Fuentes Guzman and Teh Mexican Political Novel

Fuentes, Guzmán, and the Mexican Political Novel
Author(s): Lanin A. Gyurko

Source: Ibero-amerikanisches Archiv, Neue Folge, Vol. 16, No. 4 (1990), pp. 545-610
Published by: Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert
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Fuentes, Guzmán,
and the Mexican Political Novel
Lanin A. Gyurko*
The novelists of the Mexican Revolution, foremost among whom

are Mariano Azuela, Martín Luis Guzmán, Agustín Yáñez, and Car-
los Fuentes, have not only evoked the military phases of the conflict,
the clashes between federales and revolucionarios , and later, after
the defeat of Huerta, between the various factions of the Revolution,
led by Carranza, Villa, and Zapata, but have also delved extensively
into the political aspects of that Revolution - the rivalries among
the revolutionaries themselves for the presidency of Mexico, the
turbulent years of revolutionary aftermath in the decade of the
twenties, in which political power and violence were inextricable.
The political novel is an important genre in Mexico, with works
such as Azuela's Las tribulaciones de una familia decente (1918),
which explores the effects of carrancismo on the Porfirista family of
the Vasquez Prado, who are forced to abandon their hacienda in
Zacatecas and move to Mexico City, and in his scathing novels
Domitilo quiere ser diputado (1918) and El Camarada Pantoja
(1937). In El águila y la serpiente (1928), Guzmán evokes indelible
impressions of military and political leaders of the Revolution, such
as Carranza, Obregon, Villa, and Eulálio Gutiérrez, and in his bold
and fascinating narrative of the labyrinthine world of Mexican poli-
tics in the twenties, La sombra del caudillo (1929), Guzmán concen-
trates on the somber world of an era of extreme instability and
explosive conflict. Agustín Yáñez, in his penetrating evocation of
the Calles' epoch, Las vueltas del tiempo (1978), demonstrates the
continuity of la novela política in Mexico. Although Carlos Fuentes
* Lanin A. Gyurko: *1942; Ph. D., Harvard University, 1969; has taught Spanish
and Latin American literature at Yale University; Professor of Spanish at the
University of Arizona since 1978, where he has also served as Head of the
Department of Romance Languages; address: Department of Spanish and Por-
tuguese, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA.
Ibero- Amerikanisches Archiv, 16.4: 545 - 610, Berlin 1990
546 Lanin A. Gyurko
in his first two novels of the Mexican Revolutio

transparente (1958) and La muerte de Artemio
not focus directly on Mexican national and pr
concentrating instead on the rampant economic
ticed by ex-Revolutionaries like Federico Robles
who have now become industrial magnates, fina
crats, and who continue not in the mold of Panch
Zapata but, ironically, in that of the very dictat
fought to overthrow, Porfirio Díaz. In his spy th
la hidra , Fuentes focusses on the inner workings
in the decade of the seventies. In this compell
tinues the art of synthesis, the eclectic vision t
novels such as Cambio de piel , Zona sagrada , an
he masterfully combines history and literature, s
and film. In La cabeza de la hidra , international
both popular literature such as the James Bo
Fleming and from classical theatre, such as Shak
neille, are manifest. Yet throughout his work, F
international perspectives with a marked emp
reality. One of the major influences on this nar
and petropolitics, of the incessant struggle amon
national political power, is Guzmán's La somb
Indeed, as this essay will demonstrate, in many a
la hidra can be considered not only as an update
epic and mythic narrative of Mexico City fro
times to the fifties, La región más transparente , bu
searing evocation of the turbulent Mexico of th
purpose in writing La cabeza de la hidra , which f
tión palpitante for Mexico in the 1970's and for
the immense oil resources of the nation which a
of foreign interests and make Mexico vulnerable
very similar to that of Guzmán - to awaken the
particular the middle classes, to the danger to th
autonomy; to develop a sociopolitical consciou
bourgeoisie , which Guzmán in the early part of
Fuentes fifty years later both see as materialistic, s
yet politically apathetic - inert and insensitiv
needs of los de abajo , the indigenous Mexico i
Revolution of 1910 was fought. In these two ma
The Mexican Political Novel 547
that are replete with shadows - shadowy p

dealings, shadow characters, shadow cand
greatest, most significant shadow is that of t
of 1910, with its ideals of land, labor, and ed
its heroic martyrs, Madero, Villa, and Zap
which both authors see as being betrayed. In
ist, journalist, envoy of Pancho Villa, militar
José Robles, colonel in the Revolutionary Arm
rapher of Villa, throughout his life was preoc
lution.1 Carlos Fuentes, one of whose major
mexicanidad is also preoccupied with the
evoked not only in his first two novels, but also
such as Cambio de piel and Zona sagrada, in se
ries included in the collection Agua quemada
tas" and "El hijo de Andrés Aparicio", and mos
of the final years in the life of Ambrose Bierce
a soldier in the army of Pancho Villa, Grin
César Rubio, the university professor in Us
drama El gesticulador , who assumes the r
Rubio, the martyred revolutionary idealist,
Mexico todo es política ... la política es el clim
del caudillo and La cabeza de la hidra demons
this statement, as they evoke an obsessively p
Mexico - a nebulous world of incessantly shi
alliances that form and dissolve and coa
treacherous forces that engulf and finally de
The execution of Ignacio Aguirre and the nea
Axkaná in La sombra del caudillo are parallel
cal destruction and final capitulation of the c
cabeza de la hidra , Félix Maldonado. Despit
Aguirre at least represents an alternative to t
ianism of the Caudillo. Similarly, Félix Maldon
idealistic of the characters of Fuentes, strugg
tect Mexico's autonomy in a world of intern
and finally cannot prevail against the oppress
him from multiple sides.
1 For a detailed chronology of the life and the politi
Guzmán, consult Martin Luis Guzmán, by Ermil
Empresas Editoriales, 1968).
548 Lanin A. Gyurko
Although the incendiary atmosphere of the

tionary generals still thirsting for battle and
armies into the field at the slightest provocat
disappeared by the decade of the seventies, th
mine presidential authority continue. By w
instead of a historical novel, Guzmán produce
apply not only to Mexico of other eras but also
tion, the struggle between tyranny and freed
American countries. Similarly, the novel of
avoids specific names and thus resists being d
which captures the often elusive political atmo
only in the decade in which it was written but a
Both Fuentes and Guzmán write incisive poli
also spy thrillers. Both authors are masters at
ing suspense. Their narratives are carefully o
crescendo of intrigue, betrayal, violence, and e
set of La sombra del caudillo , the violence
Toluca, the rapid degeneration of the initial at
cial cordiality and unity, adumbrates a horren
begetting increased violence until at the end
that consumes Aguirre and his followers. The
torturing almost to death of the innocent Axk
the Caudillo - presumably carried out as a warn
proceed with his presidential candidacy - is p
de la hidra by the kidnapping and torture of th
donado, also by government agents, command
Director General. A similar pattern of escalat
the scarring of the face of Félix, who becomes
ry plastic surgey; the brutal slaying of Sara K
cut; the execution of her lover Jamil; the attemp
stein; the murder in cold blood of Captain Har
tion of Angelica, the sister of Timón; the sho
Abby Benjamin, and, finally, the repeating of t
tion and the second attempt to assassinate the
narrative that like La sombra del caudillo is saturated with violence
from beginning to end.
In this novel, Guzmán presents not only the reclusive Caudillo
but the whole of Mexico as a vast shadowland. The invisible Caudi-
llo, who never makes public appearances, who refuses to take his
hat off in public because he is fearful of assas

operates behind the scenes. His machinations a
where - in the duplicitous behavior of the g
their loyalty to Aguirre but are in fact minions o
pusillanimous doctor who treats Axkaná after h
an immense quantity of alcohol and yet who a
the crime of attempted murder by dismissing
intoxication; in the politicians and deputies,
picked successor of the Caudillo, who suddenly
ients of lavish gifts: "En México ... no hay ma
senadores que resista a las caricias del Tesorero
the Caudillo, but so many of the other charact
mere shadows. The presidential candidacy of Ig
really emerges from the inchoate, shadow stage
who attempts to project himself as the candida
for his entire political career functioned as
Shadow - as a subservient Minister of War who
an agent of the Caudillo - to exploit and betra
cate the enemies of his master. Thus Aguirre, d
in the power of public opinion to elevate his
really perceived by the public as a viable altern
Prior to the election in which he emerged victo
dero painstakingly laid the groundwork by cr
speaking to the people in state after state, and for
The historic Madero understood what Aguirre
people will not blindly and instantaneously follo
vie for that support and attempt to win it throug
at which Aguirre is not adept. Indeed, again fo
much of the life of Aguirre is spent in the comfo
even though politically he has broken with his
tector, dramatically renouncing his ministeria
remains psychologically dependent, if not on
then on the type of stifling patronage system fos
llo. We may surmise that Aguirre received his p
because of any particular competence - indeed
Guzmán's narrative he displays little - but as t
2 Martín Luis Guzmán, La sombra del caudillo (Madr
p. 79). Subsequent references are from the tenth reprin
co: Compañía General de Ediciones, 1965) and are in
550 Lanin A. Gyurko
loyal service to the Caudillo. To an overwhelm

like Jiménez, has been the creation of the C
Another of the many shadows that haunt thi
sant political intrigue and conspiracy, is the m
opinion. An outstanding journalist, founder o
and the news magazine Tiempo , Guzmán finds
to express the truth concerning the heinous ma
his companions through the heavily censored
The newspapers in the phantasmagorical worl
up in La sombra are mere shadows of newspap
not dare formulate an independent opinion con
"armed rebellion" of Aguirre and its rapid que
under the pretext of protecting the national in
the principles of the Mexican Revolution. Pub
vague entity that never matures into what Gu
come - a potent force that will serve as a ch
political ambition and the lust for absolute pow
of the political system.
It is significant that Guzmán begins his narra
on political but on amorous intrigue - the sedu
Aguirre of the coy but willing Rosario. Yet the se
beginning chapter quickly fades; positive emo
ship, camaraderie, all are impossible to sustain
world fostered by the Caudillo. When Rosario
as a complete character but only as a shadow p
of her body on the bed, indicating her precipit
arrives at her home to discuss with a desponde
by the Caudillo. Finally, when Aguirre is p
defensive and impelled to make a hasty departu
to Toluca, he visits Rosario for the last time. A
but a fragmented and ghostly presence - a fac
waving a last farewell - a shadow character
Shadows - natural, political, psychological
sombra del caudillo as rapidly as in an American f
ties. These shadows underscore not only the m
Caudillo, that creeps into every corner, but al
ness, the inability in this fluctuating shadowl
tween friend and foe, between loyal follower
the narcissistic Aguirre naively believes that h
allies among the politicians and generals w

feeding his ambition for ultimate power, most o
Ibáñez, the governor of the State of Mexico,
Julián Elizondo, are but shadow adherents,
him. Indeed, the naiveté of Aguirre, who afte
to the political establishment that Franci
instead is one of the closest and most trusted associates of the Cau-
dillo, both a witness and a participant in years of political intrigue
and corruption, should place total confidence in Elizondo is testi-
mony either to the political incompetence of Aguirre or to his des-
peration. The self-absorbed Hamletlike Aguirre is never able to
master the ever-shifting, labyrinthine world of Mexican politics.
Like Guzmán's novel, much of La cabeza de la hidra also takes
place in the shadows. The two dominant figures in the narrative, the
Director General and his antagonist Timón, are never specifically
identified. The machinations of the Director General are constantly
thwarted by the equally shadowy Timón, the head of a petrochemi-
cal empire, who regards himself as a "conservador nacional" but
whose actions in establishing and funding his own private espionage
system indicate that he is interested primarily in conserving and ex-
panding his vast fortune by keeping Mexican oil in Mexican - and
his own - hands. It is extremely ironic that the ruthless Timón
should mask his identity behind a name chosen from Shakespeare's
play Timon of Athens. The Timon of Shakespeare, a noble man, tru-
ly generous with his fortune, is betrayed by those around him; the
calculating and bloodless Timón in Fuentes' novel, in contrast, is a
constant betrayer of his companions. The Timon of Shakespeare is a
fated protagonist, who after his fall from wealth to poverty becomes
misanthropic, withdrawing from society, and finally committing
suicide. Timón of Fuentes, however, emerges victorious - control-
ler of the narrative, comfortable and condescending in his supreme
isolation - a solitude that he relishes and indeed that is essential to
his identity, as it is to that of the Caudillo of Guzmán. The nameless
president whom Fuentes in La cabeza evokes primarily as a victim,
is also a shadow figure, not in the ominous sense that Guzmán's
Caudillo is, but rather because of his insubstantiality.
Félix Maldonado, who has been designated by the Director Gen-
eral to be the fall-guy in the assassination of the president, is prom-
ised a new identity as Diego Velázquez if he will co-operate - pro-
552 Lanin A. Gyurko
tection, money, a secure future. In order to intim

down his resistance to being manipulated, the
nado, a bureaucrat in the division of price reg
stripped from him, under the orders of the Direc
in his office recognizes Félix, not even his priv
Thus he desperately seeks confirmation of his
sonal identity from the President, as he attend
of his mentor, the economics professor Berns
instead of receiving this recognition, Félix, gaz
president, encounters but a reflection of his
Félix trató de fijar los rasgos físicos del señor Pr
cara. No pudo. No era posible. Y no sólo a causa de
puesta por reflectores y flashes. El señor Preside
mal que Félix Maldonado, no tenía cara, era sólo
Era la banda presidencial, la aureola, el poder,
hombre propio ...3
In La cabeza de la hidra , the shadows that fa

the President, but constitute a betrayal of his ben
same supreme power, the same isolation from
delineated by Guzmán, but Fuentes' Director G
astute and duplicitous than Aguirre, usurps pre
within. Rather than breaking openly with the
tor General incessantly utilizes the Presiden
power against him, as he acts in the name - bu
ledge or permission - of his commander. T
refers condescendingly to a superior whom h
all of the subordinates of the Caudillo:
No existen en México contrapesos al poder presidencial absoluto. Se

requiere una gran ecuanimidad para ejercerlo sin excesos lamentables.
Pero por lo general, ¿cómo se entera el pobre hombre de lo que real-
mente sucede? Vive aislado, sin más información que la que le dan sus
allegados. Los presidentes que salen a oír a la gente son muy raros. La
regla es que, poco a poco, la corte aisla al Presidente y paulatinamente,
¿cómo?, el Presidente se acostumbra a oír sólo lo que desea escuchar y
los demás a decírselo. De allí al reino del capricho, sólo hay un paso.
(198)
3 Carlos Fuentes, La cabeza de la hidra (Barcelona: Librería Editorial Argos,

1978, p. 60). Subsequent references are included in the text.
Taking full advantage of an extremely hierar

inferiors obey unquestioningly not only exp
suggestions of their superiors, in order eithe
avoid incurring their wrath, the Director Gen
Jamil murdered, misidentifíed as Félix Mald
again. Here is a parallel to the episode in La so
of the Caudillo who are conspiring to assa
other Aguirre loyalists are asked by the per
commanded to carry out cold-blooded murde
riors have written authorization to do so. Un
written orders, in a system where violence an
fully masked, they instead control their hir
by questioning their manhood - in a world
greatest sins is to be branded as lacking i
evokes a disturbing world, a fusion of Guzmá
written authorization for acts of murder is n
where mere insinuations of the Director
without hesitation:
- ¿El Presidente ordenó que me encarcelaran, me aplicaran la ley

fuga y me enterraran?
- No fue necesario. Bastó que un Secretario de Estado allí presente
pidiera que se investigara a Félix Maldonado para que el Subsecretario
corriera a la red privada a ordenarle al director de la policía secreta que
lo detuviera y nosotros, gustosamente, entregamos el cuerpo de un hom-
bre desvanecido a las gentes de la secreta, quienes interpretaron a su
manera, aunque con una ayudadita nuestra, el pensamiento presiden-
cial; en vista de la naturaleza del crimen la pasaron la papa caliente a las
autoridades del Campo Militar, diciendo que eran instrucciones del
señor Presidente, el cual, en realidad, nunca dijo esta boca es mía ... Fui
esa noche al Campo Militar, y me dirigí al oficial de guardia, un mero
comandante, diciendo que venía de parte de la Presidencia de la Repú-
blica a conversar con el detenido. Tengo credenciales suficientes. (199)
Fuentes draws a marked distinction between the heroism of Félix,
the only one do defy the Director General, even temporarily to blind
him, and the spinelessness of the others who are quite willing to act
as his minions:
Le sugerí que podía hacer méritos balanceando al cadáver por la espal-

da y alegando la ley fuga. Por supuesto, aceptó mi sugerencia como una
orden de hasta arriba. (200)
554 Lanin A. Gyurko
In both La sombra del caudillo and La cabeza

ows fall over shadows. The effect is further to underscore the auto-
matonlike nature of the characters. In Guzmán's work, a fated shad-
ow of the past falls over Aguirre - that of Pancho Villa. In life, the
extremely malleable and hesitant Aguirre is totally distinct from the
intrepid and recklessly impetuous Centauro del Norte. Indifferent to
the pueblo , making only vague promises of armed rebellion, more
with the intent of keeping the Caudillo off guard than out of any
revolutionary conviction or desire to aid the oppressed, Aguirre is
equated with Villa only in the manner of their brutal deaths. After
he is summarily imprisoned by Elizondo, Aguirre summons up the
image of Pancho Villa:
Una imagen lo agitó un momento: la de Pancho Villa. Con ser
- pensó - monstruoso su asesinato, éste de ahora, el mío, va a ser aun
más monstruoso, más cobarde e innoble." (235)
Both Aguirre and Villa are betrayed by their own followers, and
slain on their own home ground. Aguirre has sought sanctuary in
Toluca, the party stronghold and site of its Convention. Villa,
although pursued for months by Pershing, was never captured.
Instead he died in a hail of gunfire in Parral, cut down by men on his
own home territory, the signal for his assassination given by a candy
vendor whom Villa had known and trusted.4
Extending over the mysterious Caudillo himself is another shad-
ow from the past - that of Porfirio Díaz, who like the Caudillo also
was a hero of myriad battles, fighting for the liberal cause against
the intervention in Mexico of the French forces under the command
of Bazaine. But just as Diaz, initially a follower of the great reform
leader Benito Juárez, and elected under the motto of "sufragio efec-
tivo, no re-elección" held power for more than thirty years, success-
fully thwarting the democratic process, so too does the Caudillo,
who had risen to power under the banner of revolution and consti-
tutional reform, seek to perpetuate that power, in effect to return to
the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. In the words of the Caudillo
attempting to quiet the anxiousness of the nation after the massacre
of Aguirre and his followers, are echoes of the Pax Porfiriana :
4 Consult William Weber Johnson, Heroic Mexico: The Narrative History of a

Twentieth Century Revolution (revised edition, San Diego: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, 1984, pp. 372 - 377), for an account of the death of Villa.
"Y cuento, por ultimo, con los grandes anhelo

ansiosa de que sus gobernantes lleguen al Poder p
no gracias al golpe a mano armada." (234)
"Entonces, también, invitaré a las masas camp
mismas que apoyan mi candidatura - a que coo
Jefaturas de Operaciones en la destrucción total d
res a la Patria." (235)
Because he is supposedly a popular, revolution

dillo must invoke the support of los de abajo in
the façade of his government as a democracy
Hilario Jiménez is also evoked as a shadow of the Shadow. In-
deed, the reason why the Caudillo selects Jiménez instead of the
flamboyant Aguirre is that the latter is too much of a personality,
and therefore is regarded with suspicion as being too independent
of the Caudillo. Although the Caudillo tolerates the deals that
Aguirre makes with the May-Be Petroleum Company, it is clear that
he disapproves of making concessions to this company that will
deprive the generals who are his loyal supporters of their spoils of
the Revolution. The cold, gray, bloodless Jiménez is far more ame-
nable to control than is the sybaritic and impassioned Aguirre.
Although Jiménez initially seems willing to accede to the demands
for shared authority made on him by the Partido Radical Progresis-
ta, he finally rejects them on orders from the Caudillo, who seeks
total control. Aguirre is quick to perceive the essence of Jiménez as a
golem of the Caudillo:
Mas en ese mismo instante, mirando a Jiménez en la cara, advirtió que
sería inútil. Detrás de las palabras del candidato había algo más que su
decisión personal, algo más que su espíritu: estaba sin duda, la voluntad
del Caudillo. (82)
The shadow time and again seems to acquire a sinister life of its
own in this narrative of Guzmán. Just as the Director General in La
cabeza seems to breathe death, so too does Jiménez seem to gener-
ate shadows from his very person:
En el acto mismo de estrecharle Aguirre los dedos, que él tendía apenas,
se hizo más torva su catadura: se le acentuó el ensombrecimiento de las
miradas bajo la curva defectuosa de los párpados, bulbo sobre el ojo.
(67)
556 Lanin A. Gyurko
As in Fuentes' work, rumor and insinuation in

weird life of their own. In a sense, the Caudill
in his own shadow, in the very world of whisp
and uncertainty and paranoia that he has so exp
world of absolute power, the only hope of Agu
ken with the President is not the electoral pro
lion. Aguirre is constantly urged by his followe
tive. Thus the ex-Minister of War, who is ess
compelled to play the role of an insurrectioni
ments the level of paranoia of the Caudillo,
strike against Aguirre on the mere assumption
fully committed to armed warfare. Neither Ag
himself is in control of his actions; what reig
- gossip, rumor, paranoia, panic. One of the t
Fuentes, that of the conquistador conquista
Federico Robles' fate as well as the destiny of
figured in this work of Guzmán, in which the
verted into a títere :
Aguirre, ante tales insinuaciones, daba a entende

incrédula, que sabía de sobra a qué atenerse; m
refractorio y todo a la idea de que nadie osara reb
complacencias con los generales más sospechosos;
par en par, las grandes cajas de la Tesorería.
En otros términos: ocurría todo como si en el dra
ba desarrollándose los personajes no obraran
- obedientes a sus impulsos, a su carácter - sino q
simples actores, los papeles trazados por ellos por
multitudinaria. Los obligaba ésta, desde la sombra
a ensayarla, a realizarla. (206)
The all-encompassing shadow of the Caudillo
the generals and the ministries and over the C
judicial system as well. After the attempted
Aguirre extracts a signed confession from Co
immediately are generated a welter of charges
yet, ironically, the situation is never brought t
evokes a pernicious atmosphere in which bl
only route open to the aggrieved parties. The
extricate itself from the shadows:
Naturalmente, todas aquellas denuncias caían dentr

nes del Código Penal; pero algo, en cuya virtud los
cia se mantenían ajenos al debate, privaba a éste de
leza: ni los ofendidos acudían a los jueces, ni los ju
oficio. Una especie de acuerdo tácito - político y n
situaba más allá de la ley, o en la región donde las r
pos eran la única ley, los delitos de aquel orden
Likewise, the presidential candidacy of Aguirre

the many shadows that engulf it. Ironically, alt
fully struggles and finally seems to be at least p
defining himself independently of the Caudillo,
a candidato de carne y hueso. Much of this failu
own personal failings - his characteristic nebu
siveness. Over and over again he denies his
president, with the fatal result that early on
loses much of the support that is vital for his c
tial backers quickly seek out the familiar, prot
Caudillo, since they are made extremely nervo
rre's indecisi veness. Indeed, some of Aguirre's m
feel themselves being derealized, being conver
beings, because they are staking not only their
tions but their lives on a vaporous candidate:
Tenían que oponer a la realidad del hilarismo, reali
ble, la mera posibilidad inasible y vaga ... tenían qu
de bulto, una sombra. Y esto, si por fuera no los de
tro empezaba a gastarles la fe, iba haciendo que se
juego de fuerzas cuyo origen no radicaba en ellos,
Throughout their works, both Guzmán and F

acters who serve as a moral focus, as a center of id
to the prevailing atmosphere of political corrup
cal expediency. Thus, in La muerte de Artemio C
of idealism, the courageous soldier who gives hi
is Lorenzo Cruz, the son of Artemio, who becom
Spanish Civil War. On his death bed, Cruz relive
life of his son as if it were part of his own life, a
mendous guilt that Cruz experiences for his ac
betrayal in the Mexican Revolution, as he aband
is expiated through the sacrifice of his son, wh
558 Lanin A. Gyurko
idealistic alter ego of the decadent and pusilla

cabeza de la hidra , it is clear that the imaginat
ter is Félix Maldonado, who is repeatedly linke
nas, who for Fuentes is one of the greatest of
symbol of the ideals of the Revolution that b
significant that Félix is conceived on the very
denas nationalized the petroleum resources of
created a new Mexico, a new climate of hope,
father to plan and support a family. A major r
the espionage organization of Timón is that h
in which his own father was humiliated by
foreign owners of Mexico's oil production, w
address his father face to face but instead turned their backs on him
when they spoke to him - ninguneándolo. Throughout his fiction,
Fuentes creates characters and situations which function on both
the individual and the national levels. Thus this episode of face and
facelessness has a national resonance in the Porfirian epoch, char-
acterized by the proverb, "México, madre de los extranjeros y
madrastra de los mexicanos", when the face of Mexico was Euro-
pean, and the national identity, including the indigenous, Pre-
Columbian heritage of the nation, was suppressed. In La cabeza de
la hidra , Fuentes emphasizes the ease with which the original Mexi-
can identity - that of Aztec México-Tenochtitlán - was erased. The
plastic surgery inflicted on the face of Félix, his being forced to as-
sume the name of Diego Velázquez, which is the name both of the
renowned Spanish artist and of the governor of Cuba appointed by
the Spanish Crown, symbolizes the imposition of a foreign identity
over Mexico. Specifically, it alludes to the brutal way in which the
name of Nueva España, a name that lasted for three hundred years,
was imposed over the indigenous, nahua and maya cultures of Mexi-
co.
5 For an extensive examination of the complex functioning of t

muerte de Artemio Cruz , in which the protagonist encounters
compensatory doubles and antagonistic doubles, the latter bein
in their vanity and unscrupulousness symbolize the spiritual ca
has become and the legacy of venality and hate that he leaves be
sult my study, "Self, Double, and Mask in Fuentes' La muerte de
(in Texas Studies in Literature and Language , 16.2, Summer, 1
The aloof and jaded Timón regards the enthu

Félix as an alter ego , as the twin who incarnates
which Timón years earlier had shared but now
the idealistic figure in the narrative of Fuente
and again that person is sacrificed. Sara Klein,
work on behalf of a free Palestine, who is in
and intends to return to him, is slain. Gonzalo Be
Cruz's wife Catalina, rebels against his Porfiris
Revolution, only to be executed by a Villist
región más transparente , the sensitive and s
Zamacona, the illegitimate son of Federico Ro
attempts to define the nature of both his coun
senselessly, shot in a cantina where he has stop
gasoline. Only the temporizers survive and pr
in La región más transparente, who stifles his
rich making B movies; Artemio Cruz; Jaime
conciencias, and the cynical and monomaniaca
de la hidra . The same is true in the dark wor
Here the idealistic center is Axkaná, the alter
ná, sensitive, altruistic, unwilling to particip
and graft and decadence that constantly swir
indication that if circumstances were differen
the potential to become the politically enligh
leader that is the ideal of Guzmán. Yet just as F
age and tenacity and defiance, cannot prevail
works that are sustained both by the Direc
Timón, behind whose mere façade of idealism
of autonomy there lurks the exploitative and
Artemio Cruz, so also is the impressionable A
steadfastly loyal to Aguirre, swept up in the
turpitude:
E igual que los otros: todos participaban de la misma vibración, hasta

Axkaná. Este, actor y espectador, trataba de penetrar la esencia de
aquellas emociones, que también a él lo alcanzaban. Viendo el ardi-
miento de los otros, que era el suyo, hubiese querido poder coordinar las
expresiones apasionadas de cuantos le rodeaban, para leer en ellas,
como en las letras de un lenguaje escrito, la verdad nacional que pudiera
esconderse debajo de todo aquello. (39)
560 Lanin A. Gyurko
The mock session of the Cámara de Diputados

Aguirre hold in the bordello provides but a
their inability to govern the nation. Indeed, j
cabeza de la hidra presents no facile dichotom
evil but instead, as the narrative progresses, d
flaws and then the ominous nature of Timón,
evoked as the White Knight, the defender of
co, so too does Guzmán present an antiManiche
politics. The basic tragedy of the candidacy of
ble alternative to the Caudillo can emerge fro
propagated by the dictator:
Encarnación Reyes, encandilado por el coñac,
Mora y por cuanto oía, vino pronto a sentirse com
atmósfera caldeada y la excitación de una asamble
del Congreso. Ellos hacían de diputados, ellas
Guzmán does far more than merely evoke th
rality, of alcoholism and prostitution, in whi
submerged; he proffers an explanation of why
predominant. Again the point of view is that of A
son who is morally above his companions:
Entonces entendió Axkaná, mejor que nunca, e
comprendió por qué ellos no consideraban com
ministros o generales o gobernadores, dueños de
de todo un pueblo - sino con el roce cotidiano de
Vivían, o podían vivir, como principies; tenían d
tenerlas, a las más hermosas mujeres que el dinero
de eso les brindaba bastante sabor. Les hacía falta
acre y brusca, en el placer de lo inmundo. (47)
Guzmán penetrates the weird psychology of t
catapulted to power in a new world that they stil
muzzled from combat, forced to adopt to a ne
ment, yet perhaps desirous of immersing the
that freewheeling and endlessly orgiastic wor
all of its excesses by Mariano Azuela in Los de
the troops of Demetrio Macias, drinking bouts
ing prisoners, deadly games played with loade
of their daily lives. How close the Mexico of th
Guzmán still is to the battlefield, to the com
1911 - 1916, is that when there appears to be

the candidacy of Aguirre in the Chamber o
threatens to exterminate them en masse . Thus the recourse to vio-
lence seems to be not a last but a first resort, and indicates the tre-
mendous stresses that the new, post-Revolutionary society is afflict-
ed with, despite the Constitutional guarantees ratified in 1917.
One of the blackest of the shadows that falls over both of these
narratives is the shadow of betrayal. In La región más transparente ,
Fuentes emphasizes the history of Mexico as one of reiterated
betrayal. In El laberinto de la soledad , the eminent essayist Octavio
Paz sees the first betrayal of Mexico as that of the gods - the gods in
whom the mexica had placed their faith but who abandoned their
people to the conquistadores . La cabeza de la hidra , at the very end,
evokes the shadow of La Malinche, the Indian guide, interpreter,
and mistress of Cortes, whose name even more than four centuries
after the Conquest is still synonymous with opprobrium and
betrayal of Mexico by Mexicans themselves. For some, La Malinche
is the Mexican Eve, the archetype of the vendepatrias , and thus in
La cabeza de la hidra linked with the Director General and those
who support him. The one explicit development of the Director Ge-
neral is in terms of the most egregious example of national betrayal
in modern times - Victoriano Huerta. Just as Huerta, a general in
the army of Porfirio Díaz, first swore allegiance to the new presi-
dent, Madero, but plotted from within the government to assassinate
Madero, his brother Gustavo, and the vice president Pino Suárez, so
too does the wily Director General conspire to assassinate the Presi-
dent in hopes of seizing power. Indeed, it almost seems as if the
usually murky Director General revelled in advertising his link with
Huerta:
Al cabo, Félix pudo distinguir el reflejo de los anteojos ahumados, unos

pince-nez que sólo el Director General se atrevía a usar. Como que
habían sido el trademark del villano número uno de la historia moderna
de México, Victoriano Huerta. Pero el Director General tenía la excusa
de sufrir fotofobia. (35)
Extremely sensitive to the light, dwelling enshrouded by shadows,

the Director General in Fuentes' work becomes the parallel figure
to the Caudillo in Guzmán's novel.
562 Lanin A. Gyurko
This same patterning of betrayal from within

considered to be one of the most staunchly loy
Aguirre, occurs in La sombra de caudillo. Signif
who pledges Aguirre his total support only hou
arrested, imprisoned, and executed, is named
same name of the commander who betrayed P
time of the war for Mexico's independence fr
Ignacio Elizondo first deserted the royalist for
rection, receiving the rank of lieutenant-co
Jiménez, and then deserted the insurgents af
spire with the deposed governor of Texas, Ma
result of this treachery, the rebel leaders - All
go, were captured and subsequently executed.
atmosphere of incessant conspiracy and betray
Hamill can also be applied to the Mexico of th
picted by Guzmán:
It is not surprising that the depressed fortunes
cause in March [1811] not only adversely affected
de's loyal supporters but also created an atmo
treachery. The fluidity of allegiances, the meager
insurgent victory, and the disillusionment of the cri
de-Hidalgo cause gave heart to those royalists lyin
plots in the minds of those who had joined the re
tunism rather than conviction.7
Having been no mere observer but a willing and active member of

the Caudillo's inner circle for so many years, Aguirre should have
been keenly aware of the treachery of the military officers, of the
many false pledges of loyalty followed by acts of betrayal and rebel-
lion. Yet once Aguirre breaks his ties with the Caudillo, he is ex-
tremely trusting of Jáuregui and Elizondo. Perhaps he is desperate
for the confidence of anyone who merely pretends to be his adher-
ent, as does Jáuregui, because Aguirre still remains psychologically
shaken by the Caudillo's rejection of him. Aguirre well knows the
sinuousness and the treachery of Jáuregui, whom he has denied
promotion. Yet, thrown into a panic at the news that his arrest on
6 See Hugh M. Hamill, Jr., The Hidalgo Revolt: Prelude to Mexican Independ-
ence (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966, p. 209).
7 Hamill ([n. 6], p. 208).
trumped-up charges by the Caudillo is immin

regui has been told to relate - Aguirre acc
making no attempt to corroborate it. Rushing
of avoiding execution, Aguirre falls right into t
the Caudillo, who cites the flight of his ex
armed rebellion and uses it to justify the su
Aguirre:
- Puede usted no creerme si gusta, mi general; pero lo que vengo a
contarle es tan cierto como que aquí estamos viéndonos las caras. Una
vez le fueron a usted con no sé qué chisme sobre mi persona; usted, creí-
do de ello, me postergó y yo me resentí, y desde entonces, al parecer, no
somos amigos. Así lo dicen; hasta se me figura usted mismo así lo piensa.
La verdad, por fortuna para mi buen nombre (pues no soy de los que
olvidan al primer tropiezo todos los favores pasados) no es ésa por aho-
ra. Amigos somos; yo, quiero decir, lo soy de usted, y prueba de que no le
miento la tiene mi conducta. Mientras otros que usted antes protegía lo
traicionan, yo vengo aquí a enterarlo del golpe que sus enemigos están
preparándole. (215 f.)
Aguirre and the Caudillo are both surrounded by shadow loy-

alists, but the Caudillo acts, through a combination of bribery and
intimidation, to transmute the shadows into firm adherents, while
Aguirre sits and does nothing - relying on abstractions like the
course of public opinion or general dissatisfaction with the govern-
ment of the Caudillo, or the strong desire for vengeance of several of
his former supporters who had been slighted by the ruler. Aguirre
never articulates a program of reform or even a platform. Indeed,
his is a campaign of negativity, one waged against the Caudillo
rather than for anything specific. The Partido Radical Progresista
seems primarily concerned with preserving and extending its power
base, and by any means possible, including throwing its support to
the opposition candidate, as occurs briefly when Fernández prom-
ises to support Jiménez if he will accede to the party demands for
control. In the highly volatile world of Mexican politics, the military
politicians seek to cover all bases:
... la naturaleza de la función constreñía a los políticos militares a com-
portarse con doblez y les consentía jugar, hasta el último instante, con
una y otra posibilidades. Los más de ellos engañaban de hecho o en apa-
riencia, a los dos bandos: permanecían semiocultos en la sombra, se
mostraban turbios, vacilantes, sospechosos. (52)
564 Lanin A. Gyurko
The one positive value upheld by some of the

sombra del caudillo is abiding friendship - specif
ship between Axkaná and Aguirre, unbroken un
Aguirre's death. Upon learning that his best frie
napped and tortured, Aguirre uncharacteristic
take action, as he tracks down the culprit Zald
extracts a confession of guilt from him. The un
enjoyed in life, in which Axkaná functions as a c
rre, is prolonged even in the manner of their dea
to emulate the heroic and stoic manner of dying
Aguirre, al caer, había inclinado la cabeza de modo
desprendió y rodó hasta sus pies. Axkaná, con la cab
conservó el sombrero puesto. El ansia de morir choc
espíritu, con aquella diversidad inmediata; él había cr
te repetiría, detalle a detalle, gesto a gesto, la de su
In the murky world of La cabeza de la hidra , all v

loyalty, filial affection, matrimonial fidelity
undercut. The one idealistic relationship that rem
deep and pure love of Félix Maldonado for Sar
relationships that the protagonist enters into fal
his wife Ruth, Félix and his mentor Bernstein, Fé
soulmate Timón, Félix and Mary Benjamin, an aff
dles primarily because he needs physical release.
both students at Columbia University in New Yor
are soulmates; their relationship is based on the m
fice epitomized by the mythic relationship betwe
ers, Castor and Pollux. According to this Greek
brothers, Pollux, the offspring of Leda and
immortal; his brother, the son of Leda and the
was not. Thus when Castor died, Pollux shared h
in order to bring his brother back to life. In New
Timón voluntarily limits his allowance to the
receives from his scholarship. Yet their spiritual
sustained only in the rarefied world of academi
their careers diverge, and Timón becomes consu
nage operation. Luring Félix into the organizatio
his former friend, even willing to sacrifice him i
success of his spy system - just as he has killed hi
lica. Once back in Mexico, the relationship

becomes increasingly jealous of his more han
erates into one based on the pattern of Cain
betraying his former soulmate. Throughout
Carlos Fuentes, there is a reiterated emphasis
acts as a generational curse in the family of
betrayal of his soldiers, of Gonzalo Bernal, of
he inculcates the false image of himself as a R
but the extension of the betrayal of his father A
his cowardly brother Pedro, who leaves Atana
Pedro has a rifle that he could have used to save his life. In Fuentes'
novel Zona sagrada , Giancarlo, the friend whom the reclusive pro-
tagonist Guillermo regards as his twin, his soulmate, betrays him by
entering into an amatory relationship with Guillermo's mother
Claudia. In La región más transparente , the conniving protagonist
Federico Robles betrays Librado Ibarra, the man whom he once
considered his spiritual twin, his idealistic double. When Ibarra suf-
fers a serious accident in one of Robles' factories because of defec-
tive equipment that should have been repaired, Robles is totally un-
sympathetic toward his former friend and his plight, adopting a
"survival of the fittest" mentality. And in Las buenas conciencias ,
Jaime Ceballos finally cedes to the relentless pressure to conform, to
be a model bourgeois, turning his back on los de abajo like the
young Indian boy Juan Manuel Lorenzo and the persecuted labor
leader Ezequiel Zuno, welcoming the security and comfort of the
Balcárcel mansion, betraying the potential for responsible social
commitment that is within him, surrendering himself to a stultified
life of ease and maintaining a "good conscience", an easy con-
science.
In the works of both Guzmán and Fuentes, the middle classes are
excoriated for the self-righteousness, smugness, and political apa-
thy. Both authors incisively penetrate the class system in Mexico,
emphasizing the many gaps that occur, between the nouveaux
riches and los de abajo , between unscrupulous revolutionary leaders
like Catarino Ibáñez, who has ascended rapidly both the political
and the economic ladder, moving from milkman to owner of a
rapidly increasing dairy herd and from private citizen to governor of
a state. Guzmán sees the political process in Mexico as degenerating,
as ineffective, because the middle classes refuse to take an active
566 Lanin A. Gyurko
role, refuse to pull their weight, instead limit

Convention of the Partido Radical, to the passi
disdainful spectators:
Para ésos - así estaban proclamando sus actitud
común existía entre ellos y el rudimentario acto c
ba a su vista; por lo cual, si se dignaban verlo, era
de otra espiritualidad. Lo que esa gente presencia
ella se sintiera obligada a interesarse - menos aún
la salvaguardia de su fortuna, o de sus libertades,
sumo, una especie de desfile de circo: una proces
payasos pintarrajeados y fieras escapadas de su
Similar to El señor presidente by the Guatema
prize winner Miguel Angel Asturias, which atta
ure of the dictator but also those forces such as the cowardice and
apathy of the people, that directly or indirectly serve to perpetuate
that dictatorship, both Guzmán and Fuentes see the middle classes
as a force that could be an effective counterweight to the concentra-
tion of enormous power in but a few hands. In his evocation of the
Convention of Toluca, the critique of Guzmán is not only of the
farce made of the electoral process by the party leaders, who chose
their candidate prior to the Convention and then are put in the
embarrassing position of having to switch their choice at the last
moment, when everything is primed to support Jiménez, but also of
the bourgeoisie, who attend the conventions as a spectator sport.
Once more the voice of Axkaná seems to become the voice of con-
science of Guzmán himself, as it excoriates the self-centered middle
classes, the same group that Fuentes devastatingly satirizes in Las
buenas conciencias :
- Fíjate bien - decía a Mijares Axkaná - ; fíjate en la sonrisa de "las

gentes decentes." Les falta a tal punto el sentido de la ciudadanía, que ni
siquiera descubren que es culpa suya, no nuestra. Lo que hace que la
política mexicana sea lo que es. Dudo qué será mayor, si su tontería o su
pusilanimidad." (99)
The hypocrisy of the politicians and the sinuousness of the military

leaders are reflected in the shadowy nature of public opinion,
without the courage of its convictions. The public behaves like the
ancient Romans watching a combat bewtween gladiators - egging
on the fighters but never becoming involved themselves in the sav-
age struggle, which like the ritual in the Roman

in death for one of the candidates:
La llamada opinion pública acentuó entonces su influencia en la obra.

Era, secretamente, partidaria de Aguirre - en quien veía al valeroso
adalid de la oposición del Caudillo -, y era, secretamente también, ene-
miga de Jiménez, en quien personificaba la imposición continuista.
Pero voz, al fin y al cabo, de clases cobardes, de clases envilecidas en el
orden cívico, no se atrevía a resolver la pugna en los grupos abordándola
de plano, manifestándose con valor, sino que se limitaba a intervenir en
la lucha como el público en los matches de boxeo: azuzando a los con-
tendientes. (205)
Timón, from his vantage point as a member of the nouveaux

riches who nonetheless seems to have a heightened sensibility of the
dangers to the Mexican national autonomy and a willingness to act
to protect the oil resources of Mexico, criticizes the Mexican middle
class, and on much the same grounds as does Guzmán - for its
absorption in protecting its own position in society, for its political
apathy. Ironically, the voicelessness of the lower classes in both La
sombra del caudillo and La cabeza de la hidra is reflected in the
voluntary muzzling - the attitude of "see no evil, hear no evil, speak
no evil" of the middle classes:
Yo tuve suerte en los negocios y al morir mi padre los incrementé, pero

la compensación de mis esfuerzos me parecía vana. Los dos años en
Columbia, la amistad con Félix, mi amor por la literatura inglesa, me
hacían ver con una perspectiva deplorable al mundo de los burgueses
mexicanos, ignorantes y orgullosos de serlo, dispendiosos, voraces en su
apetito de acumular dinero sin propósito ulterior, ayunos de la menor
dosis de compasión social o de conciencia cívica. Los medios oficiales
con los que forzosamente trataba no me depararon mejor opinión; la
mayor parte de los funcionarios pugnaba por saquear lo suficiente en
seis años para luego acomodarse en los círculos burgueses y vivir, actuar
y pensar como ellos. (217)
This concentration of the federal bureaucrats on enhancing their
social and material position is the culmination of the attitude of the
"funcionarios públicos" whom Azuela so relentlessly satirizes in his
novel Las moscas (1917), as they rush to offer their services and to
gain the protection of who ever holds the power at the time.
568 Lanin A. Gyurko
At the very end of La sombra del caudillo , Gu

bastes the middle classes. The Caudillo has converted them into
mere shadows, ashamed and guilt-haunted but mute, unwilling to
speak out to condemn the atrocity. It is Guzmán in the twenties,
foreshadowing Fuentes in the seventies, who dares to expose the
reality that is officially suppressed:
Pero este laconismo de los periódicos no hacía, en realidad, sino acoger,
callándolas, la sorpresa y la consternación públicas. La ciudad vivía
como siempre, pero sólo en apariencia. Llevaba por dentro la vergüenza
y el dolor. (256)
Ironically, the comfortably middle class Félix Maldonado in La
cabeza , who owes his education and his professional position to the
reforms instituted by Cárdenas, a strong advocate of the Revolution-
ary ideals, at first is seen as a betrayer of the very president whose
memory he so cherishes. Cárdenas ardently defended the rights of
Indian Mexico, and insisted that the goal of land redistribution to
the campesinos be not merely articulated as part of Revolutionary
rhetoric, but actualized. But Maldonado at the outset is evoked as a
privileged and snobbish bourgeois, disdainful of the Indian masses,
squeamish concerning the poverty and squalor that he is forced to
confront as he walks through the older part of Mexico City:
Félix se dijo que ésta era una ciudad diseñada para señores y esclavos,
aztecas o españoles. No le iba esa mezcla indecisa de gente que había
abandonado hace poco el traje blanco del campesino o la mezclilla azul
del obrero y se vestía mal, remedando las modas de la clase media, pero
de veras a medias nada más. Los indios, tan hermosos en sus lugares de
origen, esbeltos, limpios, secretos, se volvían en la ciudad feos, sucios,
inflados de gaseosas. (14)
Ironically, Maldonado appreciates the Indians only as an aesthetic
phenomenon - as a tourist would, admiring them as an example of
the colorful and the picturesque in Mexico. Resentful of the intru-
sion of the Indian masses into Mexico City, Félix's attitude of supe-
riority echoes that of the scandalized Porfiristas, evoked both by
Azuela in Las tribulaciones de una familia decente and later by
Fuentes in the character of Rosenda Pola in La región más transpa-
rente, as a force that profaned their silver streets and elegant boule-
vards. In La región más transparente , the decadent party host Bobó
decorates his lavish home with Aztec chic - a small statue of Coatli-
cue on every step. But the hedonistic nouveau

crats like Robles who himself is Indian, dis
tempt for the impoverished and suffering Indian
perfunctory noblesse oblige, as Robles' wif
hands out through the iron gates of her mans
ing - to appease her "buena conciencia".
In the twenties as in the seventies, the puebl
as a force suspended in time and space, uninte
lent Revolutionary Mexican society of the twe
into the fast-paced, commercial and techno
contemporary period. In the elegant homes o
Rossetti in La cabeza , the Indian is once ag
aesthetic phenomenon - in the huge painting
that hangs prominently over the fireplace. In
ing, Martinez has evoked the Indian presence
supernatural dimensions - as huge, somber, n
wrapped in mists, suspended in time and spa
vision, the Indian appears as a mammoth,
presence, one which is at the same time idollik
of vanishing - or on the threshold of being b
ence is in twentieth century Mexico still wai
emerge from the state of suspended animatio
been cast since the epoch of the Conquest, wh
tion - language, customs, political and relig
systems - all were destroyed. Upon leaving
Félix sees the Martinez painting suddenly com
he comes upon the Indian presence as reality. Y
contact, to say nothing of rapport, with the
forms. Indeed, he responds to them with much
ment and incomprehension as the members o
family reacted to the Indians who had stepped
sive roles on the hacienda - as beings from
De la bruma de la medianoche vecina surgiero
sobre el lodo, como las figuras del cuadro de Ric
preguntó si esos bultos eran realmente personas,
sentados en cuclillas en el centro de la noche, de
bla de colmillos azules, envueltos en sus sarape
No lo pudo saber porque nunca antes había vist
pudo descubrir porque no se atrevió a acercarse
ria, compasión y horror. (55)
570 Lanin A. Gyurko
Yet, as the narrative progresses, it traces the

Félix, his increasing sensitivity and finally his
los de abajo, who finally become individualized
sons of the taxicab driver Memo and his wife
Indian Mexico is evoked by Guzmán in the ch
ses on the Convention celebrated by the Partid
in Toluca, which finally disintegrates into cha
Indian masses are brought in, walking many m
the promise of a free meal if they perform on
name of the candidate supported by the Partid
pression that this candidate has great popular s
no political consciousness, the Indians do not e
they are cheering. Compounding that confusi
and at the same time symbolizing its inherent
confuse and garble the names of the candidat
- ¡Viva Ignacio Jiménez! - gritaba.
O bien:
- ¡Muera Hilario Aguirre! (98)
There are no representatives of these Indian peoples at the Con-
vention, no voting delegates. Indeed, the delegations that are in
attendance have been previously instructed by Catarino Ibáñez, the
Convention host, as to whom to support. The Convention is rigged,
and, ironically, when Jiménez, after being directed by the Caudillo,
refuses to accept the conditions that Olivier Fernández, the party
leader, has laid down in return for the party's support of Jiménez,
needs to be re-rigged. When Ibáñez, a secret ally of the Caudillo,
drags his feet and stymies the desire of Fernández to have the Con-
vention come out in support of Aguirre, an enraged Fernández seeks
personal vengeance on Ibáñez. The Convention degenerates into a
brawl - another indication of the extreme difficulty if not impossi-
bility of true participatory democracy in this highly unstable atmos-
phere of Revolutionary aftermath, where bullets still rule over bal-
lots.
The one person capable of bridging, at least temporarily, the
widening gap between los de arriba and los de abajo, is Axkaná, who
addresses the Indian populace and has the capacity, as the result of
both his eloquence and sincerity, to move them. In Fuentes' work,
there is, in the figure of the Indian elevator operator, some indivi-
dualization, although it is significant that ev

remains nameless. In Guzmán, there is no Ind
sible for one to emerge; there is only the fo
lated by the party leaders, for whom only Ax
miseration:
Súbitamente, Axkaná se enterneció, aunque sin saber por qué. Mientras

todos aplaudían y gritaban, él sintió que había mucho de conmovedor
en aquella asamblea política de un millar de hombres cuyas carnes se
cubrían apenas con ropas de manta; lo había también en la manera
como las grandes ruedas de los sombreros de palma se agitaban en el ex-
tremo de algunos brazos, y lo había en el aplaudir de las manos
oscuras ... Los rostros broncíneos expresaban de algún modo, dentro del
marco de las cabelleras negras y apelmazadas, la alegría adivinatoria de
una posible aspiración. "Sí - pensaba Axkaná -, ésta es la aspiración
que los políticos explotan y traicionan." (90)
Through the point of view of Axkaná, the only one in the work to
have a genuine social conscience, but, ironically, as a shadow of
Aguirre a person bereft of political power, the Indian masses are
evoked as orphans - an image that will be re-elaborated fifty years
later, in mythic terms by Fuentes:
Guzmán, 1929:
Todos se disponían, humildes y dóciles, a salir. Salían con torpe blandu-
ra de rebaño, con algarabía musitada apenas, con parloteo donde las
consonantes se suavizaban y el temblor de las risas nacía como para caer
al suelo. Axkaná avanzaba entre ellos.
Tampoco ahora sabía por qué pero el sentimiento de ternura que había
sentido poco antes iba convirtiéndose en sentimiento de piedad. Era una
piedad análoga a la que en él despertaban las proles huérfanas. (95)
Fuentes, 1978:
Se abrieron paso entre la multitud cotidiana que llega de todas partes de
México al sitio que junto con el Palacio Nacional pero acaso más que la
sede de un poder político más o menos pasajero es el centro inconmovi-
ble de un país fascinado por su ombligo, quizás porque su nombre mis-
mo significa ombligo de la luna, angustiado por el temor de que el centro
y sus cimas, la Virgen y el señor Presidente, se desplacen, se larguen
enojados como la Serpiente Emplumada y nos dejan sin la protección
salvadora que sólo nos dispensan esta mamá y este papá. (188)
572 Lanin A. Gyurko
In La cabeza de la hidra as in La región más tr

nostra , the present is but a flimsy mask over th
co - the mythic Mexico, the Mexico of blood s
gods. In La cabeza , the abandoning of his peop
the god of life and love, the god who renounce
accepted only flowers and birds instead of hum
as the mythic archetype for the fear of the mass
at the time of the Conquest, the deities whom
abandon them.
In both Guzmán and Fuentes, the Indian masses exist on another
plane from the middle and upper class characters of the works. For
the uncomprehending Indians at the Convention, an institution of
Western culture, what they witness is meaningless: "como si con-
templara un fenómeno de origen desconocido y remoto, semejante
al rayo, semejante a la lluvia" (99). In La cabeza , the Indians are
depicted wearing huaraches and still traveling on foot as the high
speed automobiles whizz around them. They remain mired in
poverty and analfabetismo , in a country of more than fifty languages
and with cultures ranging from that of the Stone Age to the micro-
chip. The same abyss between Indian Mexico and criollo world is
depicted by Guzmán:
Era evidente, sin embargo que las palabras de Axkaná, con ser sencillas,
no llegaban hasta la inteligencia de la miserable muchedumbre que lo
escuchaba. Entre la ideación de sus oyentes y la de él había abismos:
abismos de tiempo, de clase, de cultura. (100)
There is a marked contrast between the expensively prepared food

consumed by the politicians and the simple fare of the Indians, be-
tween the pretentiousness of the vainglorious ex-revolutionaries
turned zealous entrepreneurs like Ibáñez and the genuine expres-
sion of suffering and of anguish of the Indian masses, exploited
under the Porfirista regime and continuing to be mired in their
poverty and sickness and desperation under the Caudillo:
Sonó un viva de la multitid, pero un viva unánime, más sincero y pleno
que todos los anteriores; un viva donde la voz multitudinaria, sin perder
su ímpetu, se tornó extrañamente melancólica, lastimera. No un rumor,
sino un temblor, pareció prolongar aquel grito. (102)
In the carefully constructed work of Guzmán, there is a constant

interplay of shadow and light, to symbolize both physical change
and spiritual development. As Axkaná speaks

the shadows which have previously fallen so
characters are temporarily dissipated. There i
- spiritual light, the contact between the low
ses, and the possibility of a genuine unity in
splintered by the forces of the Caudillo, who
and-conquer dictum:
En su discurso no vivían los conceptos: vivían las
des individuales, estéticas, reveladoras de lo esen
de su acción inmediata sobre el alma; y vivía con
ba marco en la persona del orador. La luz que ib
de indios allí reunida era obra de la calidez misteriosa de los vocablos de
Axkaná y del ritmo de sus frases; pero nacía también del timbre de la voz
del orador, de la elocuencia de su sinceridad, de la simpatía comunicati-
va de sus ademanes y hasta del fulgor, intensamente franco y expresivo,
de sus ojos, que brillaban más verdes bajo los rizos de su cabellera en
desorden. (101)
But despite the power of the speech, the aura of spiritual union that
is generated is quickly dissolved. Ibáñez, who is also temporarily
moved by the speech, attempts to garner the approbation of the
masses for himself, hypocritically and histrionically usurping the
recognition due to Axkaná by embracing him in a pseudo-display of
fraternal unity. The fatalistic words of Axkaná are brought to mind
- in the tumultuous world of Mexican politics, those who embrace
as friends one day will on the next turn against each other as mortal
enemies. Here, in the very moment of apparent unity, of the brief
awakening of the political conscience of Ibáñez, is also the shadow
of future betrayal, as Ibáñez, governor of the state in which Elizon-
do is the commander of a division, will work hand and glove with
him, behind the scenes, to destroy Aguirre in order to gain the favor
of the Caudillo:
En el balcón de la directiva, Catarino Ibáñez tenía abrazado a Axkaná; lo

abrazaba hasta casi levantarlo en vilo y como si intentara mostrarlo en
alto a la muchedumbre de los manifestantes. El tampoco había com-
prendido muy bien el alcance de aquel discurso; pero un sentimiento
extraño, dueño de él, lo arrastraba. Tenía la sospecha de que su conduc-
ta no había sido hasta allí la de "los héroes humildes" a que Axkaná aca-
ba de referirse, sino la otra, la de "los poderosos sin alma, muertos, des-
de la cuna, para los impulsos creadores del bien". Pero sentía, al propio
574 Lanin A. Gyurko
tiempo, que junto a esa sospecha le brotaba una c

perdonarse y perdonar, una suerte de delirio afectiv
do al toque de la noble verdad que durante unos mi
rozándole, piel sobre piel, carne contra carne, en lo
calidades de hombre. (101 f.)
The simple, powerful, emotional expression of

- a cry of joy that rapidly turns to one of pain -
tes' work a half century later. La cabeza de la hid
City that is now a gigantic megapolis of more th
people, one that cannot be romanticized in song
world cities can: "The Last Time I Saw Paris",
Left My Heart in San Francisco". For the beleag
nado, Mexico City is a gigantic maw, and similar
Cambio de piel who evokes Mexico as a city that
from afar but that devours anyone who comes
only canción de ciudad for Mexico as one of r
Pero ahora se sintió liberado del peso de la ciudad d
más fea, estrangulada en su gigantismo mussolinian
opciones inhumanas: el mármol o el polvo, el en
intemperie gangrenosa. Tarareó canciones popula
adormilado, que existen canciones de amor para tod
dades del mundo, para Roma, Madrid, Berlín, Nueva
co, Buenos Aires, Río, París; ninguna canción de amo
Mexico ...
Despertó en la oscuridad con un sobresalto; la pesadilla se cerró donde
el sueño se inició: una pena muda, un alarido de rabia, esa era la canción
del D.F. y nadie podía cantarla. (122)
In both Guzmán and Fuentes, the Indian Mexico is invested with
a solemnity and a dignity - a spiritual value that seems to convert
the Indians into Aztec idols, one that stresses their ability to survive,
and ultimately to prevail throughout centuries of indignities and
oppression. In Guzmán, there is an emphasis on the stoic calm with
which the Indians consume their meager fare in contrast to the
boisterous gluttony of the politics at the banquet tamble:
Comían con tristeza fiel - con la tristeza fiel con que comen los perros
de la calle - ; pero lo hacían, al propio tiempo, con dignidad suprema,
casi estática. Al mover las quijadas las líneas del rostro se les conserva-
ban inalterables. (103)
In Fuentes, this ennobling of the Indian people is s

of the Indian elevator operator, who is rescued fro
and invested with the stoic dignity. At first he ap
and faceless being. Ironically, when the Director
strips the name and professional identity from Fé
that no one, not even his private secretary, grants
Félix finally is reduced to the same level of anony
vator operator lives daily. The shock of losing hi
Félix reach out to the elevator operator, whom he,
other fast-rising executives, has previously ignor
comes an act of poetic justice, the operator refuses
tion to the person by whom he has always been n
- Yo soy el que no se mueve. Todos me miran, yo no
el elevadorista y siguió observando su moneda. (26
The calmness and the dignity of the elevator op
with the insecurity and the increasing exas
distraught Felix.
In La región más transparente as in Fuentes' shor
in the collection Los días enmascarados , "Por boc
the irruption of the ancient Aztec deities into tw
Mexico is portrayed as a demonic process - the go
vengeance oil the Europeanized Mexican society
thrown them, and quest relentlessly for victims o
particularly among those of the bourgeoisie who
disdained their Indian heritage. In La cabeza de la
the Aztec past of Mexico is evoked in a positiv
unchanging, spiritual, transcendental center of t
quiet pride, the elevator operator concentrates on
holds in his hand, as if it were a sacred amulet
Nomás es muy bonito. Un águila sobre un nopal, d
piente. Me gusta más que el valor" (25). The emble
templates is the national symbol of Mexico, em
Mexican flag, and an allusion to the mythical fou
Tenochtitlán. It is an eagle with a serpent in its be
tus, at the place where the Aztec tribe after years
to found its great city in 1325 - the city built on
co, that has evolved over the centuries into Mexico
back to the ancient indigenous past, Fuentes seek
576 Lanin A. Gyurko
his readers the pride in the Mexican national ori

sentiment that the elevator operator experience
mán entitles his series of evocations of the Rev
and heroes and martyrs, El águila y la serpiente
define the new, enlightened society that will
chaos of revolution. The same cry of ambiguity
rapidly into sorrow, of the Indian masses in Gu
Fuentes' work, as the elevator operator is evoke
come to life, with his "ojos llorosos y una sonri
Both La sombra del caudillo and La cabeza de la hidra are narra-
tives that are saturated with fate. Fate is both an external force, in La
sombra symbolized by the Caudillo and in La cabeza incarnated in
both the Director General and Timón, and an inner weakness that
afflicts both protagonists, Aguirre and Maldonado. In Guzmán's
work, the Caudillo is evoked again and again as an all-powerful,
even superhuman force, controlling both directly and indirectly all
classes in Mexico, from the nouveaux riches and the generals at the
top of the social structure who do his bidding, to the politicians and
the deputies in the Congreso, to the doctors and lawyers, to the
bureaucrats. The same is true with the Director General in Fuentes'
work, who treats all of those around him as mere puppets. Fuentes
creates a Kafkaesque world, as pawns like Malena, the secretary of
Félix, and Chayo and others obey instantaneously and unquestion-
ingly the command of the Director General that no one is to grant
recognition to Félix Maldonado.
Underscoring the fatalism of these narratives is that the principal
characters are defined in terms of archetypal figures, both from
Mexico's revolutionary past, and, in Fuentes' novel, from the re-
mote, Aztec epoch as well. Aguirre attempts to define his candidacy
in terms of the glorious heroes of the Mexican Revolution, particu-
larly Francisco Madero and Emiliano Zapata. But the fate of both of
these leaders, to be treacherously cut down, adumbrates the nega-
tive destiny of Aguirre himself.
As we have seen, Félix Maldonado is defined, first and foremost,
in terms of the idealism of Lázaro Cárdenas, one of the Mexican
leaders who gave the nation a face, who restored Mexican national
pride and identity through his bold act of nationalizing the Mexican
petroleum resources. In La cabeza9 Fuentes depicts Cárdenas in an
almost mystical way, as an incarnation of Quetzalcóatl. Indeed,
throughout Fuentes' works the characters are

terms of modern archetypes but in terms of a
as well. For example, in La muerte de Artemio
is depicted first in terms of a successor to the ab
Díaz, then as a twentieth century conquistado
Hernán Cortés, and, finally, in his despotism w
lavish estate at Coyoacán, where he assumes
Emperor and envisions himself as holding t
death over the one hundred guests whom he
his mansion for a bizarre New Year's Eve cele
tlatoani with his imperial court, Moctezum
Director General, whose face is evoked ove
living skull, becomes a modern emanation of
dead - the deity who attempted to defeat Que
world, Mictlantecuhtli:
El Director General no tuvo que golpear a Félix; l

tro verdoso, impreso para siempre en hondas co
mos a la imagen de la muerte, si no a la muerte m
que salía por las aletas anchas de la nariz y los la
parecidos a dos navajas de canto, sí venía de una t
hablar con una amenaza peor que cualquier tranq
(201)
Félix is implicitly identified with the young and valiant resister of

the Spanish invasion of Mexico, Cuauhtémoc. At the outset Fuentes
alludes to the statue of the last of the Aztec Emperors that graces the
Avenida Reforma, Cuauhtémoc with his lance raised on high, as if
he were still defending Mexico City in the twentieth century against
external aggression. The degradation that Félix suffers at the hands
of the agents of the Director General, who repeatedly torture him in
an attempt to gain secret information, which Félix never confesses,
finds a historical archetype in the torture of the stoic Cuauhtémoc
by the conquistadores. Desirous of placating his soldiers, who be-
came mutinous because they felt cheated out of their share of the
gold, Cortés acceded to their demands to torture Cuauhtémoc into
revealing where the gold was hidden. The feet of Cuauhtémoc were
covered with oil and then set afire. The resoluteness of Cuauhté-
moc, his refusal to crack, to rajarse , even under torture, with the re-
sult that he was lame for the rest of his brief life, is paralleled by the
defiance by Félix of his captors and torturers in the twentieth cen-
tury:
578 Lanin A. Gyurko
Félix asintió mecánicamente, luego negó, luego

que era algo peor que un prisionero de estos dos h
briz con la que jugaban cruelmente, cortándola en
con una vara para ver si seguia moviéndose. (6
When the Aztec leader was initially captured by
of México-Tenochtitlán, he begged the conq
rather than having to endure the ignominy o
Cuauhtémoc is revered in Mexican history and
unlike the cowardly Moctezuma, who constant
Cortés, and in contrast with the ruler of Ta
Cuauhtémoc being subjected to torture and wh
ing Eagle scorned the invaders. Félix too acqui
as he symbolizes the Mexico that has, at the tim
at the time of Independence, with heroes like
the time of the invasion of Mexico by Max
oppressors:
"Nunca me volverá a pasar esto", se dijo Félix Maldonado, "nunca más

permitiré que alguien me obligue a tragar impunemente las palabras
ajenas sin que pueda contestarlas". (73)
And yet Félix's being identified with Cuauhtémoc is an ambiguous
prototype, because the Aztec ruler was not only a symbol of free-
dom, but one of fate. Compelled to fight virtually alone against the
invaders, as tribe after rebuffed his efforts to unify in the face of this
external threat, Cuauhtémoc was finally defeated - a strong, fanati-
cally aggressive, but ultimately doomed figure. Fearing an Indian
rebellion inspired by Cuauhtémoc, Cortés took the Aztec leader
with him when he left México-Tenochtitlán to journey to the
Hibueras to quash the rebellion of Olid. The increasingly paranoid
Cortés accuses Cuauhtémoc of conspiracy and orders him to be
ignominiously hanged upside down from the ceiba tree. So too is
Félix Maldonado at the end of La cabeza evoked as a lone, desper-
ate, demoralized figure, losing his sanity, entangled and destroyed
in vast spy operations.
Both Félix and Ignacio Aguirre are trapped and crushed between
twin sets of devastating political forces. Aguirre, rapidly and inexo-
rably, moves from being a puppet of the Caudillo to being a pawn of
the Partido Radical Progresista:
Olivier Fernández y sus radicales progresistas hab

por apoderarse de su candidato: ya lo tenían en
Maldonado becomes a pawn first of the Direct
of the bizarre and crafty Timón. The Director G
strip Félix of his autonomous identity, symbolizes
willing to betray Mexico, willing to subvert th
as did Moctezuma at the time of the Conquest.
vert Félix into his golem :
- Oyeme bien. Lo único cierto de esta aventura es

eres el verdadero Félix Maldonado o el que por órd
tituyó. ¿Quieres seguir negando que eres un hom
Panteón Jardín? Regresa al momento en que despe
pregúntate si puedes asegurar que entonces sab
para siempre un antes y un después en tu vida. U
nunca podrás salvarlo, ¿me entiendes bien? De
que puedas saber de tu pasado quizás sea sólo lo qu
mente, querramos enseñarte. ¿Cómo podrás sab
The final words of the Director General are wo
dor to the conquistado - to the Indians whom
branded in the face, just as the helpless Félix is
surgery inflicted upon him.
When Félix informs Timón, who all along ha
as a counterfigure to the Director General, of
the Director General to dehumanize him, t
Timón also mandates that Félix become the Ot
serves his own purpose. Here is a manifestation
monster that Félix must war against. Believin
the stratagems of the Director General, Félix f
cal control of Timón, who wants him to be th
robotic, soulless:
... Félix Maldonado está muerto y enterrado. Dieg

tituto ideal. Nadie lo busca. Nadie lo reconoce. No
ne cuentas pendientes. (236)
- Ahora nos eres más valioso que nunca - le dije c
A todos nos interesa que no vuelvas a ser quien er
do otro. El espía perfecto no tiene vida personal,
casa, ni pasado. (237)
580 Lanin A. Gyurko
In the cases of both the Director General and T

alizing and degrading Félix they attempt to g
his servility by posing as his savior. Thus at th
de la hidra , the extremely agitated Félix, shock
office recognizes him, feels tempted to kiss th
the Director General - the only one to call him
A similar pattern occurs with Timón, who exp
with him emotionally and controlling him ph
the orange juice that Félix drinks on the morni
reception so that Félix will collapse at precisely
thwart the assassination attempt. Timón addr
as an equal but as a puppet, using the somber, d
adversary, the Director General:
Corrí el riesgo de tomar la mano de Félix, de que
piel seca, de saurio.
- Te necesito, Félix. Tienes razón. La partida se
una justa entre caballeros con miedo y con tacha
luces. La próxima vez, sin embargo, se encontrar
no sólo más fuerte, sino distinto. Y así sucesivame
esta vez me conocieran, para que la siguiente vez
me seguirás necesitando porque soy la única perso
seguirá llamando Félix Maldonado.
-Ruth... (237)
Similar to the longing of Aguirre for the comforting presence of
Rosario, Félix clings to the mere spectre of freedom as he repeatedly
invokes the name of his wife Ruth at moments of extreme trauma -
as a mother figure, one of consolation and salvation. Although she is
named, ironically, Ruth - an allusion to the biblical Ruth, the per-
sonification of steadfast loyalty and devotion - his wife finally be-
comes a mater terribilis, similar to so many of the mothers in the
world of Fuentes - Claudia Nervo in Zona sagrada , Rosenda Pola
and Teódula Moctezuma in La región más transparente , the posses-
sive aunt and substitute mother of Jaime Ceballos, Asuncion Balcár-
cel, in Las buenas conciencias , the invisible and terrifying Mother in
Orquídeas a la luz de la luna - all are mothers of death, whose
archetype is the dread goddess of womb and tomb from the Aztec
pantheon - Coatlicue. Ruth will collaborate in the slaying of the
only woman whom Félix has ever loved, Sara Klein.
At the end of La cabeza de la hidra , Félix re

bewildered as is Aguirre, after he is suddenly
person from whom he had sought protection
Félix returns to Ruth expecting to receive con
matic experiences but instead is shocked to di
rious nun whom he has been pursuing, the nu
tified as the one responsible for the death o
whom he at the end discovers sitting listlessly
her nun's disguise. The double shock, first t
Timón, who attempts to take possession of Fél
has controlled him professionally, and finally
drive Félix into insanity. Ironically, he rushe
General for protection:
Félix Maldonado articuló mal su última pregunta
sa y los dientes blandos como granos de maíz coc
dijo con un delirio tranquilo que el hombre con
servó con curiosidad, ¿quién tiene este poder?, e
las vidas, torcerlas a su antojo, convertirnos en
Again and again in both narratives, the prota

puppets, or to victims caught in a fatalistic sp
every movement serves only to draw the str
them:
Guzmán:
En la Cámara de Diputados el destino de Ignacio Aguirre siguió tejién-

dose inquebrantablemente. (77)
Fuentes:
El antiguo alumno sacudió la cabeza como para librarse de un nido de

arañas. Entró a la recámara del profesor decidido a no caer en ninguna
trampa y sin duda Bernstein traía ... más de una treta. (123)
The ruthless Timón, who has no compunction in murdering his own

sister Angelica in order to pin her death on Rossetti, the chief agent
of the Director General, contemptuously states to Félix, in words
that also could provide a bitter summation of Aguirre's destiny:
"Aprovecha la experiencia, Félix, aunque no te la expliques. Ese es
tu destino, ser utilizado ciegamente. No te quejes." (240).
As we have seen, the Caudillo is paralleled in Fuentes' narrative
both by the menacing Director General and the treacherous and
582 Lanin A. Gyurko
extremely astute Timón. All three are titiritero

work in the shadows; all three initially give the
false impression that they are in control of their
suddenly to jerk the strings to make those figure
much they are dominated - and then to destro
psychologically, or both.
In both novels, acts of will are transmuted in
sombra del caudillo , for example, drinking is
with machismo and among the followers of Ag
imminent triumph. Much is made of the fact tha
only from a full and unopened bottle - to man
ty, to assert, as he does in the bordello, his virili
the narrative alcohol is linked not with valor b
at the outset, is a premonition of the dire fate of
compelled by his kidnappers to imbibe enormo
hol:
Vació la suya. La volvío a llenar, tornó a beber, y fue

varias gotas cayeron en la sobrecama, de raso y en
manchas oscuras. (65)
The events that propel Aguirre toward his b

candidacy proceed with the fatalism of a Greek
part of the chorus, who stand in the backgrou
the action of the drama but repeatedly warnin
the disaster that will befall him if he does not fo
the shadow voices of friends and associates of
admonition that the self-absorbed Aguirre rep
and over again, from Fernández, from Axkan
seek out of their own ulterior motives to incite him to armed rebel-
lion, is emphasized the theme of the first blow that must be struck,
and quickly, by Aguirre:
Cuantos tenían ocasión de dirigir a Aguirre dos frases seguidas le decían
con más o menos franqueza: "No le quede a usted otro camino que el de
los rifles", consejo elevado por los sociólogos a categoría de ley. "En
México - le aseguraban estos últimos - todos los presidentes se hacen a
balazos." Y del otro lado, igual. A Jiménez, al Caudillo les tenía puesto
del runrún de la inminente sublevación de los aguirristas. (206)
Both narratives emphasize the extremely slim margin of freedom

that the desperate protagonists attempt to maintain against the
devastating forces with which they must

Throughout La cabeza , Félix is developed as a
on both the personal and the national levels, sy
omy that Mexico is compelled to defend o
throughout her history. But at one point in
only freedom seems to be a semantic one,
Timon's desire that he live in a type of hypn
prefers to consider himself as existing in a sta
is one of the many ploys that the ingenious
himself from slipping into the status of a Ce
with Timón diabolically playing the role of t
gari:
Vas a vivir unas cuantas semanas en una especie de hipnosis volun-
taria - le dije cuando le expliqué todo lo anterior - Es indispensable
para que nuestra operación no fracase.
- No me gusta la palabra hipnosis - me respondió Félix con su sonri-
sa morisca, tan parecida a la de Velázquez - ; prefiero llamarla fasci-
nación, voy a dejarme fascinar por todo lo que me suceda. Quizás ése
es el punto de equilibrio entre la fatalidad y la voluntad que me pi-
des. (142)
In La sombra del caudillo , Toluca is the site where the Partido

Radical Progresista celebrates its convention; it is considered a par-
ty stronghold. Yet the insidious shadow of the Caudillo penetrates
even here. At the end as throughout the novel, darkening shadows
provide a dramatic visual expression of the invisible yet all-encom-
passing power of the Caudillo. And finally there is the blackness of
the room in which Aguirre is incarcerated, its pitch-blackness signi-
fying the darkness of death:
El cuarto donde se hallaba no tenía, aparte la puerta, hueco alguno. La
oscuridad era casi absoluta. Sólo en la región donde las hojas de madera
se acercaban al piso la luz del día alumbraba como finísima regla de
horizontalidad brillante. (230)
The extreme rapidity with which the arrest of Aguirre and his fol-
lowers occurs also underscores the diabolic fatalism of the narra-
tive. Aguirre is led to believe that Elizondo is sending him an escort
for his protection against Ibáñez, but this escort suddenly places
him and his men under arrest. Here, at the end, the gesture of drink-
ing, of lifting the cup to his lips, which so often has been expressive
584 Lanin A. Gyurko
of exuberant machismo, is now linked with irrem

death:
El asalto había sido tan súbito, tan inverosímil, que d

ron para que se consumara. Cuando Aguirre se habí
de los labios, sus amigos estaban libres; al ir a pone
veía presos. (227)
Yet, even at the end, when he is stripped of his auth
into solitary confinement, Aguirre, paralleling
tenaciously clings to the slimmest margin of free
captain in the hopes of retaining some link with
"A lo mejor - se repetía ahora - esos cien pesos r
bien gastados en toda mi vida" (230). But even her
deluded. He does receive a newspaper from the so
reads is the bogus account of his revolt - the pret
diate execution, without trial or defense.
Ironically, the fate of both protagonists is writ
their respective exploiters. The day of his death,
official bulletin highlighting his armed rebellio
took place, but that is written into "official" histor
cabeza de la hidra , the possession of Félix that T
physically, as the protagonist resists his homose
taken authorially, as at the end Timón interv
Félix's narrative and imposes the ending which h
- one which marks the ultimate defeat of the p
Just as in La sombra del caudillo , in the life of Fé
seem to be acts of will are subsequently disclose
tions of the fatalistic forces that ceaselessly contr
For example, when he escapes from the hospital
imprisoned and tortured by the agents of the Direct
believes that he is exerting his independent will
captors. Only later does he learn that his escape w
those very adversaries, whose design in allowing
was that he would lead them straight to Timón. T
the narrative, when Félix single-handedly captur
the leader of a drug operation that is exploiting
again exults in his heroic accomplishment. He na
he has broken out of the constrictive mold of
grammed by Timón and that of target of the D
No era mucho pero Félix se sintió libre por prim

tó, en nombre de la humillación de su padre, la m
dé. Por fin había hecho algo por si solo, sin que
preparase las circunstancias para obligarlo a hacer
haciéndole creer que él lo hacía por su propia
But the Director General deprives Félix even o
cuting Benjamin with a bullet in the head:
único acto mío, mi único acto libre - dijo
qué?" (272).
At the end oí La sombra , even nature itself seems to conspire
against Aguirre, to adumbrate his doom. Fatalism now becomes
transmuted into a cosmic power, to underscore the impossibility
that anything or anyone could intervene to save Aguirre from imme-
diate execution:
Los dos camiones y el coche empezaron a rodar. Serían las cinco de la

tarde. Afuera, el azul del cielo, de pureza absoluta - cielo de
diciembre -, iba tiñiéndose en levísimos tonos violeta. (236)
The purplish tones of the sky provide a forewarning of the immi-

nent bloodbath.
Paralleling and perhaps influencing the character creation of
Félix Maldonado is the incessant hedonism of Ignacio Aguirre, that
constantly conflicts with the rigors of his political position. Indeed,
there is a pronounced inner fatalism to Aguirre, as he goes from one
amatory encounter to another, from the house of Rosario to the bor-
dello of La Mora and back again. It is as if he subscribed to the
ancient gladiatorial imperative, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for
tomorrow we die". Instead of satiating his appetite, his submersion
into sensual pleasures only increases his desire for further dissipa-
tion:
Al otro día de su aventura con Rosario, Aguirre salió de su despacho de

la Secretaría de Guerra resuelto como nunca a divertirse. Varias causas
contribuían a que se sintiera así, pero entre todas, una: la conclusión a
que creyó llegar departiendo con Axkaná González sobre los fundamen-
tos de la conducta: "Si es lícito - había dicho en resumen - aceptar y
producir dolores presentes en vista de satisfacciones o alegrías futuras,
también ha de serlo el procurarse los placeres de hoy a cambio de los
sufrimientos de mañana. Unos escogerán lo uno; otros, lo otro, y acaso
todos al hacer balance, resultemos parejos. (25)
586 Lanin A. Gyurko
There is an underlaying pathetic, even tragic qu

even desperate hedonism on the part of Aguir
some level, perhaps at this point in the narra
one, Aguirre sensed that his career, and indee
negative and futile and ultimately disastrous c
ing to compensate.
Professionally as well, there seems to be an i
self-destruction in Aguirre. In his role as Minis
to be a mere figurehead, accomplishing very lit
ful position as a front for his shady business tr
ciously exerting his authority not to assist but
come to him seeking help. The overemotional,
and even callous way in which Aguirre runs hi
augur well for the way in which he would go
- ¿Mucha gente?
- Ochenta y nueve, mi general.
- Muy bien; no recibo a nadie. (134)
When faced with the probability, perhaps e
armed confrontation with the Caudillo, Aguirr
armed conflict, adopts an attitude of desperati
tos-instinct, an urge to fight and die:
¿Quiere a fuerza que luchemos? Pues iremos a la l
cabo, en México, todos pierden. (154)
For all of his pretensions to political power, A
ized by a willessness, by a yearning for soft, lu
and womblike comfort. Rebuffed by the Caud
ning aggressive measures, Aguirre immediatel
sagrada - the zone of tranquillity and comfo
that is the house of Rosario, where he becomes
tude, nursing his emotional wounds. Here is a
how ill-prepared psychologically Aguirre is to
ent candidacy against so formidable an oppone
It is another shadow presence that dominates
ow of Rosario:
De este modo la casa de Rosario le quedaba para las horas de placidez o

de laceramiento. El la sentía como algo a medio camino entre su hogar
de donde la vergüenza de sí propio lo alejaba, y la vida de crápula, hacia
donde su ser íntegro lo impelía - como refugio acoged

roso, y, al mismo tiempo, como diminuto paraíso qu
encanto, para él imprescindible, de lo que, merecien
ce deleite. (60)
Aguirre seems to be more at home in the bordell

Cadillac through the center of Mexico City, surro
prostitutes, than he is either on the political or th
fields. He is evoked by Guzmán as a Minister of W
the raw courage but the initiative, boldness and
successfully to challenge the wily and intimidati
rre is continually evoked as a person who is in con
candidacy for the president nor of himself: "Axk
recostado en la cama" (61). Like many of the disgr
and generals who flock to him, Aguirre opposes t
first instance at least, not on ideological groun
feels personally humiliated and betrayed by the
has expected, like the spoiled child or the protég
his bid for the presidency by the Caudillo who
served. Rejected by his mentor, Aguirre respond
tions, adopting the role not of a seasoned politici
the vicissitudes of a political career but as an ove
off paramour:
Diez años he estado cerca de él; diez años de absoluta disciplina, de obe-
diencia, de sumisión; diez años en que su voluntad política ha sido siem-
pre la mía; diez años de pelear por unas mismas ideas (siempre las
suyas), de defender unos mismos intereses (los suyos en primer término)
y de ejecutar actos que ligan infinitamente y para la eternidad; de fusilar
a enemigos comunes, de quitar en medio, acusándolos, negándolos, trai-
cionándolos, estorbos y rivales sólo míos porque eran suyos ... (62 f.)
The plaintive attitude of Aguirre, his sulking how-could-he-treat-

me-this-way-after-all-I've-done-for-him, demonstrates one of the
reasons why he will ultimately be defeated - he fails to grasp the
essentially cold-blooded and deadly nature of the game that he
chooses to play. He never seems to believe that the Caudillo, to
whom he responds as a father-figure, is capable of executing him.
Even Axkaná, whose idealistic temperament contrasts with the
duplicity and unscrupulousness of the other close associates of
Aguirre like Tarabana, or the political expediency and ruthlessness
588 Lanin A. Gyurko
of Fernández, is shocked at the way that Aguir

emotionalism:
Y tal era su ardor, que a Axkaná le impresionó como algo nuevo. Aquel
no le parecía el Aguirre sólo vicioso e inmoral, sólo inteligente y cínico,
de la víspera. El de hoy se mostraba hasta ingenuo, hasta sensible al cho-
que de lo noble con lo innoble. (61 f.)
As part of his defensive reaction to his being rebuffed by the Caudi-

llo, Aguirre ironically assumes a moral stance "sensible al choque
de lo noble con lo innoble" as if he automatically were the more
qualified candidate who is being treated unfairly by the commander
for whom he has sacrificed so much. Aguirre fails to comprehend
his own immorality, both in his being a minion of the Caudillo, and
even within the warped value system of the Caudillo, going against
his leader in his dealings with the May-Be Petroleum Company.
The masterful style of Guzmán evokes Aguirre, in the bedroom of
Rosario, the imprint of her body still present on the bed, in terms of
light and shadow, to capture the paradoxical nature of his personal-
ity. Bathed in light, the self-righteous Aguirre seems to be emerging
as the strong, valiant, perhaps even heroic challenger of the Caudi-
llo. But in this scene as throughout the work, it is the shadow that
dominates. Here it is the shadow of the "semioscuridad tibia" signi-
fying the protective, womblike comfort that Aguirre needs, and that
nullifies his pretensions toward activism:
La agitación extraordinaria de su voz, además, crecía con el contraste de
la muelle atmósfera que tenía en torno; atmósfera no de hombre de
acción, sino de hombre de placer. Caían sobre él, de la lámpara de pie,
próxima al lecho, rayos a media luz que rebrillaba en su pijama de seda y
comunicaba nuevo lustre a su bello busto de atleta, mientras en la otra
lámpara - la del techo - que no estaba encendida, bajaba un suave tinti-
neo de tubitos de cristal, hecho como de penumbra y muy a tono con el
raso azul de los muebles, que surgía en manchas claras fuera del radio
directo de la luz. Todo lo cual, empapado en tenue perfume, se aunaba
con los rumores leves que parecían venir de la habitación contigua - de
aquella por cuya puerta acababa de escapar la figura de Rosario - . Eran
rumores de mujer; perfume de mujer; semioscuridad tibia donde la pre-
sencia de una mujer flotaba palpable, envolvente. (62)
Ironically, Aguirre, in many ways an inchoate personality, is de-
fined much more by this setting, by the power of the inanimate, by
the configuration of light and shadow, than by a

he self-consciously and erroneously keeps insis
the Caudillo and his unwillingness to become
narrative point of view underscores the isola
the uncomprehendingness of Aguirre, which
vulnerable. Even from the perspective of h
Aguirre emerges as a puppet. Axkaná know
Aguirre's personality and motives than does t
himself: "Axkaná hubiera querido replicarl
equivocas; contra todos tus propósitos de hoy
poco, el contrincante de Hilario Jiménez" (6
Not only Axkaná, but most of those who sur
more about how he will ultimately respond
Aguirre himself. Both Jiménez and the Caudil
ticians, realize that despite the seeming sincerity
larations of Aguirre that he will obey the wi
place himself at the disposition of his master's
Aguirre's ambitions for power and his vauntin
to seek the presidency. Rather than being a se
Aguirre is one who is propelled into the arena
who seize upon him in desperation after thei
with the major candidate, Jiménez, collapse. T
constant definition of Aguirre of the future f
negate whatever Aguirre says about himself
tions, and to underscore his victimized state.
passionately to the plight of his friend, whom
an inevitable and ultimately tragic course:
Sentía en su amigo la tragedia del político cogido
inmoralidad y mentira que él mismo ha creado; la
sincero una vez, que, asegurando de buena fe ren
nes que otros le atribuyen, aún no abre los ojos a
han de obligarlo a defender, pronto y a muerte,
(63)
Ironically, so effective is the Caudillo that the hapless Aguirre is

never even given the chance to defend himself before he is extermi-
nated.
Aguirre is psychologically a weak figure, very similar in personal-
ity to the sybaritic and vacillating and nebulous Félix Maldonado.
590 Lanin A. Gyurko
Félix too finds it impossible to determine his own li

Judaism not out of conviction but to please his w
follows the pseudo-paternal Timón; he petulantly
the funeral of his mother whom he secretly blam
doned him, then transfers his dependency onto h
much of the narrative, Félix appears as a chame
as an entity with little or no inner self, a burea
orders and who prides himself on his punctuality
to please superiors who want much more from h
Aguirre, Félix is constantly defined from the
shrewd and aggressive Tarabana in La sombra wh
intricate negotiating with the May-Be Petroleum
very name indicates its provisional status - whil
signs some papers. When Aguirre suddenly finds
the padre-mozo relationship established between
Caudillo, perhaps without realizing it, he goes scu
paternal substitute, finding one first in the powerf
dez and then in the seemingly protective ge
strongman, Julián Elizondo. Indeed, the way i
former Minister of War, approaches Elizondo is n
commander to a subordinate but rather that of a
to a Father-Protector:
El Caudillo y Jiménez lo tenían todo preparado para apoderarse de mis

amigos esta noche, con el propósito de someternos, so pretexto de que
encabezo una rebelión, a un consejo de guerra sumarísimo. Por eso esta-
mos aquí. Vengo, pues, no a invitarte a que te levantes en armas, sino a
pedirte protección ... Ahora ... si tú, de propia voluntad, quieres unir tu
suerte a la mía, y me aconsejas que nos levantemos en armas, porque te
parezca que eso es lo único que se puede hacer, entonces estoy dispuesto
a entenderme contigo en otros términos, por más que yo, hablando sin la
menor doblez, no busco el levantamiento. (224)
The same irresolution that Aguirre has all along manifested regard-
ing his candidacy he also reveals in regard to entering into armed
rebellion. One of the reasons why seasoned and crafty generals like
Elizondo ultimately betray Aguirre is precisely because of this vacil-
lation, this unpredictability. Discontent with the absolutism of the
Caudillo, which deprives them of the power they feel they deserve,
having fought for it on the battlefield, Elizondo and others want a
sure thing, or at least a decisive leader. For them to follow the
moody and mercurial Aguirre places them in e

like Aguirre, who has definitely broken with t
has nothing to lose, Elizondo will fight only if he
win. The one advantage that Aguirre had, that
irretrievably lost. Elizondo, who has decided to
Caudillo, uses Aguirre's own weaknesses agains
the Aguirre camp, where there is no danger to him
the force of those generals who want to declar
diately in armed rebellion - knowing that this
the Caudillo, most dreads, since once begun,
like a conflagration:
- Sobre todo aquí falta lo más principal: conocer a
el general Aguirre. Nosotros sabemos que está dis
pero ¿a levantarse cuándo? Por lo que me ha dicho
aviniera a hacerlo desde luego. Y la verdad es que s
él, nos saldríamos de lo justo desconociendo que a
nosotros, escoger el momento de los balazos. (2
Once in Toluca, Aguirre and his followers dro
pletely, never once imagining that Elizondo
And indeed, so rattled, so indecisive is Aguirr
full onus of armed rebellion upon Elizondo,
Aguirre, would follow if Elizondo sought arme
realizing it, the thinking of Aguirre is that of
tomed not to initiating a plan but to presenting it
approval.
Ironically, the father figure, which is sought after so insistently by
both Aguirre and Félix Maldonado, turns out to be a Saturnlike
presence, one that devours his children. Throughout his life, the
anxiety-ridden Félix searches for the father figure - a quest that
becomes symbolic of the national search for the benevolent, protec-
tive leader that will unify and redeem it. But Fuentes sees the return
of Quetzalcóatl to Mexico as unlikely; instead what returns iß always
the mask of this benevolent deity - first Hernán Cortés, whom many
of the indigenous groups believed was a teul, a white god and an
incarnation of Quetzalcóatl, and later, in the nineteenth century,
the blond and blue-eyed Maximilian, whom the Indians also
greeted in nahuatl as the returning Quetzalcóatl. But both of these
leaders instead of fulfilling a redemptive prophecy resorted to acts
of massive violence and bloodshed to impose an authoritarian rule.
592 Lanin A. Gyurko
Similarly, in the life of Félix Maldonado, each t

the regenerative father, he finds only the harsh,
the father of death. All of the father figures in
confidence betray him in some way. As we ha
brutality wreaked on Félix by the Director Ge
the mental and emotional brutalizing of Fé
whom he places his very life, Timón. Félix res
lar Bernstein as a revered mentor, as a surroga
stein too betrays him, seeking to exploit Félix
information about the size and location of Mex
he can convey to foreign powers. It is Bernstei
filicidal impulse present in Mexico:
ustedes quieren matar al hijo, es la descendenc
descendencia en todas sus formas es para ustedes
de bastardía ...
- Tú jamás matarías a tu padre, Félix, eso es lo que no entiende el
pobrecito de Mauricio. Tú sólo matarías a tus hijos, ¿verdad? (50)
Although Félix, enraged that his ideal love Sara Klein has become
the mistress of Bernstein, suddenly snatches the glasses off Bern-
stein's face and hurls them into the fire, the professor regards Félix's
actions with a scornful amusement. In La sombra del caudillo , the
same caustic observation of Bernstein concerning Félix can be seen
as characterizing Aguirre - he is loathe to strike out against the
Caudillo, the father-protector, and thus he becomes devoured,
destroyed by the false father. The same is true of Aguirre's relation-
ship with Elizondo, of whom he has no suspicions whatsoever, not
realizing that Elizondo, as commander of troops in Toluca, would
have to adhere to the political position of the governor of the state,
Catarino Ibáñez.
Ironically, the true father figures - generous, independent-mind-
ed, protective - in both La sombra del caudillo and La cabeza de la
hidra are North Americans. As we have seen, the course of Guz-
mán's novel is an incessant alteration between darkness and light. At
the end, this light, again signifying a light of salvation, is associated
with Winter, the ambassador from the United States to Mexico, who
rescues Axkaná. Winter, who had observed the prisoners being
taken out of Toluca, is forced to return to that city. But at the end he
encounters Axkaná on the road. Winter, who can extend to the
wounded Axkaná diplomatic asylum, is the only p

Axkaná would have been able to receive protect
has miraculously escaped execution, he faces t
problem that he is a marked man, branded a trait
and the agents and collaborators with the Caudill
The darkness of the night is suddenly pierced by
Winter's car. Once again, the marked visuality of
evident. Suffering excruciating pain, alone and
seeks either rescue or death from the approachin
A poco rompieron arriba la unidad de las tinieblas d
de luz; luego se oyeron lejanos sonidos de claxon , qu
dose aceleradamente, y, por último, redondos y enorm
carretera, aparecieron los fanales de un coche.
Casi a rastras se movió entonces Axkaná hasta el medio del camino. Allí
se arrodilló, se puso en pie y volvió a caer de rodillas, iluminado por los
rayos de los fanales, que le desencajaban más el rostro y le prolongaban
trágicamente, hacia arriba, la mano que él levantaba. (253)
Similarly, in La cabeza , the many false fathers who deceive and
betray Félix are countered by the blunt and open and courageous
Captain Harding. Harding is the one who transports the ring out of
Mexico on its way to Houston - and loses his life in the process.
Later, in recognition of the self-sacrifice of Harding, Félix states
that he finds a father on the docks in Galveston.
A cyclical time process dominates both of these narratives and
underscores their fatalistic nature. La sombra del caudillo both
begins and ends with an evocation of the Cadillac of Ignacio Agui-
rre, that functions as a paradoxical symbol - both of his machismo,
of his power and wealth that he has acquired as the result of a Revo-
lution fought to benefit the poor and the oppressed, and also of his
betrayal of Revolutionary ideals. The Cadillac is a magnet, and as he
drives, or perhaps better, parades through the center of Mexico City,
a bevy of prostitutes follows him in adulation:
Aguirre, ajeno a lo meramente estético, se complacía en el espectáculo
de las mujeres, las cuales sonreían al verlo, le hacían señas y, de ser pre-
ciso, asomaban medio cuerpo fuera del coche para seguir, a distancia,
comunicándose con él. Una cuyo auto se acercó al de ellos hasta rozarlo
casi, arrojó a las manos del ministro uno de los pasteles que venía
comiendo y rió con estrépito su travesura. La carcajada sonó como el
594 Lanin A. Gyurko
más fino cristal, serpeó varios segundos a lo largo de

derse en los brillos metálicos de los escaparates. (
At the end of the narrative the Cadillac again

major difference that it is now in the possession
Segura. Its reappearance signifies that the cycle o
to the top only new oppressors. Just as Aguirre
Porfiristas but after obtaining power excels them
consumption, his drinking not of pulque but of
Hennessy Extra, his three homes, so after the destr
is his licentiousness perpetuated in Segura. T
Aguirre acquires through his transactions, whic
the epoch of Porfirio Díaz, to the control of fore
through his being instrumental in the eliminatio
the Caudillo, is squandered in the endess rounds
attends and hosts. Similarly, at the end, Segura s
money - the sheaf of bills that he has stripped f
his opponent and that are soaked with the ex-M
buy an enormous pair of earrings for his mistres
sis on the operation of a negative cyclical tim
strates how the betrayal of the ideals of the Mex
continue, as those who seize power utilize their p
as do Federico Robles and Artemio Cruz and
enrich themselves and to engage in profligate liv
desperate needs of the people.
A similar cyclical time patterning operates
hidra - and with a similar purpose - to unders
patterning of Mexican history, in which the opp
the past impose themselves again and again on t
Guzmán's novel opens with an evocation of the
of Aguirre, who leaves matters of state in the ha
while he goes off for a romantic interlude with
work opens with a humorous taxicab ride that is
by the Marx brothers' antics in the film A Night at
film, a stateroom aboard an ocean liner becomes
impossible number of people, and the resulting
fusions and chaos are uproariously funny. Similar
pesero that Félix takes to the presidential recepti
pied by a jumble of people - a student and his gir
nuns, a nurse, and an old Indian woman with a
chicks. But the comic overtones quickly cede to

ones that adumbrate the fatalistic trajectory of Fé
life. In the melee inside the taxi, the chicks ar
killed. The old woman, herself an example of
will appear later in the narrative as a drug pus
symbol of the ancient Aztec goddess Coatlicue
death. A mater terribilis, Coatlicue, whose imm
the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, w
pents and a necklace made of severed human ha
a human skull as the centerpiece. "Había pollos
sobre los asientos y algunos embarrados cont
Here is symbolized the death of the young, a
dominate in the narrative - the deaths of Sara Klein and her lover
Jamil, and the psychic destruction of Félix himself.
Fuentes' narrative both opens and closes with an attempted assas-
sination on the president. The first time the assassination is foiled by
Timón. But at the end, Félix Maldonado, who has ultimately been
forced to relent and to assume the identity of Diego Velázquez, takes
another taxicab ride, en route to another presidential reception.
Here Fuentes abruptly suspends narrative action, leaving to the
imagination of the reader whether the assassination will again be
thwarted by Timón or whether the Director General and his accom-
plice Rossetti will finally succeed:
El Director General hizo un signo con la mano en dirección de la puerta.
El señor Presidente estaba a unos cuantos metros de Diego Velázquez.
(283)
The final example of cyclical time in the narrative is the epiloque,

which replaces the concluding scene. La cabeza de la hidra demon-
strates a cyclical time process that reverses the operation of cyclic
time as dramatized in the concluding act of Fuentes' drama of the
Conquest of Mexico by Cortés, Todos los gatos son pardos . Here the
time is the sixteenth century, but the ending of the drama jumps for-
ward to the twentieth, to focus on the same characters - Moctezu-
ma, Cortés, La Malinche - but in modern guise. The Aztec tlatoani
is now the President of Mexico; Cortés is a North American general;
La Malinche is a "fichadora de cabaret". Nothing has changed in
twentieth century Mexico but the mask. Fuentes evokes a modern
Mexico that still demands the blood sacrifice of the young, just as
596 Lanin A. Gyurko
Moctezuma demanded the blood sacrifice of ch

his gods. At the end of La cabeza de la hidra ,
centuries in the opposite direction, evoking th
Mexican coast - Veracruz, Campeche, Chiapa
Malinche". He thus leaves in the minds of his
spectre of national betrayal that is incarnated
tés' guide, interpreter, and mistress. This evo
who revealed the secrets of the Aztec civili
woman who was fated from birth, born under
the Ce Malinalli, the oracle of conflict and
comes as a final confirmation of Fuentes' pessi
Mexican future. What the conquest of Mexi
strated was how easily and rapidly a vast empir
dreds of thousands of people could not on
destroyed - and from within. In a major sens
Spanish conquistadores acted as a catalyst that
head of passion - the fierce hatred and fan
vengeance of the tribes subdued by the Aztecs,
who were forced to render their oppressors b
man tribute - victims of sacrifice to their war
Significantly, the cowardly Moctezuma surre
of his ancestor Axayacatl to Cortés - he and hi
take it by force. This act established a pattern
Fuentes sees as likely to occur in the presen
equivalent of Moctezuma's treasure being th
sources. Fuentes sees that given the clandestin
politics, this treasure could be transferred to
façade of nationalism is kept in place. Within
de la hidra , the bizarre ring of Bernstein th
graphs which reveal the mysteries of the mos
Mexico's natural resources could turn out to be
Malinche, who penetrated the Indian culture i
Cortés the hidden weaknesses of the Aztecs.
Another example of the incessant functioning of a negative cycli-
cal time in La sombra del caudillo is the banquet held in Aguirre's
honor in a Chapultepec restaurant at the outset. Here, the drunken
delirium that leads to heady visions of rapid military triumph of the
aguirristas is repeated on the very night that Aguirre and his follow-
ers are arrested in Toluca by Elizondo. Indeed, the aguirristas never
seem to get very much beyond these exalt

visions of victory on the battlefield:
Y entonces, parecían alzarse de entre los brillos de
de las tonalidades de los vinos, y por entre los colo
persos sobre los manteles, anticipaciones de futura
po enemigo - lucha fatal, sanguinaria, cruel, luch
del torero con el toro, como la del cazador con la f
jos de ensombrecer la alegría presente, la valor
hacía más intensa y dominadora en aquellos ins
The excessive consumption of alcohol release

battle not out of any idealistic motives, not in
social injustices, because the followers meeting
among the most privileged in the Revolutionary s
fy a blood lust - a battle for battle's sake.
In contrast to the withdrawn Caudillo and the sullen and colorless
Jiménez, Aguirre is a colorful and a charismatic figure, and an
expert at showmanship, at manipulating the symbols of élan and
hombría . Like a Hollywood star about to make an award-winning
appearance before the clamoring fans, Aguirre deliberately delays
the moment of his arrival at the banquet so as to make all the more
dramatic his final entrance.
Recognizing the bloodthirstiness of his opponents and fully
cognizant of the extreme danger that their bellicosity poses to his
regime, the Caudillo astutely defuses it through an elaborate combi-
nation of intimidation and bribery. To keep Jiménez in the ring as a
candidate, the Caudillo bestows upon him a lavish bribe in the form
of a vast hacienda. In contrast, the mercurial Aguirre allows himself
merely to float along, becoming more and more divorced from reali-
ty, perhaps because he never has had to contend with reality - now
buoyed up by visions of heroic grandeur and of responding to the
call of national destiny. When Aguirre, at the time when he still self-
deludedly thinks that he is the protégé of the Caudillo, believes that
he is on the verge of gaining presidential support for his candidacy,
his mood of self-exaltation is underscored by the visual perspective
of the scene, as Aguirre is portrayed looking down on the forest of
Chapultepec. The luminous setting, an ocean of trees seen from
above, bathed in the brilliant light of morning, underscores his opti-
mism:
598 Lanin A. Gyurko
Muy por debajo de sus pies, a manera de mar visto d

rio, se movían en enormes olas verdes las frondas d
pladas así, por arriba, las copas de los árboles gigante
lidad nueva e imponente. Más abajo y más lejos se ex
del campo, de las casas ... La luz de la mañana elevab
más profundo y más ancho el ámbito espacioso, dom
ra. (53)
Guzmán's camera stylo , with its focussing on reality from an impe-

rial height - the Castle of Chapultepec constructed by Maximilian
in the nineteenth century - coincides perfectly with inner feeling -
with the visions of grandeur experienced by the impressionable
Aguirre. But once more these visions are presented and detailed,
only to be swiftly undercut by the omniscient narrator, who once
again reduces Aguirre from phantom president to weak and fatally
flawed victim:
Aguirre había sentido en el acto - lo mismo le ocurría cada vez que se

asomaba a aquel grandioso miradero - el toque de la grandeza moral y
el de la grandeza histórica. La esencia del bosque, de la montaña, de la
nube, resonó en su espíritu con arpegios de evocaciones indefinibles.
¿Porfirio Díaz? ¿1847? Mas fue un toque, como siempre también, fugiti-
vo, fulgurante, porque la plasticidad espiritual de Aguirre no sobrevivía
al estruendo y la violencia de su aprendizaje revolucionario. (54)
Over and over again, the visions of ecstasy, the savoring of imminent
triumph, of Aguirre and his followers are underscored. The spell-
binding nature of power is such that even normally calculating and
pragmatic leaders like Fernández are caught in its trance:
Olivier Fernández sentía el contacto con los resortes que estaban prepa-
rando la obra y se entregaba a la fascinación de creer que la obra era
cosa suya. Encarnación vivía en un momento solo varias vidas; mezclaba
al sabor y al perfume del vino evocaciones de sus días montaraces y
terribles; sentía la nostalgia de exponer el pecho, de pelear, de huir, de
matar (39)
Ironically, at the very moment when they are arrested, they are still
dreaming of victory over the Caudillo within a month. Here, at the
end, are the fatalistic echoes of their dialogue of drunken bragga-
doccio at the very outset of the narrative:
Sandoval y Carrasco no hacían sino hablar de la c

en armas inmediatamente; las tropas de Elizond
México, y las de Encarnación Reyes desde Puebl
pronto sobre la capital, mientras Figueroa, manio
aislaba al Caudillo y Jiménez de los estados del Nor
toda posible ayuda por parte del gobierno nort
Even the young, idealistic, and innocent report
rio , who will be executed along with the other
euphoria. The classic style of Guzmán, taut
strained, sharply and effectively captures the
romantic illusions:
Mijares, Axkaná y Correa hablaban con Domínguez acerca de los recur-

sos militares del general Figueroa en Jalisco; hacían consideraciones
sobre el estado de ánimo popular en Occidente. Y todos hasta el joven
redactor de El Gran Diario, que, en singular plática con Cisneros, esbo-
zaba planes de acometividad política y guerrera, pues olas de plenitud
interior, activadas por la misteriosa virtud del vino, fluían por sus venas
paralelamente a una emoción nueva: la de sentirse transportado, como
por magia, desde sus humildes labores de informador de grandes suce-
sos, hasta el rango de autor o, por lo menos, coautor de la fuente genera-
dora de la grandeza informativa. (222)
The narratives of both Guzmán and Fuentes trace the intricate
relationship between individual and national identity, and between
politics and passion. Ironically, it is the political novice Axkaná who
must attempt to remind the seasoned and hard-bitten yet extremely
sentimental Aguirre that his break with the Caudillo is more a mat-
ter of politics than of personal feelings. For the first and the last time
in the narrative, the dreamer Axkaná becomes a shrewd voice of
political pragmatism. Yet Aguirre, petulant, self-absorbed, nursing
his deflated ego, refuses to listen, time and again, to the sage counsel
of those who are closest to him:
- Eso es un error también. En el campo de las relaciones políticas la

amistad no figura, no subsiste. Puede haber, de abajo arriba, convenien-
cia, adhesión, fidelidad; y de arriba abajo, protección afectuosa o esti-
mación utilitaria. Pero amistad simple, sentimiento afectivo que una de
igual a igual, imposible. Esto sólo entre los humildes, entre la tropa polí-
tica sin nombre. Jefes y guiadores, sin ningún interés común los acerca,
son siempre émulos envidiosos, rivales, enemigos en potencia o en acto.
600 Lanin A. Gyurko
Por eso ocurre que al otro día de abrazarse y acaricia

más cercanos se destrozan y se matan. De los amigos m
a menudo, en política, los enemigos acérrimos, los
These admonitory words of Axkaná are prophetic
of his own disastrous fate. Elizondo, who embrace
his absolute loyalty to Aguirre and places himself
Aguirre's disposition, will the next day become A
At the end of La sombra del caudillo is an incident o
politics and passion - the executions of Cah
Aguirre - that is searing in its power. When Segur
of the execution squad, sees that the eloquent ple
making to be treated with the dignity befitting h
Mexican government is having a noticeable effect
who are both softening their attitude toward the p
respect for their commander, he is infuriated an
Aguirre as the means of recovering his machis
sido general y ministro, pero aquí no es más que pu
da" (243). A chain of passion and brutality is n
defense of his leader, the loyal Cahuama strikes Se
and the enraged Segura is once again compelled to
greater affront to his authority. With a rage tha
Segura violates what from the start has been a h
procedure, by killing Cahuama on the spot:
Y se acercó a Cahuama, y le puso a él en cañón del rev
mientras lo obligaba a retroceder al ritmo de una m
"Hijo de tal ... hijo de tal ... Hijo de tal ... (244)
The eloquently sinister words of Timón in La cab
who evokes the most insidious hydra of all, th
human passion, could very well have been uttered
extremely agitated Aguirre, or by Aguirre to the
or by an associate to a seemingly distant but in r
jealous Jiménez:
- Ah, la pasión vuelve a levantar su espantosa cabe
una y renacerán miles, ¿verdad? Llámala celos, insat
desprecio, miedo, asco, vanidad, terror, escarba en lo
de todos los que hemos participado en esta comedia de
ponle a la pasión el nombre que quieras. Nunca acertar
de cada nombre de la pasión hay una realidad oscura
nal, da igual, que nadie puede nombrar y que te i

acción, lícita o ilícita, también da igual, lo que sól
padecimiento, deseo, un amor que se alimenta de
se alimenta de su amor. (239)
Here is seen the hydra head of passion that con

the Israeli spy ring and collaborates with Abby
ing of Sara Klein not for political reasons but
eliminate this rival for her husband's affections. Even the cold and
inhuman Timón, who all along has rebuked Félix for interrupting
his spy mission to continue his affair with the sensuous Mary Benja-
min - violating the iron code of Timón according to which the per-
fect spy should have no sexual needs or desires - now himself be-
comes engulfed by passion. For once Timón loses the façade of
sangfroid and noblesse oblige , as he gives vent to his extreme frustra-
tion and rage at being rebuffed by Félix, and hurls himself on his
former "twin". Here the style of Fuentes, the lengthy, convoluted
phrases, the welter of clauses that pile up on one another, effectively
captures the ráfaga of passion:
me lancé sobre Félix, insultado, con rabia, herido por cuanto insinuaba,
despojado de mis justificaciones perfectamente calibradas, pensadas,
fraseadas; me arrebató la pistola de la mano pero antes yo había sido
desnudado moralmente por este hombre, mi hermano, mi enemigo, al
que finalmente poseía en un abrazo de odio, una lucha en la que nues-
tros cuerpos, que nunca se tocaron en la cama convertible del aparta-
mento en Nueva York, se trenzaron ahora con rabia, rabia sólo mía, im-
potente, derrotada de antemano porque la cercanía sudorosa, tensa,
apasionada del cuerpo de Félix (241)
Both Guzmán and Fuentes are masters at creating suspense; both
narratives function as political thrillers and as attempts to awaken
and develop a Mexican national conscience. In La sombra del cau-
dillo, Guzmán writes what the newspapers are afraid to print - for-
ever dissipating the shadows of obfuscation that the Caudillo has
placed around the execution of Aguirre and his followers:
Al otro día de la muerte de Ignacio Aguirre los periódicos de la ciudad de
México no hablaban con mucha amplitud acerca del levantamiento de
Toluca. Una fuerza superior a ellos los obligaba de nuevo a no decir lo
que sabían. El Gran Diario traía apenas un boletín oficial bajo este título
de vaguedad reveladora: "Consejo de guerra en el Estado de México"
(25)
602 Lanin A. Gyurko
Fuentes, who could have chosen the genre of

write his cautionary piece, such as he has done
included in the collection Tiempo mexicano (1
the novel form, for one reason to acquire a m
Like Guzmán and also like Rodolfo Usigli, the
mum exponent of a Mexican teatro nacional ,
unify a country that is fragmented, one whic
the enormous disc of the ancient goddess of th
a goddess of fragments, her body in pieces
destruction by Huitzilopochtli.
Both Guzmán and Fuentes are masters of desc
ic detail; both are adept at creating and sustain
nent catastrophe. Populating his work not only
with shadows, Guzmán uses the shadow as bot
and symbol of the demonic; natural shadows in
symbolize fate and finally, death. When Toluca
impressionistic brilliance; we can almost see a l
ing before us:
A medianoche las calles de Toluca eran desiert
luminosidad, flotante en sombra, de los faroles d
bultos pardos, inmóviles, de los serenos fijos contr
gonal de su lintera; de tarde en tarde, un ladrido
Fuentes too is a master of the visual. The atmo

cos, the site that Bernstein refers to ominously
the tropics" becomes for Félix a hellworld
brated by Felix's vision of a meat market, as if it
blood-red filter:
El taxi se detuvo frente a un mercado. Félix lo vio todo en rojo, los largos
cadáveres de reses sangrientas colgando de los garfios, los racimos de
plátanos incendiados, los equípales de cuero rojo, maloliente a bestia
recién sacrificada y los machetes de plata negra, lavada de sangre y ham-
brienta de sangre. (121)
Underscoring and indeed conveying the tension present in La
sombra del caudillo is the emphasis placed on short, clipped phrases
and the utilization of dialogue over description, particularly at
moments of conflictive encounter. Taut and tense and laconic at
times, through his stylistic economy, his tremendous control, Guz-
mán raises the dramatic tension to a heightened pitch. Thus, for
example, when the wounded Axkaná regains

determines to flee for his life, Guzmán employs a
and clipped sentences:
Un horror inmenso y, acaso, algo de terror, de pav
ble, ahogaron su disposición a la muerte. Probó en
zos y piernas. Vio que podía hacerlo.
Se incorporó.
Se puso de pie.
Corrió. (249)
Similarly, in Fuentes' novel, when Félix realizes that he is trapped

in a labyrinth of mirrors and fatalistic doubles, when no matter
where he turns, he encounters duplicity and betrayal, he has little
recourse but to fall again under the sway of the Director General.
The capitulation of the shocked and dismayed Félix to his former
captor and torturer parallels, and perhaps has been influenced by,
the steely laconism of Guzmán in the manner in which it is stylisti-
cally developed:
Se detuvo jadeando en la acera.
La puerta del Citroen se abrió.
La mano pálida lo convoco. (275)
Both Guzmán and Fuentes are masters of characterization - both
with the dominant and the secondary and tertiary characters. With a
few brushstrokes, Guzmán, like Azuela before him, can create
unforgettable characters, like the grotesque Ricalde, a conspirator
in the plot to assassinate Fernández:
Ricalde era un hombre inteligente, antipático, y monstruoso. Sus ojos,
asimétricos, carecían de luz. Su cabeza parecía sufrir sin tregua la tortu-
ra de un doble retorcimiento: la deformación ladeada del cráneo agra-
vaba, desde lo alto, lo que abajo era, junto a la barba, deformación,
ladeada también, de descomunal arruga carnosa; y entre deformación y
deformación, la pesadez del párpado, de flojedad casi paralítica, daba
acento nuevo a aquella dinámica de la fealdad, prolongada y ensancha-
da hasta los pies en toda la extensión de un cuerpo de enorme volumen.
(174)
Like Fuentes, Guzmán at times portrays minor characters who func-

tion at the same time as realistic individuals and as semi-mythical
beings. Corresponding to Fuentes' elevator operator, or the old
604 Lanin A. Gyurko
woman with her basketful of chicks, is the newspap

bra del caudillo. While Fuentes uses archetypes f
Guzmán develops this character in terms of Greek
combination of Mercury and Icarus:
Uno - tendría ocho o diez años - mugriento el rostro,
cida la boca en el paroxismo del grito, asomó de impr
cristales del Cadillac : "¡Ya salió El Gráfico , mi jefe
do !" Llegaba ligero y alado como un Mercurio. Axk
qué, le compró seis periódicos: tres y tres. Y el papele
del coche, saltó a tierra en postura que anunciaba ya
abordar otro automóvil, que venía en sentido opu
sobre el cristal las huellas de sus dedos sucios, pero a
periódicos, sujetos bajo su bracito, fueron a mane
The symbolism here is complex. In the first instan

to the idealism of the press, and to the hope whic
in the power of a free press. This idealism is incarna
ná, who almost involuntarily "sin saber por qué"
the papers that the vendor is selling - an act tha
echo at the end, as a newspaper is brought to A
idealism of Axkaná will later be transferred to th
astic and intrepid reporter from El Gran Mundo
ter Aguirre, sensing the historical consequences o
tically envisions as Aguirre's crusade, and heedles
ger to himself. Just as Axkaná can be seen as the vo
too can the young reporter who follows Aguirre
riorization of the young Guzmán who plunged in
chaotic military phase of the Revolution and who
ent of Pancho Villa, facing death not only fro
forces but many times from Villa himself. As G
águila y la serpiente (Madrid, 1928):
Villa inclinó el rostro sobre mí. Me miraba con fijeza
cogido por las solapas. Guardó silencio por breves se
dijo:
- ¿También usté me va a abandonar?
Creí ver pasar la muerte por sus dos ojos. (465)
But in El águila y la serpiente9 as throughout La sombra del cau-

dillo9 there is a constant interplay of light and shadow. In the scene
depicted above, from El águila , the shadow of death emanates from
the eyes of Villa. But at another, earlier point

revolutionaries watch a film during the Conven
tes, Villa appears on the screen ringed with ligh
the light of the projector but Guzmán endows
significance. He cannot restrain his approbation
is evoked as a supernatural being, bathed in a r
tal light, with none of the irony found in the
Azuela:
Y a renglón seguido, como si el operador lo hiciera adrede, caracoleó

bañada en luz, sobre su caballo magnífico, la magnífica figura de Pan-
cho Villa, legendaria, dominadora.
Durante cerca de una hora, o acaso más, se prolongó el desfile de los

adalides revolucionarios y sus huestes, nimbados por la luminosidad del
cinematógrafo y por la gloria de sus hazañas. (AS, 353)
In his evocation of the newspaper boy, there is the imagery of

soaring and falling which applies to Axkaná. As with the light of the
movie projector in El águila y la serpiente, physical movement in La
sombra is transmuted into a spiritual one:
El alma de Axkaná era evocativa, soñadora; por un momento voló tam-
bién, y su vuelo, a influjo de la perspectiva que lo inspiraba, fue un poco
azul y quimérico, un poco triste como la mancha gris del Castillo sobre
la regia pirámide de verdura. (31)
The narrative moves from the newsboy to focus on the famous gold-
en Angel of Independence and then to evoke, in a cinematic move-
ment, on the incarnation of idealism, Axkaná. But the scene, which
has begun in brilliant sunlight "Vio Axkaná volverse transparentes
con el lustre del sol los verdes ramajes de la Alameda", ends in
shadow "la mancha gris del Castillo" a reference to the Castillo de
Chapultepec where Aguirre will have his fated encounter with the
Caudillo. The aspirations of Axkaná at the outset are the aspirations
of Guzmán, yet the fact that Axkaná is essentially isolated in his
morality, sitting with two companions who are discussing a corrupt
deal, also undercuts the idealism:
El coche se deslizaba raudo entre las filas de árboles de la Reforma y
parecía atraer sobre sí el dorado ángel de la Independencia. Este, orlado
de sol, brillante y enorme contra el manto de una nube remota, volaba
arriba gracias a la fuga del automóvil abajo. (31)
606 Lanin A. Gyurko
While not a part of the dealings discussed by T

in hushed tones, Axkaná will inevitably be poll
least, physically harmed by them.
There is a similar symbolic presentation
evoked by Fuentes. National monuments are a
lated directly to the characters, most often to
statue in front of Bellas Artes entitled "Malgré
fate of Félix, his stubborn resistance in spite o
evokes the statue ironically, as a symbol of
adumbration of the future violation of his integr
cal being that Félix will suffer at the hands of
Félix miró con ensueño la estatua que se alejaba,
en postura abyecta, desnuda, dispuesta a los ul
"Malgré tout". (17)
Félix at the beginning wanders through the Co
and again the way in which the setting is dep
future fate, the scarring of his face:
Los escasos edificios altos parecían muelas de vidr
hinchadas en una boca llena de caries y extraccio
(23)
The resistance to oppression of los de abajo - the dignity of the past
represented by the defiance of the old Indian woman - is under-
scored, as is the idealism of Axkaná in La sombra, by being transfer-
red to the evocation of a national monument - in this case the statue
of Cuauhtémoc:
Bajó en Insurgentes y miró al taxi alejarse con la gorda asomando la cara

y el puño por la ventanilla, amenazándole como la estatua de Cuauhté-
moc parecía amenazar a la ciudad vencida con su lanza en alto. (19)
After Aguirre has broken with the Caudillo, a new, idealistic per-
sonality begins to emerge within him. Aguirre, who as Minister of
War has always remained aloof from the people, now begins, belat-
edly, to develop a social consciousness that appears to be genuine:
"Quiero ganar, sí; pero ganar bien; y si eso no es posible, prefiero
perder bien, o sea: dejando a los otros el recurso criminal o innoble"
(211). Whether consciously or not, Aguirre seeks to emulate the
figure of Francisco Madero. Y et while Madero issued his call to arms
to the people of Mexico from the safety of his residence in the Unit-
ed States, the machista Aguirre waits for a groundswell of public
approbation for his cause while he is still in

places himself and his followers in an extra
position, because the spontaneous uprising
occurs. And Aguirre also believes that the gen
side, swayed by the moral legitimacy of his
Aguirre demonstrates his lack of understan
who stealthily and relentlessly undercuts him
- Resuelto a levantarme en armas estoy. Esa es co
ni descuido, pues sé que al fin hemos de venir a p
embargo, que no debemos recurrir a las armas m
justificación legal que ha de darnos fuerza. ¿E
alzaríamos ahora contra el Gobierno? ¿Por una i
no se consuma? ¿Por la violación de un sufragio q
Convengo en que tal vez ganáramos, y todo depen
to, viendo en nosotros "la cargada", nos siguie
mayo de 1920. (210)
Ironically, at the very end, when he is abou
egocentric Aguirre begins to think of others,
their lives because they have committed them
For the first time in his career, Aguirre is af
guilt: "Son - pensó - quienes menos lo mere
when it is too late, does Aguirre begin to man
capacity for leadership, as he maintains his dig
Another of the tragic flaws of Aguirre has been
his allowing himself to be drawn along both b
his grandiose desire for supreme power, with
ing the personalities of his closest friends. But h
as a martyr:
Viéndolos así, en sucesión individual y distante, Aguirre creía estar des-
cubriendo por vez primera los más característicos rasgos de las persona-
lidades físicas de sus amigos. Su boca insinuó el nombre de cada uno; sus
ojos hicieron el recuento de los doce ... Aguirre sintió entonces profunda
emoción; la que le inspiraban aquellos doce hombres a quienes Leyva,
de seguro, sacrificaría juntamente con él. (240)
Guzmán evokes the death of Aguirre as the way in which he
expiates the crimes of his life. Guzmán has previously been dubious,
even cynical about his protagonist. Now, however, at the moment of
his death, Guzmán transforms him into a hero. Here, at the end, is
the final, nostalgic echo of Aguirre's dreams of glory as he stood on
608 Lanin A. Gyurko
the parapet of Chapultepec Castle, dreaming him

national history:
Aguirre no había esbozado el movimiento más leve;
bala en absoluta quietud. Y tuvo de ello concienc
aquella fracción de instante se admiró a sí mismo y
el panorama, visto en fugaz pensamiento, de toda su
y política - lavado de sus flaquezas. Cayó, porque
dignidad con que otros se levantan. (247)
Perhaps because for so long a time he has been
role of surrogate son, Aguirre cannot succeed
image of the benevolent father figure and prot
that is so desperately sought after, as is exemplified
ing episode in which Axkaná awakens the deep-f
the Indian people for social justice and national
Guzmán as in Fuentes, it is the mere mask of id
and over again raised up. With consummate cyni
va and the Deputies Ricalde and López Nieto, aft
plans to massacre the aguirristas in the Cámara d
their actions in the name the true idealists and m
lution of 1910. Thus the legitimate and peaceful
Caudillo and Jiménez raised by Aguirre is cou
plans for his extermination - under the shadow
Once again, as in the cynically idealistic stateme
and Jiménez and Catarino Ibáñez, the hypocriti
tionary idealism is exalted:
Ricalde abría el grito a su temperamento farsan
comentar:
- ¡Vivimos horas solemnes, horas de historia trascendente!

Y López Nieto, que lo veía todo por el cristal de su gloriosa actua
las filas Zapatistas, respondía:
- Este sí que es un revolucionario de primera, un revolucionari
dad: sincero, fuerte. ¡Qué no hubiera hecho Emiliano Zapata si
contar con cuatro hombres así! (172)
In La cabeza de la hidra as well, the shadow appears alon
the mask. In this narrative, the mask is raised by Timón to
of high art. The true identity of Timón is never revealed, o
he is linked with another master of exploitation, betrayal, a
ciousness - Artemio Cruz. Timón dons innumerable guises,
as an agent of the Arabs, with the name Trevor, in Houston
an agent of the Israelis, under the alias of Mann

three novels, La región más transparente , La
Cruz , and La cabeza de la hidra the central cha
mask of revolutionary idealism. And all of the
multiple masks. Federico Robles even powders
white, and without realizing it emulates the
authority over Mexico he had fought to overth
who sought to whiten his Indian features. Arte
to this extreme by applying a physical mask, but
styles, his aping North American and Europea
uous consumption, he too suppresses his true, m
façade. With Timón, mask wearing is carried
literal extreme. And underneath the mask there is
only another mask:
Pensé todo esto sentado frente al espejo de mi ve
lastimosamente el bigote falso. Me dolía, porque l
me arrancaba las cerdas del verdadero bigote q
debajo del falso.
Guardé el bigote grueso y negro en el lugar que le
de un cajón de pilosidades clasificadas, barbas, bigo
distintos colores y edades. (243 f.)
Much of the vitality of the narratives of Gu
much of their biting authenticity, is the product
tive genius of these authors, but also of their f
in Mexican politics. Guzmán was not only an e
ticipant in the Mexican Revolution and its a
whose father served a lengthy career as a dipl
ambassador to France under the government
after the massacre of the students in the Plaza
co in 1968, sought along with Octavio Paz to f
political party. Thus the publication of La c
1978 attests not only to the fatalistic course of cy
to the carry-over between the politics of the t
the seventies, but also to the continued heighte
leading writers in Mexico of the national situa
mitment to serving as a conscience to record -
la in Los de abajo , and in colonial times Bernal
dadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España - the
mask.
610 Lanin A. Gyurko
Resumen
La sombra del caudillo (1929), la magistral novela política de Martín

Luis Guzmán, ha ejercido un influjo decisivo sobre La cabeza de la hidra
(1978), complejísima novela de intrigas y espionaje de Carlos Fuentes
Ambas creaciones mantienen un alto grado de tensión adentrándose en un
ambiente de violencia y de misterio característico de la lucha continua en-
tre facciones rivales por obtener el poder político nacional. Estas obras po-
bladas de sombras: los titiriteros ocultos que manipulan a los protagonistas
- el ministro de guerra Ignacio Aguirre en la novela de Guzmán y el buró-
crata gubernamental Félix Maldonado en La cabeza de la hidra - y las
componendas, aliados sospechosos y candidaturas no declaradas, evocan
un mundo vertiginoso y laberíntico de grupos que se integran y disuelven y
de insidiosas fuerzas que prometen a los protagonistas el éxito, la riqueza, o
la salvación sólo para defraudarlos, y al final, derrocarlos y destruirlos.
El secuestro y la tortura del político idealista Axkaná González en La
sombra del caudillo encuentran un paralelo brutal en el secuestro y la ci-
rugía plástica en el rostro de Félix Maldonado, quien constituye el polo
idealista de la novela de Fuentes. Al final, ambos luchan casi a solas para
defender la autonomía nacional y el bienestar de la población indígena.
Las dos obras se caracterizan por su crítica intensa de la clase media, con
su santurronería, apatía política, autocomplacencia, y cobardía. En la tur
bulenta década de los 20 plasmada por Guzmán, al igual que en la década
inestable de los 70 evocada por Fuentes, pueden observarse los problemas
de la política petrolera, de la falta de unidad nacional, y de la pobrez
degradante que aflige sobre todo a la población indígena, en ambas obras
evocadas como seres marginados y espectrales, enajenados del México tec
nológico y comercial, si bien enaltecidos y ennoblecidos por ambos nove-
listas. La compasión por el pueblo indígena que muestra el orador Axkaná,
el único que tiene éxito en romper las barreras de clase social y de lenguaj
para comunicarse con ellos, encuentra un paralelo en el dramático desper-
tar de la conciencia social de Maldonado, que al final se yergue como de-
fensor de los de abajo, a quienes en un principio despreciaba.
Psicológicamente, Aguirre se nos presenta al comienzo como un perso-
naje débil e irresoluto, muy parecido a Maldonado, sibarítico, vacilante, y
nebuloso. Ambos son burócratas que obedecen ciegamente las órdenes de
sus superiores y sólo con gran dificultad empiezan a afirmar una identida
independiente y heroica. Los dos protagonistas de Fuentes, el Director Ge-
neral y su antagonista Timón, al igual que el evasivo Caudillo de Guzmán
resultan sumamente ambiguas. Aunque se enmascaran de figuras paternas
para responder al anhelo de Maldonado que quiere la protección de un be-
nevolente sustituto de padre, al final el protagonista-títere es víctima d
ambas facciones. De igual manera, el camaleónico y desafortunado Agui-
rre es controlado al principio por el Caudillo y luego explotado por el par-
tido opositor y finalmente traicionado, encarcelado, y ejecutado por las ór-
denes del General Elizondo, hombre fuerte y decisivo en quien el protago-
nista ha confiado desesperadamente, viéndolo como padre protector.

Fuentes Guzman and Teh Mexican Political Novel

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Fuentes Guzman and Teh Mexican Political Novel

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Fuentes, Guzmán, and the Mexican Political Novel

Author(s): Lanin A. Gyurko

The novelists of the Mexican Revolution, foremost among whom

Ibero- Amerikanisches Archiv, 16.4: 545 - 610, Berlin 1990

in his first two novels of the Mexican Revolutio

that are replete with shadows - shadowy p

Although the incendiary atmosphere of the

hat off in public because he is fearful of assas

loyal service to the Caudillo. To an overwhelm

allies among the politicians and generals w

tection, money, a secure future. In order to intim

In La cabeza de la hidra , the shadows that fa

No existen en México contrapesos al poder presidencial absoluto. Se

3 Carlos Fuentes, La cabeza de la hidra (Barcelona: Librería Editorial Argos,

Taking full advantage of an extremely hierar

- ¿El Presidente ordenó que me encarcelaran, me aplicaran la ley

Le sugerí que podía hacer méritos balanceando al cadáver por la espal-

In both La sombra del caudillo and La cabeza

4 Consult William Weber Johnson, Heroic Mexico: The Narrative History of a

"Y cuento, por ultimo, con los grandes anhelo

Because he is supposedly a popular, revolution

As in Fuentes' work, rumor and insinuation in

Aguirre, ante tales insinuaciones, daba a entende

Naturalmente, todas aquellas denuncias caían dentr

Likewise, the presidential candidacy of Aguirre

Throughout their works, both Guzmán and F

idealistic alter ego of the decadent and pusilla

5 For an extensive examination of the complex functioning of t

The aloof and jaded Timón regards the enthu

E igual que los otros: todos participaban de la misma vibración, hasta

The mock session of the Cámara de Diputados

1911 - 1916, is that when there appears to be

Al cabo, Félix pudo distinguir el reflejo de los anteojos ahumados, unos

Extremely sensitive to the light, dwelling enshrouded by shadows,

This same patterning of betrayal from within

Having been no mere observer but a willing and active member of

trumped-up charges by the Caudillo is immin

Aguirre and the Caudillo are both surrounded by shadow loy-

The one positive value upheld by some of the

In the murky world of La cabeza de la hidra , all v

lica. Once back in Mexico, the relationship

role, refuse to pull their weight, instead limit

- Fíjate bien - decía a Mijares Axkaná - ; fíjate en la sonrisa de "las

The hypocrisy of the politicians and the sinuousness of the military

age struggle, which like the ritual in the Roman

La llamada opinion pública acentuó entonces su influencia en la obra.

Timón, from his vantage point as a member of the nouveaux

Yo tuve suerte en los negocios y al morir mi padre los incrementé, pero

At the very end of La sombra del caudillo , Gu

cue on every step. But the hedonistic nouveau

Yet, as the narrative progresses, it traces the

dualization, although it is significant that ev

Súbitamente, Axkaná se enterneció, aunque sin saber por qué. Mientras

In La cabeza de la hidra as in La región más tr

There is a marked contrast between the expensively prepared food

In the carefully constructed work of Guzmán, there is a constant

and spiritual development. As Axkaná speaks

En el balcón de la directiva, Catarino Ibáñez tenía abrazado a Axkaná; lo

tiempo, que junto a esa sospecha le brotaba una c

The simple, powerful, emotional expression of

In Fuentes, this ennobling of the Indian people is s

his readers the pride in the Mexican national ori

throughout Fuentes' works the characters are