Carlos Monsivais: Culture and Chronicle in Contemporary Mexico

Rating:
Summary: Reading Monsivais from the US
Review: Carlos Monsivais is perhaps THE most important and widely read cultural critic in Mexico. This basically means that readings of his work can be either highly productive or highly mediocre. Linda Egan, fortunately, falls into the first category. its main virtue is that it is the first book length study of Monsivais' work written in English, and also it is the first study to consider all of the disperse Monsivais bibliography, which includes an overwhelming number of texts published in newspapers, journals, magazines and some other elusive media. Egan's reading basically focuses on the role of Monsivais' work within the constitution of a Mexican culture. It serves well its purpose, since its excellent writing makes this book a great introduction for those not familiar with Monsivais. Also, its deep research, interesting insights and careful readings will definitely consolidate Egan's book as the authoritative reference to Monsivais's work. I would have given the book five stars if I haven't found both things that bothered me. First, the book does not take into consideration important essays about Monsivais written in Mexico, such as the two Evodio Escalante includes in his book "Las metaforas de la critica" or the praising essay written by Christopher Dominguez Michael in "Servidumbre y grandeza de la vida literaria". Also, in the introduction, Egan makes an enormous mistake. She claims that Monsivais's column, "Por mi madre bohemios" is named like that because it is some sort of mock inside a patriarchal society. Actually, this assertion only means that Egan ignores the actual source of the column's title, which is the most known verse of the 19th century poem "Brindis del bohemio", a poem widely known in the Mexican popular culture, which, by the way, is one of the most antifeminist poems in Mexican tradition. Monsivais includes it because the poem has been regarded as ridiculous in the Mexican elite and quoting it has a sense of mock, just as the quotes with which Monsivais constructs his column. Other than that, the book is pretty solid and a must have for anyone interested in Mexican culture.