Miranda Talavera Béjar, Grade 12
UWCRBC
Las Batallas en el Desierto (Battles in the Desert) by José Emilio Pacheco is my favorite book. Even though it is only seventy-two pages long, this short novel captures perfectly Mexico’s encounter with globalization, class differences, and struggle to keep traditions intact.
José Emilio Pacheco Berny was a poet, narrator, essayist, and translator, and one of the most important writers of Mexican literature of the twentieth century. His work is characterized by experimenting with new structures and narrative techniques, as well as social and political criticism to Mexican societies. He received over 20 awards for his work, including the Octavio Paz International Award for Poetry and Essays, and the Queen Sofía Award for Ibero-American Poetry.
Las Batallas en el Desierto is Pacheco’s most popular work. It was first shared on June 7th, 1980, in the Sábado supplement of the Unomásuno journal and officially published the next year by Era editorial house. Pachecho received the Alfonso Reyes International Award for this publication, given to authors whose works contribute to literary research and criticism. The novel was adapted into a movie called “Mariana, Mariana”, directed by Alberto Isaac in 1986. The movie won 8 Ariel awards given by the Mexican Film Academy. The novel has also been referenced in music, and theater; most notoriously in the song “Las Batallas” by Café Tacuba.
I came across this novel when I was 13 years old because it was one of the recommended readings for my Spanish literature class. I loved reading but I had grown up looking up to Anglo-Saxon writers and ignoring Mexican literature, so when a list with mainly Mexican and some other Latin American writers was given to us, I was intrigued. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Las Batallas en el Desierto, but sooner rather than later, this novel became one of my favorites. I loved reading about my country in a historical period I was not alive for. I grew up with US-American and European influences being the norm, so I was curious about a time when Mexican culture was just beginning to interact with others.
The moments that stood out the most in the book when I read it for the first time are when the author refers to anglicisms and writes them phonetically as they would be spelled in Spanish. Nowadays, anglicisms are part of Mexican day-to-day vocabulary. Reading Pacheco’s interpretation of said anglicisms fostered in me a sense of estrangement from them by exaggerating the differences between the English and Spanish languages. Said authorial choice made me more conscious of my language choices and how they represent a political statement whether we intend them that way or not.
Having grown up in a country with a colonized history and a border with the United States, I was taught to look “up” at the others instead of “down” at my country and the rest of Latin America. My approach to literature has a clear before and after, and this book is the line. Pacheco taught me from a very young age about the struggles of my country and the hidden effects of modernization and imperialism, all while sharing entertaining stories with accessible language of all ages.
https://www.cervantes.es/bibliotecas_documentacion_espanol/creadores/jose_emilio_pacheco.htm
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Emilio_Pacheco#Biograf%C3%ADa
https://circulodelectores.pe/las-batallas-en-el-desierto-jose-emilio-pacheco/
https://literatura.inba.gob.mx/premio-internacional-alfonso-reyes.html
José Emilio Pacheco Berny was a poet, narrator, essayist, and translator, and one of the most important writers of Mexican literature of the twentieth century. His work is characterized by experimenting with new structures and narrative techniques, as well as social and political criticism to Mexican societies. He received over 20 awards for his work, including the Octavio Paz International Award for Poetry and Essays, and the Queen Sofía Award for Ibero-American Poetry.
Las Batallas en el Desierto is Pacheco’s most popular work. It was first shared on June 7th, 1980, in the Sábado supplement of the Unomásuno journal and officially published the next year by Era editorial house. Pachecho received the Alfonso Reyes International Award for this publication, given to authors whose works contribute to literary research and criticism. The novel was adapted into a movie called “Mariana, Mariana”, directed by Alberto Isaac in 1986. The movie won 8 Ariel awards given by the Mexican Film Academy. The novel has also been referenced in music, and theater; most notoriously in the song “Las Batallas” by Café Tacuba.
I came across this novel when I was 13 years old because it was one of the recommended readings for my Spanish literature class. I loved reading but I had grown up looking up to Anglo-Saxon writers and ignoring Mexican literature, so when a list with mainly Mexican and some other Latin American writers was given to us, I was intrigued. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Las Batallas en el Desierto, but sooner rather than later, this novel became one of my favorites. I loved reading about my country in a historical period I was not alive for. I grew up with US-American and European influences being the norm, so I was curious about a time when Mexican culture was just beginning to interact with others.
The moments that stood out the most in the book when I read it for the first time are when the author refers to anglicisms and writes them phonetically as they would be spelled in Spanish. Nowadays, anglicisms are part of Mexican day-to-day vocabulary. Reading Pacheco’s interpretation of said anglicisms fostered in me a sense of estrangement from them by exaggerating the differences between the English and Spanish languages. Said authorial choice made me more conscious of my language choices and how they represent a political statement whether we intend them that way or not.
Having grown up in a country with a colonized history and a border with the United States, I was taught to look “up” at the others instead of “down” at my country and the rest of Latin America. My approach to literature has a clear before and after, and this book is the line. Pacheco taught me from a very young age about the struggles of my country and the hidden effects of modernization and imperialism, all while sharing entertaining stories with accessible language of all ages.
https://www.cervantes.es/bibliotecas_documentacion_espanol/creadores/jose_emilio_pacheco.htm
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Emilio_Pacheco#Biograf%C3%ADa
https://circulodelectores.pe/las-batallas-en-el-desierto-jose-emilio-pacheco/
https://literatura.inba.gob.mx/premio-internacional-alfonso-reyes.html
www.unitedworldwide.co