Mexican masters of literature.

• Author: Martinez, Elizabeth Coonrod
• Position: This I Believe: An A to Z of a Life - Obras reunidas I: Narrativa breve - El tren pasa primero - The Eagle's Throne - Book review

Mexico's greatest living writers, Carlos Fuentes and Elena Poniatowska, continue churning out extensive novels and other books with keen observations on Mexico. Neither was born in Mexico--Fuentes was born in Panama City in 1928 and Poniastowska in Paris in 1932--but they are both very Mexican, and they are both recipients of numerous national and international awards and distinctions, including the French Legion of Honor. Their most recent novels provide a scintillating review of contemporary society and its politics.

In his purely fictional account, The Eagle's Throne, Fuentes traces a path to the Mexican presidency with all of its behind-the-scenes politics and intrigue. The original Spanish version, La silla del aguila, came out before Mexico's most recent turbulent elections, but its English translation was released in 2006 at the same time as the infamous near-draw. The novel (set in 2020) has the PRI winning the 2006 elections, however, whereas in reality the PRI candidate was not even a finalist.

Poniatowska's novel was released in late 2005, but it is also linked coincidentally to current events. El tren pasa primero is her long-awaited story of the late 1950s railroad workers' strike and its charismatic leader. It also helps explain the roots of the centuries-old resistance of the people of Oaxaca, where last year the teachers' union mounted a strike that led to a broader protest that continued for months. In addition to providing insights into the Oaxaca protests in southern Mexico, this novel can also shed some light on the strike of some 250,000 miners and steel workers that began in early 2006 in the north. Both of these strikes will continue to be pressing issues for Mexico in the new year. No English translation of Poniatowska's novel is forthcoming.

Fuentes and Poniatowska have also published memoirs or collections of their works, demonstrating their different styles and concerns. In Fuentes' case, This I Believe, An A to Z of a Life (first published in Spanish in 2002), collects and rewrites earlier essays, adding new reflections. Poniatowska's first volume of collected short works of fiction includes a semi-autobiographical prologue. From the 1950s to the turn of century, her stories depict a continuous desire to reveal those without voice or power in her society.

The Eagle's Throne, by Carlos Fuentes. Tr. Kristina Cordero. New York: Random House, 2006. La silla del aguila, Mexico, D.F.: Alfaguara, 2002.

A prolific writer who continues to publish a book every two years, Carlos Fuentes' latest novel returns to the theme of some of his best known works: politics and its impact on society. The novel's epistolary style is not innovative, but rather a creative ruse to relate the various perspectives of power-mongers and those who aspire to power. Each chapter title states the "to" and "from" of each letter-writer, and in many cases the letters are written by or directed to the muse of the politicos, Maria del Rosario Galvan, a 45-year-old prostitute who has been the lover of each of those holding the highest levels of power. There is also considerable dialogue within the novel, as the letter-writers recall specific conversations and relay them.

Other frequent writers include the president's principal ministers and a political aspirant to the presidency, a man barely into his 30s who is thrust into the limelight when the minister he reports to resigns, and he occupies his post. Galvan controls all of the players, stating In the first chapter that with her, "everything is political, even sex." She counsels the young man from the beginning, stating that: "political fortune is one very long orgasm, my darling. Success must be gradual and slow in coming if it is to endure. A prolonged orgasm, my sweet. Start opening those doors, my child, one by one. Beyond the last threshold is my bedroom. The last key unlocks my body. Nicolas Valdivia: I will be yours when you are the president of Mexico."

Valdivia is described as an intelligent young man, but one who has...