The Writings of Carlos Fuentes

by Raymond L. Williams

Smitten by the modernity of Cervantes and Borges at an early age, Carlos Fuentes has written extensively on the cultures of the Americas and elsewhere. His work includes over a dozen novels, among them The Death of Artemio Cruz, Christopher Unborn, The Old Gringo, and Terra Nostra, several volumes of short stories, numerous essays on literary, cultural, and political topics, and some theater. In this book, Raymond Leslie Williams traces the themes of history, culture, and identity in Fuentes' work, particularly in his complex, major novel Terra Nostra. He opens with a biography of Fuentes that links his works to his intellectual life. The heart of the study is Williams' extensive reading of the novel Terra Nostra, in which Fuentes explores the presence of Spanish culture and history in Latin America. Williams concludes with a look at how Fuentes' other fiction relates to Terra Nostra, including Fuentes' own division of his work into fourteen cycles that he calls "La Edad del Tiempo," and with an interview in which Fuentes discusses his concept of this cyclical division.

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Raymond Williams is based out of Riverside, California, United States and works at University Of California, Riverside as Distinguished Professor.

Reviews

[Juan Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puntual estudio sobre la obra de Carlos Fuentes: Raymond L. Williams sostiene con razón que Terra Nostra, el opus magnum del escritor, es el centro a partir del cual se ordena todo el universo narrativo de Fuentes. En tiempos de políticas identitarias, es preciso señalar que Fuentes acuñó tempranamente el término Afro-Indo-Iberoamérica para dar cuenta de la vastedad y diversidad de nuestra herencia y mestizaje culturales.