Martín Luis Guzmán Franco (October 6, 1887 – December 22, 1976) was a Mexican

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. Along with Mariano Azuela and

Nellie Campobello Nellie (or ''Nelly'') Francisca Ernestina Campobello Luna (November 7, 1900 – July 9, 1986) was a Mexican writer, notable for having written one of the few chronicles of the Mexican Revolution from a woman's perspective: '' Cartucho'', which c ...

, he is considered a pioneer of the revolutionary novel, a genre inspired by the experiences of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He spent periods in exile in the United States and Spain. He founded newspapers, weekly magazines, and publishing companies. In 1958, he was awarded Mexico's National Prize in Literature.

Life

Guzmán was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, the son of a colonel in the

Federal Army The Mexican Federal Army ( es, Ejército Federal), also known as the Federales in popular culture, was the military of Mexico from 1876 to 1914 during the Porfiriato, the long rule of President Porfirio Díaz, and during the presidencies of Franci ...

, who was attached to the Mexican consulate in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was killed in one of the early skirmishes of the Mexican Revolution and Guzmán left for Mexico City. For several months in 1914, he was under the direct orders of General

Francisco "Pancho" Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa (,"Villa"
''

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of Villa, ''Memorias de Pancho Villa'' (1936-1951). On Villa's orders, Guzmán witnessed the entry of

Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was a Mexican wealthy land owner and politician who was Governor of Coahuila when the constitutionally elected president Francisco I. Madero was overthrown in a Februa ...

Constitutionalist Army The Constitutional Army ( es, Ejército constitucionalista; also known as the Constitutionalist Army) was the army that fought against the Federal Army, and later, against the Villistas and Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution. It was forme ...

to Mexico City, following the fall of Victoriano Huerta's government in July 1914. Carranza had him jailed, since as an adherent of Villa, formerly a Constitutionalist general who had broken with Carranza, Guzmán was a political enemy. He was released during the factional dispute between the Constitutionalists and the Army of the Convention, led by Villa. Guzmán went abroad to Paris and Madrid in 1914, where he began writing articles for the Spanish weekly magazine, ''España'', founded by José Ortega y Gasset and became part of the circle of Spanish intellectuals. His first published work, ''La querella de México'', his assessment of Mexico's problems and limitations. Leaving Spain for the United States, he represented ''España'' and taught a short course at University of Minnesota, returning to Mexico briefly, where he worked at Mexican newspapers. Following the ouster of Carranza in 1920 by Sonoran generals Alvaro Obregón,

Plutarco Elías Calles Plutarco Elías Calles (25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a general in the Mexican Revolution and a Sonoran politician, serving as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist ...

, and

Adolfo de la Huerta Felipe Adolfo de la Huerta Marcor (; 26 May 1881 – 9 July 1955) was a Mexican politician, the 45th President of Mexico from 1 June to 30 November 1920, following the overthrow of Mexican president Venustiano Carranza, with Sonoran generals ...

, Guzmán returned to Mexico and became the private secretary to Alberto J. Pani, President Obregón's minister of foreign affairs. Guzmán was involved in the 1921 centenary of the achievement of Mexico's independence. He subsequently ran afoul of Obregón's government when Obregon sought to impose Calles as his successor. Guzmán backed Adolfo de la Huerta's 1923 unsuccessful rebellion against Obregón and Calles, and was forced into exile to Spain for a decade, becoming a Spanish citizen. He again became involved in journalism, but his largest contribution to writing was his work of revolutionary fiction, ''El águila y la serpiente''. With the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–40), who had turned against his political patron Calles, Guzmán was invited to return to Mexico, where he returned to journalism and began writing ''Memorias de Pancho Villa''. Martin Luis Guzmán was a public figure in Mexico, serving as a senator from 1969 to 1976.Perea, p. 623. He died suddenly on December 22, 1976 in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

due an acute myocardial infarction. His widow Ana West died seven years after him, on October 21, 1983. She was 95 years old when, after being hospitalized for some days due to an acute bilateral pneumonia, she suffered a cardiac arrest and died.

Works

His novels '' La sombra del caudillo'' (1929) and ''El águila y la serpiente'' (1928) depict the Mexican Revolution and its political aftermath, with both of which the author was familiar, having contributed both to revolutionary agitation and to the formation of the new revolutionary government. * ''La querella de México'' (1915) * ''A orillas del Hudson'' (1920) * ''El águila y la serpiente'' (1928) * ''La sombra del caudillo'' (1929) * ''Aventuras democráticas'' (1931) * ''Mina al mozo: Héroe de Navarra'' (1932) * ''Filadelfia: Paraíso de conspiradores'' (1933) * ''Kinchil'' (1946) * ''Memorias de Pancho Villa'' (1951) * ''Apunte sobre una personalidad'' (1954) * ''Muertes Históricas'' (1958) * ''Islas Marías, novela y drama'' (1959) * ''Pábulo para la historia'' (1961) * ''Necesidad de cumplir las Leyes de Reforma'' (1963) * ''Febrero de 1913'' (1963) * ''Crónica de mi destierro'' (1964)

References

Sources

''Encyclopædia Britannica''

Life

Works

See also

References

Sources

Further reading