''News from the Empire'' ( Spanish: ') is a 1987

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

writer Fernando del Paso about the Second French Intervention in Mexico and the

Second Mexican Empire The Second Mexican Empire (), officially the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists in conjunction with the Second French Empire. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second French i ...

, with Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and his wife Carlota of Mexico. In 2007, a jury of writers gathered by Nexos magazine chose ''News from the Empire'' as the best Mexican novel of the last 30 years.

Background

The novel was written with a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

stipend. Del Paso worked on it for ten years, at the end of writing his second novel, ''Palinuro of Mexico'' (1976). Two of those ten years were spent in extensive historical research. According to Del Paso, he chose to give strength to Carlota's first-person narrative because he considered her to be a strong woman and a decision maker. Del Paso read two existing works on the subject that he considered insufficient, ''Juárez and Maximilian'' (1925) by Franz Werfel and ''Corona de sombra'' (1943) by Rodolfo Usigli. Del Paso has said of Maximilian and Carlota: It was first published in 1987 by Editorial Diana in its collection "Diana Literaria".

Plot

The novel is written in two sequences, the first is a monologue by Empress Carlota while she was locked up in the

Bouchout Castle Bouchout Castle ( nl, Kasteel van Bouchout, ; french: Château de Bouchout, ) is a castle in the Flemish town of Meise, Belgium. In the 12th century, this territory of the young Duchy of Brabant was strategically positioned between the County o ...

in Belgium, sixty years after the death of Maximilian, shot at Cerro de las Campanas,

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

, on June 19, 1867, as she fell into madness after his death. In this monologue, Carlota explains the story of her love for Maximilian, as well as the times of the Second Mexican Empire and European royalty. At the same time, del Paso resorts to various genres and techniques to give voice to the different parties involved in the conflict, among them epistles between members of the royalty, historical chronicles, which have as settings the Miramare Castle, Mexico, France, Germany, Vienna, among other places, and characters such as

Charles de Lorencez Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Comte de Lorencez (23 May 1814 –16 July 1892) was a French Army general under Napoleon III during the 19th century. He was a relative of the Charlotte of Belgium, Empress Carlota of Mexico, who was the only daughte ...

, François Achille Bazaine, Élie-Frédéric Forey, Miguel Miramón,

Tomás Mejía Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) * Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, equivalent of ''Thomas''. It may refer to: * Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer * Belarmino Tomás (1892–1950), ...

, Benito Juárez,

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

Mariano Escobedo Mariano Antonio Guadalupe Escobedo de la Peña (16 January 1826 – 22 May 1902) was a Mexican Army general and Governor of Nuevo León. Early life Mariano Escobedo was born in San Pablo de los Labradores (which is today known as Galeana), ...

, Gaspar Sánchez Ochoa, Franz Joseph I of Austria, Napoleon III, among other historical participants in the conflict. Both sequences take turns, changing the name of the chapter of the narrative sequence while all of Carlota's monologues are always titled "Bouchout Castle 1927".

Critical reception

The novel was well received, generating an "almost instantaneous" success. In ten years the work had to be reprinted twenty times, and in 2012 it was published in the collection "Letras Mexicanas" by the Fondo de Cultura Económica. It was published in Spain and Argentina and translated into English, French, Italian, and German. American literary critic Seymour Menton praised it in his work ''La nueva novela histórica de América Latina, 1979-1992'' calling it "the instant canonization of a

Bakhtinian Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin ( ; rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Бахти́н, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ bɐxˈtʲin; – 7 March 1975) was a Russian philosopher, literary critic and scholar who worked on literary theor ...

symphony." '' Publishers Weekly'' said that the novel was "Operatic and beautiful" and "a Mexican '' War and Peace.''"

References

External links

*''News from the Empire''

' at the Open Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:News from the Empire 1987 novels Historical novels Mexican novels Dalkey Archive Press books