The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations
Encyclopedia
"The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations" is the English
translation of an essay written in French
by French
author and Nobel laureate
J. M. G. Le Clézio.
in the 16th century, particularly the end of the Mexica
civilization at the hands of the Spanish conquistador
s.
The author analyses the personalities of characters such as Hernán Cortés
, La Malinche
, Moctezuma II
, Cuauhtémoc
, and other key players in the conquest of Mesoamerica. He refers extensively to the descriptions offered by Bernal Díaz del Castillo
in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España in analysing the events. He imagines what might have happened if the native populations had not been reduced to silence by brutality, and what their impact on western civilization might have been. Understanding that the West holds both economic and cultural sway over the contemporary world because of the colonization of America
, he wonders how the cultural life of Mesoamerica – particularly that of the Aztecs – would have evolved if the arrival of the Europeans had not decimated the indigenous socieites through war, disease and slavery.
under
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation of an essay written in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author and Nobel laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
J. M. G. Le Clézio.
Contents
- Le rêve du Conquérant(The dream of the conquerors)
- Moctezuma, Huitzilopochtli, Mexico
- Le rêve des origines(The dream of origins)
- Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, Aztèques
- Mythes mexicains(Mexican myths)
- Nahuatl, Huicholes, Quetzalcoatl
- Nezahualcoyotl, or the Festival of Words
- The barbarian dream
- Antonin Artaud, or the Mexican Dream
- The interrupted thought of Amerindian Civilizations
-
- Notes
- Map of region
-
Subjects
- History: Latin American History
- Latin American Studies
- Literature and Literary Criticism: Romance Languages
- Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion
Aim
In the essay, Le Clézio conducts an inquiry into the brutal disappearance of the indigenous cultures of MesoamericaMesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
in the 16th century, particularly the end of the Mexica
Mexica
The Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...
civilization at the hands of the Spanish conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
s.
The author analyses the personalities of characters such as Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, La Malinche
La Malinche
La Malinche , known also as Malintzin, Malinalli or Doña Marina, was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who played a role in the Spanish conquest of Mexico, acting as interpreter, advisor, lover and intermediary for Hernán Cortés...
, Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
, Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521...
, and other key players in the conquest of Mesoamerica. He refers extensively to the descriptions offered by Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España in analysing the events. He imagines what might have happened if the native populations had not been reduced to silence by brutality, and what their impact on western civilization might have been. Understanding that the West holds both economic and cultural sway over the contemporary world because of the colonization of America
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
, he wonders how the cultural life of Mesoamerica – particularly that of the Aztecs – would have evolved if the arrival of the Europeans had not decimated the indigenous socieites through war, disease and slavery.
Publication history/Editions
11 editions published between 1988 and 2004 in 5 languages and held by 835 libraries worldwideother French Edition
Also published in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
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