The Isthmus: Stories from Mexico's Past, 1495-1995

by Bruce Stores

Mexican history is as tortured and crooked (in both senses of the word) as an ox cart trail--unexpected turns around every corner, replete with bumps and declivities. The casual reader of general Mexican history will find it difficult keeping up with the list of Mexico's principal characters over the centuries, now expanding, then suddenly contracting due to assassinations, exiles, military defeats, and alliances gone awry. Oaxacan writer Bruce Stores solves that problem by employing a simple technique used for millennia by the local indigenous storytelling. His take on historical fiction paints a human, everyday face on the historian's cold mask of dates, places, and wars. Structuring his book around key historical events, he asks--and answers--the How did that feel? Who was affected? What happened to the community, the families? The focus of this book, as its title implies, is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the bottom of the "scorpion's tail" of Mexican geography. At its narrowest point, it's only approximately 125 miles wide, spanning the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, making the Isthmus an early, much-courted, often-spurned alternative to the Panama Canal. The region's remoteness, heat, and lack of picturesque colonial cities or swank beach resorts have kept tourists far away. And perhaps because of that, and sociological factors as well, the Isthmus has managed to protect its distinct, largely indigenous, culture. Stores explains that culture to us over a 500-year period through the pre-Conquest period with its intertribal warfare to Cortes' arrival, the battles for independence from Spain, and the French Intervention. In the modern era, his characters fight political battles from Mexico City's university protests to struggles with the domination of the long-entrenched Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). A common thread for all the stories is the importance of land to the Zapotec people. It defines them. "'Land ownership in Oaxaca, ' Gomez told the Judge, 'has different roots. The system of property rights among the pre-Colombian natives was, without a doubt, antagonistic to the Spaniards' sense of private property. Yet to the indigenous peoples, their communal property holdings were as natural to them as night and day. Because their land was the provider of their food, they considered it to be divine. Yes. Their land was to them a god. And, just as the air and the wind belong to everyone, they couldn't come to terms with European notions of private property. '" The Isthmus succeeds in elucidating a little-understood region of Mexico. And its telling of tales brings us closer the fierce human spirit that has withstood-and shaped-- its history.

392 pages, Hardcover

First published November 16, 2009

Reviews

[Lawrence Lihosit]

IN BRUCE STORES’ SECOND BOOK, he tackled fiction — a tricky craft for anyone since its aim is to entertain. In fact, many who attempt fiction forget this simple rule, Mr. Stores among them.

A serious book about a serious topic, the author attempted to present a five-hundred-year panoramic historical view of an isolated portion of Oaxacan Mexico, an area known for poverty, cruelty and rebellion. This is historical fiction about “natives who have been in continuous struggle for local control.” The book includes eleven vignettes about moments in history, culminating in political activities during the last twenty-five years of the twentieth century: one piece about pre-Colombian history, two about colonial history, two about nineteenth century independence and six about the twentieth century.

It is reported to be a collection of short stories yet the author listed them as chapters (Is this a novel?). Unfortunately, story lines are weak and the dialogue silly. In the very first “chapter” a woman is described in such a way that leads the reader to believe that she is an important character. However, the tale does not accomplish this. In fact, she sounds foolish. At the moment she gives birth she says, “My baby’s coming! My baby’s coming” Then, “Ow. Oow.” The dialogue clunks along without discernible plot via meaningless action. Even the historical descriptions are ludicrous. Given the wealth of printed historical descriptions, it is curious why the author does not appear to have consulted them. For instance, when describing Aztec warriors he stated, “Putting on skins of venerated beasts and painting their bodies served to glorify the warrior’s status.” What animals? If they painted their bodies — how, in what color and manner?

This is a prelude to the style of each piece. Later in the book the author printed long speeches with indented margins as if he were about to cite some bibliographic source (Is this fact or fiction?). He also continually uses dialogue that forces the reader to either grimace or giggle: “I’ve got some personal issues . . . What brings you here?” Worst of all, he used “Elizabethan English” with phrases like “Thou alone would be revered . . .”

In his preface, the author complained that academic studies about this area “do not feel alive” and that such studies were “out of bounds for the average reader.” While I agree that many are written in a specific format and filled with professional jargon, there are a host of magazines that present the same material in journalistic style and common language such as National Geographic, Archaeology News and the Smithsonian to name a few.

If you expect a reviewer to read an entire book, disregard my comments because I failed. I put this book down quickly and only picked it up again due to pangs of guilt. I really wanted to be fair to Mr. Stores who has produced 392 grammatically correct pages.

There are many examples of successful historical fiction, even by foreigners about Latin America. Usually, the works about the distant past sensationalize (Aztec), but sometimes when dealing with the recent past, illuminate (Red Flag for Sunrise). This book does neither.

Maybe this is the humble beginning of a new literary career. Carlos Casteneda began with an academic paper so poorly written that it was never published. As his books progressed, his style improved. This is Stores’ first shot at fiction and he should try again.