad del libro en que la única razón para seguir leyendo es Tina misma, pero no alguna tensión narrativa, secreto, duda, sorpresa o dilema.
March 26, 2014
Excelente novela-biografia sobre Tina Modoti, de la cual, debo confesar, conocia muy poco, casi nada. Solo sabia de su relacion con Julio Antonio Mella cuando este murio' asesinado en Mexico. Jamas imagine' que tuvo una vida tan intensa. Y creo muy dificil que lea otro libro donde aparezcan personajes de la relevancia historia o cultural de Julio Antonio Mella, Edward Weston, Jose Vasconcelos, Xavier Guerrero, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Pablo O'Higgins, Frida Khalo, Stalin, Rafael Alberti, Antonio Machado, La Pasionaria, Nicolas Guillen, Juan Marinello, Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Dimitrov, Palmiro Togliatti, Vittorio Vidali, Lazaro Cardenas, Pablo Neruda. Se lo recomiendo a quien quiera conocer algo del panorama politico y cultural de Mexico y Europa en los 20, 30 e inicos de los 40.
April 18, 2019
Fue un desafió para mí, la primera parte habla mucho sobra la Tina que conocemos, la fotógrafa, la musa, la mujer que atrae y que gusta de la atención y la fiesta, pero eso es solo un brevísimo pasaje, la parte profunda y que deja más huella en Tina es su militancia política desde Francia, Rusia, España, Mexico, va experimentando los horrores y los desatinos de la humanidad, esto hace que su individualidad y sus gustos pasen a un segundo término, sobreponiéndose una Tina más apasionada por creencias e ideales, al mismo tiempo que su condición de mujer la minimiza como figura clave en el movimiento político mundial al que estaba adherida. Un libro que vale mucho la pena por su valor histórico.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2022
Hace meses que Tina me acompaña de la mano de Elena. Viajamos al México artístico de los 20, a la Moscú roja y a la España republicana (sin dudas, mi parte favorita), al Nueva York anticapitalista y de nuevo al México de los 40, el de los exiliados, los perseguidos, los que no pudieron matar.
Pocas vidas tan increíbles como la de la Modotti: migrante, amante, musa, artista, revolucionaria. Esta no es sólo una buena biografía, es una enorme lección de investigación y un recorrido íntimo no sólo de una mujer increible sino de un viaje a pedazos conmovedores de la historia.
Me declaro una fan de Poniatowska. Seguiré con otras obras, más que seguro. Ah, qué hermosa esa sensación de querer más palabras.
Hasta siempre, Tina, Tinísima.
Pocas vidas tan increíbles como la de la Modotti: migrante, amante, musa, artista, revolucionaria. Esta no es sólo una buena biografía, es una enorme lección de investigación y un recorrido íntimo no sólo de una mujer increible sino de un viaje a pedazos conmovedores de la historia.
Me declaro una fan de Poniatowska. Seguiré con otras obras, más que seguro. Ah, qué hermosa esa sensación de querer más palabras.
Hasta siempre, Tina, Tinísima.
September 1, 2007
This is not exactly a biography, but it's a beautiful work based on the life of Tina Modotti, one of my favorite photographers. I read this while I was in Nicaragua and it was part of what inspired me to study Nicaraguan photographers. Very, very cool. Also kind of sexy. After reading this, I was in Cuba and saw Julio Antonio Mella's death mask (he was Tina's lover and a Cuban Communist revolutionary in Mexico. The book talks about how he was murdered while Tina was with him, so I already had a vivid background story when I saw the death mask.)
March 1, 2013
I started reading this book more or less by accident, and was surprised how quickly i was drawn into it. The author really brings to life the story of a woman who i wish i'd learned about in history class. It was also a really compelling rendition of the Spanish Revolution, a subject i always enjoy reading about. I liked reading about these events throgh Tinisima's eyes, she was kind of the zealot i would have rolled my eyes at, and i was impressed to what extent Poniatowska helped me to walk in her point of view even as i maintained skeptisism about the path she took.
October 23, 2022
Una vez que lo comencé no pude parar de leerlo.
La historia de Tina Modotti es no solo interesante, tuvo una vida tan llena de sucesos, conoció a la gente más importante de varios ámbitos en varios países. Pero lo más importante es que fue ella misma en cada una de sus etapas como persona. Una mujer hermosa, atractiva, talentosa, inteligente, capaz, pero sobre todo completamente comprometida con lo que creía.
Amé el libro, gracias a Elena Poniatowska por todo el tiempo que invirtió en conocer y en escribir esta historia.
La historia de Tina Modotti es no solo interesante, tuvo una vida tan llena de sucesos, conoció a la gente más importante de varios ámbitos en varios países. Pero lo más importante es que fue ella misma en cada una de sus etapas como persona. Una mujer hermosa, atractiva, talentosa, inteligente, capaz, pero sobre todo completamente comprometida con lo que creía.
Amé el libro, gracias a Elena Poniatowska por todo el tiempo que invirtió en conocer y en escribir esta historia.
June 23, 2007
Poniatowska retraces, reimagines Italian photographer Tina Modotti's life. In doing so, Poniatowska also paints the political turmoil of 20s, 30s Mexico, the communist struggle in Spain and mainly how those who fought for the Republic became disillusioned with the movement's waivering and waning ideals.
However, the prose --though brilliant at times-- seems to fall trap of a writer's self-indulgence.
However, the prose --though brilliant at times-- seems to fall trap of a writer's self-indulgence.
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