![Talking with Emiliano Monge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Talking_with_Emiliano_Monge.jpg)
Emiliano Monge (born 6 January 1978) is a Mexican short story writer and novelist. Two of his novels, ''The Arid Sky'' and ''
Among the Lost
''Among the Lost'' is a 2015 novel by Mexican author Emiliano Monge.
The novel is a love story between two human traffickers set in the jungles and wastelands of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican–US border area. Eileen Battersby, writ ...
'', have been translated into English.
Biography and books
Born in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on 6 January 1978, Emiliano Monge studied political science at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
, and taught there as a professor.
He moved to Barcelona and embarked on a career as a writer. His short story collection ''Arrastrar esa sombra'' was a finalist for the 2008
Prix Antonin-Artaud
The prix Antonin Artaud was a French literary prize created by Jean Digot and a few poets on 24 May 1951 in Rodez, in memory of Antonin Artaud, and was awarded for the last time in 2008.
The aim of this prize - in addition to paying tribute to t ...
, and his novel ''Morirse de memoria'' was a finalist for the same award in 2010, winning Monge the for novels. His works have also been published in ''
La Jornada
''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...
'', ''
Letras Libres
''Letras Libres'' is a Spanish-language monthly literary magazine published in Mexico and Spain.
History and profile
''Letras Libres'', printed since 1999 in Mexico and since 2001 in Spain, has an average of eighteen to twenty articles per issue ...
'' and the ''Hoja por Hoja'' book review of ''
Reforma
REFORMA: The National Association to Promote Library & Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking, more commonly known as REFORMA, is an affiliate of the American Library Association formed in 1971 to promote library services to Lati ...
''.
''El cielo árido''
Mexican novelist
Álvaro Enrigue
Álvaro Enrigue (born 6 August 1969 in Guadalajara, Mexico) is a Mexican novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Enrigue is the author of six novels, three books of short stories, and one book of essays.
Early life
The son of Jorge Enrigue ...
commented on Monge's ''El cielo árido'' (2012), and placed him in the group of "Mexico's new writers" (Enrigue sees a watershed in
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...
start in 2006 of the
Mexican Drug War) who are less inclined to employ allegory, and who
are much more open in the way they represent the world they inherited... Monge published an extraordinary novel last year, ''El cielo árido'' (The barren sky), in which the chaos that violence brings to people's lives is rendered by a desperate narrative device: as the plot moves forward, the narrator changes the names of the characters because nothing is what it seems.
''El cielo árido'' was translated into English by Thomas Bunstead and published by Restless Books; the main character is "a ruthless outlaw turned even more ruthless head of a small state ministry". It received positive reviews in the English press, with one critic praising his prose as "crisp" and commenting on "his nonlinear narration
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
creates a heightened sense of unpredictability". Mark Athitakis, writing for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', called it a "stellar English-language debut".
The book was translated in other languages, including Dutch. Geurt Frantzen, for ''Literair Nederland'', commented on the "exuberance" that he says characterizes much Latin-American writing, but noted that Monge's style is quite distinct and has a 19th-century flavor to it. The narrator/author is very much present and, according to Frantzen, seems anxious to actually break into the story, announcing upcoming events; Frantzen also comments on the main character's development, from a ruthless killer to someone who almost chooses a less violent family life. Maarten Steenmeijer, in ''
de Volkskrant
''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000.
Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...
'', writes that Monge seems to proudly lean on the Latin-American tradition (in "themes, settings, and style") that
Roberto Bolaño
Roberto Bolaño Ávalos (; 28 April 1953 – 15 July 2003) was a Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet and essayist. In 1999, Bolaño won the Rómulo Gallegos Prize for his novel ''Los detectives salvajes'' (''The Savage Detectives' ...
and others rejected, but without falling back into magical realism. Steenmeijer sees comparisons with two Mexican classics, Juan Rulfo's ''
Pedro Páramo
''Pedro Páramo'' is a novel written by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo about a man named Juan Preciado, who promises his mother on her deathbed to meet Preciado's father for the first time in the town of Comala, only to come across a literal ghost t ...
'' and Carlos Fuentes's ''
The Death of Artemio Cruz
''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' ( es, La muerte de Artemio Cruz, ) is a novel written in 1962 by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. It is considered to be a milestone in the Latin American Boom.
Plot summary
Artemio Cruz, a corrupt soldier, politician, ...
'', but that Monge's debut is "magisterial": "Praise to the author, praise to the translators. ''The Arid Sky'' is a great Latin-American novel, even in Dutch".
''Among the Lost''
Monge's 2018 novel ''
Among the Lost
''Among the Lost'' is a 2015 novel by Mexican author Emiliano Monge.
The novel is a love story between two human traffickers set in the jungles and wastelands of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican–US border area. Eileen Battersby, writ ...
'' is a love story between two human traffickers set in the jungles and wastelands of the Mexican–US border area. ''The Guardian'' said "Monge balances the dour, apocalyptic brutality of Cormac McCarthy with lively, grim humour – evident in the exasperated exchanges – all of which makes the stark truths driving this flamboyant narrative a little easier to swallow". When asked in an interview with ''
TLS'' about writing as a political act, he answered, "They are inseparable. It has nothing to do with the themes or the characters, but the language. It is inalienable. When sitting before the blank page, the only certainty that must be had is to write in a language different from the language of power. This for me is also fundamental". The novel was awarded the
Elena Poniatowska
Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (born May 19, 1932), known professionally as Elena Poniatowska () is a French-born Mexican journalist and author, specializing in works on social and political issues focused on th ...
Iberoamerican Novel Prize in 2016 by the Mexico City government.
''No contar todo''
In 2018, Monge released ''No contar todo'' (''Not Telling Everything''), his first nonfiction title.
The book tells three autobiographical tales, interwoven to explore the generational acculturation towards "male violence".
One focuses on his grandfather, Carlos Monge Mckey, who faked his own death after blowing up a quarry owned by his brother-in-law. Another relates his family's rules for protection when home alone, as a response to the violent era of Monge's childhood. The final story is about his father, Carlos Monge Sánchez, who fought as a guerrilla soldier alongside
Genaro Vázquez Rojas Genaro Vázquez Rojas (June 10, 1931February 2, 1972) was a Mexican school teacher, organiser, militant, and guerrilla fighter.
Civic Associations
Guerreran Civic Community
Genaro Vázquez Rojas studied law at the National Autonomous University ...
. ''El País'' described the book as "a journey through the torments of a country—already overdiagnosed in multiple essays—but that cries out for the humanization of its daily realities". ''El Cultural'' hailed Monge's "realistic creation of three distinct voices, an achievement that is ever more rare in contemporary narrative".
Publications
Short story collections
*''Arrastrar esa sombra'' (Sexto Piso, 2008, )
*''La superficie más honda'' (Random House, 2017, )
Novels
*''Morirse de memoria'' (Sexto Piso, 2011, )
*''El cielo árido'' (Primera, 2012, ), translated into English as ''The Arid Sky'' (Restless, 2018, )
*''Las tierras arrasadas'', translated into English as ''Among the Lost'' (2018, Scribe, )
*''No contar todo'' (Random House, 2018, )
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monge, Emiliano
21st-century Mexican novelists
Living people
1978 births
Writers from Mexico City
National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
Writers from Barcelona