The Death of Artemio Cruz
Encyclopedia
The Death of Artemio Cruz is a novel written in 1962 by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes
and is considered to be a contributor to the Latin American literary movement
known as the Latin American "Boom
".
through the development of the PRI—the Party of the Institutional Revolution. His family crowds around, pressing him to reveal the location of his will; a priest provides extreme unction, angling for a deathbed confession
and reconciliation with the Church (while Artemio indulges in obscene thoughts about the birth of Jesus); his private secretary has come with audiotapes of various corrupt dealings, many with gringo
diplomats and speculators. Punctuating the sordid record of betrayal is Cruz's awareness of his failing body and his keen attachment to sensual life.
Seventy-one-year-old Artemio Cruz is dying. He is a very rich and powerful man, made ruthless, godless and corrupt by his hard childhood and his soldiering during the Mexican revolution during which he had cheated death several times and had done, and suffered, betrayals. After the revolution, through corrupt wheeling and dealing and use of force for self-aggrandizement he became extremely rich. He now owns vast tracks of land, companies, a newspaper and, by himself, he is a major political player.
He has a wife and a daughter whom he hates and whom he knows hate him. His wife blames him for the death of their only son who died fighting in the Spanish civil war, perhaps trying to imitate his father's (fraudulent) heroisms during the Mexican civil war but wasn't able to duplicate his survival. Artemio Cruz loved his son. He had another love: a prostitute, during the civil war, whom he had kidnapped yet learned to fall in love with him. He valued this memory of her because it was a love given to him when he was still a nobody.
It is not made clear what struck him (perhaps a stroke or cancer). Artemio Cruz hears, recalls and vaguely see images. But he's in pain, can't talk and is immobilized. The narrator is in a state of perpetual delirium, like mutterings of a brilliant poet with a soaring fever, hovering between life and death, describing glimpses of heaven and hell.
The end sees his thoughts decay into a drawn-out death.
The Death of Artemio Cruz is dedicated to great Sociologist and Humanist
C. Wright Mills
.
"The true voice of North America and great friend in the struggle for the people in Latin America," as Carlos Fuentes
writes in the foreword.
Tuck goes on further to say,
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
and is considered to be a contributor to the Latin American literary movement
Latin American literature
Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the...
known as the Latin American "Boom
Latin American Boom
The Latin American Boom was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world...
".
Plot summary
Artemio Cruz—soldier, politician, journalist, tycoon, lover: all corrupt—lies on his deathbed, recalling the shaping events of his life, from the Mexican RevolutionMexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
through the development of the PRI—the Party of the Institutional Revolution. His family crowds around, pressing him to reveal the location of his will; a priest provides extreme unction, angling for a deathbed confession
Deathbed confession
A deathbed confession is a confession of some sort when someone is assumed to be close to death. Sometimes, it takes place on their "deathbed," the bed in which a person dies or lies in during the last few hours before death, hence the phrase.-Judaism:...
and reconciliation with the Church (while Artemio indulges in obscene thoughts about the birth of Jesus); his private secretary has come with audiotapes of various corrupt dealings, many with gringo
Gringo
Gringo is a slang Spanish and Portuguese word used in Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America, to denote foreigners, often from the United States. The term can be applied to someone who is actually a foreigner, or it can denote a strong association or assimilation into...
diplomats and speculators. Punctuating the sordid record of betrayal is Cruz's awareness of his failing body and his keen attachment to sensual life.
Seventy-one-year-old Artemio Cruz is dying. He is a very rich and powerful man, made ruthless, godless and corrupt by his hard childhood and his soldiering during the Mexican revolution during which he had cheated death several times and had done, and suffered, betrayals. After the revolution, through corrupt wheeling and dealing and use of force for self-aggrandizement he became extremely rich. He now owns vast tracks of land, companies, a newspaper and, by himself, he is a major political player.
He has a wife and a daughter whom he hates and whom he knows hate him. His wife blames him for the death of their only son who died fighting in the Spanish civil war, perhaps trying to imitate his father's (fraudulent) heroisms during the Mexican civil war but wasn't able to duplicate his survival. Artemio Cruz loved his son. He had another love: a prostitute, during the civil war, whom he had kidnapped yet learned to fall in love with him. He valued this memory of her because it was a love given to him when he was still a nobody.
It is not made clear what struck him (perhaps a stroke or cancer). Artemio Cruz hears, recalls and vaguely see images. But he's in pain, can't talk and is immobilized. The narrator is in a state of perpetual delirium, like mutterings of a brilliant poet with a soaring fever, hovering between life and death, describing glimpses of heaven and hell.
The end sees his thoughts decay into a drawn-out death.
The Death of Artemio Cruz is dedicated to great Sociologist and Humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
C. Wright Mills
C. Wright Mills
Charles Wright Mills was an American sociologist. Mills is best remembered for his 1959 book The Sociological Imagination in which he lays out a view of the proper relationship between biography and history, theory and method in sociological scholarship...
.
"The true voice of North America and great friend in the struggle for the people in Latin America," as Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
writes in the foreword.
Literary significance & criticism
- "...a dominating theme in his work is the search for Mexican national identity. Of his eleven novels, it is in The Death of Artemio Cruz that this mindset is expressed most strongly", says reviewer Jim Tuck.
Tuck goes on further to say,
- "A grim story--but one that dramatically showcases the intensity of the author's desire to lock into the most poignant period of Mexico's history".
External links
- Carlos Fuentes discusses The Death of Artemio Cruz on the BBC World Book ClubWorld Book ClubWorld Book Club is a radio programme on the BBC World Service. Each edition of the programme, which is broadcast on the first Saturday of the month with repeats into the following Monday, features a famous author discussing one of his or her books, often the most well-known one, with the public...
La muerte de Artemio Cruz : novela política. Lectura totalizadora o parcial?