The Death of Artemio Cruz
Carlos Fuentes
Artemio Cruz lies dying while his life is reassembled out of order, from the Mexican Revolution to the fortune and the corruption that followed it. Fuentes rotates the telling through three grammatical persons: first person on the deathbed, third person for the life, and a second person stream of consciousness closing each chapter. Published in Mexico City by Fondo de Cultura Economica in 1962.
Why you should read this
A landmark of the Latin American Boom, narrated in fractured first, second and third person as its central figure's memory breaks apart into different registers. It assumes some patience with nonlinear structure and pronoun-shifting, and rewards readers already comfortable with modernist technique over straightforward chronology.
- Field
- Literature
- Form
- Fiction
- Published
- 1962
- Themes
- Latin American LiteratureLiterature
