Towards a critical history of the literary representation of Mexico: Overview of bibliographic sources.

Abstract

This article offers a critical overview of major bibliographical sources and studies dealing with the literary representation of Mexico in foreign, especially Anglo-American and British, narrative from the nineteenth century through much of the twentieth. Its core argument is that chronicles, novels, poems and travel guides have gradually shaped an image of Mexico as both “paradisiacal and infernal,” a symbolic space of origin, downfall or inner revelation for visiting writers. Methodologically, the essay adopts a historical, bibliographical and critical review of key works (Iturriaga de la Fuente, Drewey Wayne Gunn, Ronald G. Walker, among others), in order to reconstruct trends, commonplaces and influential texts that define the foreign gaze upon Mexican landscape, violence, Indigenous presence and cultural “otherness.” The main objectives are to identify foundational texts, explain the persistence of certain stereotypes, and underline the significance of these sources for understanding Mexico as a literary chronotope in modern fiction. In terms of scope, the article not only synthesizes studies that are now difficult to access, but also stresses the need for further research and new editions that would expand the critical record on travellers, novelists and tourist guides whose works have contributed to the construction of Mexico’s modern literary mythology.