The Mexican Dream, or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations

Contents

Subjects

Aim

In the essay, Le Clézio conducts an inquiry into the brutal disappearance of the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica in the 16th century, particularly the end of the Mexican civilization at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors. The author analyses the personalities of characters such as Hernán Cortés, La Malinche, Moctezuma II, Cuauhtémoc, and other key players in the conquest of Mesoamerica. He refers extensively to the descriptions offered by Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España in analysing the events. He imagines what might have happened if the native populations had not been reduced to silence by brutality, and what their impact on Western civilization might have been. Understanding that the West holds both economic and cultural sway over the contemporary world because of the colonization of America, he wonders how the cultural life of Mesoamerica – particularly that of the Aztecs – would have evolved if the arrival of the Europeans had not decimated the indigenous societies through war, disease and slavery.

Publication history/Editions

11 editions published between 1988 and 2004 in 5 languages and held by 835 libraries worldwide

First French Edition

second French Edition

other French Edition

Also published in French under Le Clézio, J.M.G. (1992). Le Rêve mexicain. Paris: Gallimard Folio. p. 273. ISBN 978-2-07-032680-8. 

First English Edition

Second English Edition

Reviews

Le Figaro and Kirkus Reviews reviewed the book.