Beschreibung
ORIGINAL TYPESCRIPT ANNOTATED BY THE AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL THAT WON THE FIRST MEXICAN NATIONAL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE AND THE HONOURABLE MENTION AT THE FIRST LATIN AMERICAN PRIZE NOVEL CONTEST IN NEW YORK (1940-41). Large 4to. Initial blank, title leaf, 197 ff., final blank. Occasional pen annotations in dark blue ink throughout the text by the author. Elegant presentation binding in brown soft faux leather with gilt letterings stamped on front cover and spine. Brown synthetic cloth endpapers with light reflective effect creating wavy lines. Typed on high-quality paper (handmade?), thin and very crisp, showing pattern of half rising suns as watermark. Trimmed edges styled unevenly, rough irregular surface. A few marks, chipping and rubbing to binding, mostly along board extremities and spine. We did not manage to locate duplicates nor other similar typescripts in public libraries. Excellent condition. An exceptional item through which the final steps of the novel s genesis can be studied. Thanks to the annotations of the author, who proofread the text, sometimes elegantly overwriting little parts of it, adding words and entire phrases, or erasing unnecessary elements, one can appreciate the last changes, the final touching and retouching of the author before submitting his typescript to the jury. A comparison between this typescript and the novel s first printed edition reveals that not all these changes were eventually included in the final version. It is of the greatest interest to observe the labor limae of the artist and be in the capacity to learn which words he first used and then decided to exclude forever from the text.There are no better words than those chosen by Howard S. Phillips in his article Mexico s Prize Novel, which appeared in the University of Oklahoma literary magazine Books Abroad (1941), to introduce this outstanding piece of writing on the everyday life and exploitation of the indigenous Cora people in the Nayarit state: Original in structure, word-lean, yet evolved in distinguished lyrical prose, allusive rather than graphic in its nonetheless profoundly incisive characterization, the story of Nayar, dealing with a small and isolated corner of Mexico, projects in its social purport a singularly true and comprehensive panorama of the entire country, and even more of all Latin America. Though as an example of creative writing its virtues are manifold, this is its salient merit. Its opening chapters, devoted in large part to the creation of the primordial background, the description of the sierra and jungle of Nayarit, attain a beauty and puissance fairly comparable to Hudson s Green Mansions. The episodes, though wrought with an almost austere realism, are not presented mainly for their story content, but each embodies a profound symbolical significance. Furthermore, as Phillips pointed out, this important novel that contributed to popularise greatly the Latin American indigenista genre is also: a deeply penetrating study … of the mestizo: the most authentic Mexican type who after four centuries of biological assimilation has yet failed to achieve his complete social and psychological integration. The book voices the drama of the Mexican mestizo aimlessly groping through the jungles of his existence in pursuit of his own ultimate destiny. San Nicolás de Los Garza s Capilla Alfonsina University Library, which is part of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexico, preserves the library of Alfonso Reyes, one of the most prestigious members of the Mexican jury that awarded Menéndez. The Capilla Alfonsina holds the copy of Nayar s hardback limited edition that the author dedicated to Reyes. Through the person of Dr Leticia Garza Moreno, who is Head of Public Relations, the Capilla Alfonsina confirmed the authenticity of the item. By comparing Menéndez s handwritten dedication on the Reyes copy with the manuscript notes on this typewritten copy, it is possible to acknowledge common features. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ABE-1620464880714
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