The Uses of Failure in Mexican Literature and Identity

<p>While the concept of defeat in the Mexican literary canon is frequently acknowledged it has rarely been explored in the fullness of the psychological and religious contexts that define this aspect of mexicanidad. Going beyond the simple narrative of self-defeat <i>The Uses of Failure in Mexican Literature and Identity</i> presents a model of failure as a source of knowledge and renewed self-awareness.</p> <p>Studying the relationship between national identity and failure John Ochoa revisits the foundational texts of Mexican intellectual and literary history the national monuments and offers a new vision of the pivotal events that echo throughout Mexican aesthetics and politics. <i>The Uses of Failure in Mexican Literature and Identity</i> encompasses five centuries of thought including the works of the Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo whose sixteenth-century <i>True History of the Conquest of New Spain</i> formed Spanish-speaking Mexico's early self-perceptions; José Vasconcelos the essayist and politician who helped rebuild the nation after the Revolution of 1910; and the contemporary novelist Carlos Fuentes.</p> <p>A fascinating study of a nation's volatile journey towards a sense of self <i>The Uses of Failure</i> elegantly weaves ethical issues the philosophical implications of language and a sociocritical examination of Latin American writing for a sparkling addition to the dialogue on global literature.</p>