عنوان

Political writing in times of crisis :

Number

TLets390807

Title Proper

Political writing in times of crisis :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Brewster, Claire

Title Proper by Another Author

the work of Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Carlos Monsiváis and Elena Poniatowska, Mexico, 1968-1995

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Warwick

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2000

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

University of Warwick

Text preceding or following the note

2000

Text of Note

This thesis focuses on the political work of Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Carlos Monsivâis and Elena Poniatowska as shown through their articles, essays and comments. It analyses their views and seeks to explore how accurately they portrayed domestic politics and the development of Mexican society from 1968 to 1995. It begins with a brief discussion of the debates surrounding the intellectual's function in Latin America, and Mexico in particular, and includes biographical details of the four writers to identify their different perspectives. This is followed by detailed analyses of their responses to five crucial episodes in contemporary history: the Student Movement of 1968; the relationship between writers and the State during the presidencies of Luis Echeverria Alvarez and José Lôpez Portillo after the movement's tragic end; the reactions of Monsivâis and Poniatowska to the development of civil society in the aftermath of the 1985 earthquakes that devastated Mexico City; the 1988 presidential election campaigns and the highly contentious result; the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, especially the 1994 Zapatista rebellion in the southern state of Chiapas. It investigates the measures taken by the writers to combat government restraints, and the ways in which they defied censorship of the press to ensure that matters of national importance were kept in the public domain. The study concludes by monitoring the changes in Mexican society during the last thirty years, and assesses if Paz, Fuentes, Monsivâis and Poniatowska accurately reflected this transformation. Rarely cited sources are included to illustrate the political aspects of the writers' work and to provide an understanding of their important roles as opinion-formers. Findings are based upon the wealth of articles and comments that appeared in the Mexican and international press, supplemented by interviews with Monsivâis, Poniatowska, and various academics in Mexico and the United Kingdom.

PQ Romance literatures

Brewster, Claire

University of Warwick

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y