''Christopher Unborn'' ( es, Cristóbal Nonato) is the tenth novel by the Mexican author

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), ''Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christopher ...

. Originally published by the

Fondo de Cultura Económica Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE or simply "Fondo") is a Spanish language, non-profit publishing group, partly funded by the Mexican government. It is based in Mexico but it has subsidiaries throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It was founded in ...

in 1987, the first U.S. edition was published in 1989 by

Farrar, Straus & Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

. The basic structure of the work, including the story of the character from conception to birth, comes directly from

Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and '' A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', publishe ...

’s eighteenth century novel ''

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'', also known as ''Tristram Shandy'', is a novel by Laurence Sterne, inspired by '' Don Quixote''. It was published in nine volumes, the first two appearing in 1759, and seven others follow ...

'' (1759–1767), to which Fuentes refers openly in the novel. The social satire story is set in Mexico in 1992, which was still a few years into the future when it was written. It follows the character Christopher's entire life in a cataclysmic Mexico on the brink of economic collapse. Other characters in the novel are Angel Palomar y Fagoaga, Angeles Palomar y Fagoaga, Don Homero Fagoaga, Don Fernando Benitez, Lady Mamadoc, Concha Toro, Matamoros Moreno, D. C. Buckley, and Will Gingerich. Fuentes depicts a dark future for Mexico. It is a story about disaster and survival. The lead character Christopher Palomar, a wonder boy with excellent language skills and total recall, is the narrator who travels through this pessimistic future, where the people still struggle since the last big earthquake in 1985. The novel has a chapter for each of the nine described months of the story, spread out over Christopher's whole life, as he follows in his parents' steps, as they try to save themselves in a chaotic country entering into twilight.

References

External links

The Dialogic Imagination of Salman Rushdie and Carlos Fuentes: National Allegories and the Scene of Writing in ''Midnight's Children'' and ''Cristóbal Nonato''
Essay by Santiago Juan-Navarro 1987 novels Mexican novels Novels by Carlos Fuentes Spanish-language novels Fondo de Cultura Económica books Fiction set in 1992 {{1980s-novel-stub