It’s no surprise that an appealing yet conflicting metropolis like Mexico City finds itself the subject of any number of poems, novels and pieces of non-fiction. While in this guide we’ve predominantly focused on fictitious literary efforts (with few exceptions), the possibilities are endless if you want to read about the Mexican capital. Here are the top 11 recommended texts featuring Mexico City, by both native and foreign authors.
1. Down The Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos
Juan Pablo Villalobos’ debut novel is slight but excellent, providing a new perspective – that of a child – on the drug wars that have, are and probably will continue to, ravage Mexico. We’re guided by seven-year-old Tochtli (Nahuatl for ‘rabbit’), the son of Yolcaut (Nahuatl for ‘rattlesnake’). Yolcaut is a leading figure in the belly of the drug underworld, who exposes his son to all the goings on of his ‘business’ life; as a result, Tochtli is frighteningly informed. Villalobos’ trademark dark humour throughout makes Down The Rabbit Hole a fascinating and enjoyable read.
2. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
A classic of Chilean literature, The Savage Detectives is actually set in Mexico City and expertly weaves its tale through the streets of this vast capital. Based in 1975, it follows a 17-year-old poet as he gets immersed in the world of a strange literary movement, all the while navigating the streets of Mexico City. Widely considered to be one of Roberto Bolaño’s greatest achievements, The Savage Detectives is nothing short of essential reading for anyone interested in Latin American literature as a whole.
3. The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela, translated by Sergio Waisman
A nuanced insight into the dubious morality of war, The Underdogs tells the fictional story of Demetrio Macias and his band of outcasts as they traverse the landscape of the Mexican Revolution.
As an oppressed peasant on the run from his own government’s soldiers due to a misunderstanding with a local landowner, Macias decides to take revenge on those who have wronged him.
Gathering together a group of rebels and misfits, he joins the cause of the Mexican Revolution and begins a journey of sacking and pillaging across the Mexican landscape. But the longer these men continue to fight, the harder it is for them to remember what they are fighting for.
4. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
Brief, powerful and full of intense imagery, Rulfo’s only novel was a landmark in Latin American literature. Rulfo’s surrealistic Mexican landscape is filled with ghosts as he explores his country’s migration to the city and abandonment of their villages.
5. Massacre in Mexico by Elena Poniatowska, translated by Helen Lane
On October 2nd 1968, thousands of civilians – mostly college and high school students – gathered in a plaza in the Tlatelolco district of Mexico City to protest against the 1968 Olympics, which were to begin in Mexico City 10 days later.
In the early evening of that day, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on those unarmed civilians, killing a still unknown number, and wounding hundreds more.
Thousands of protestors and innocent bystanders were unlawfully detained or arrested, some for months without trial. No definitive figures are known; the exact details of what happened that day – in what is called the Tlatelolco Massacre – are still unknown.
In her book Massacre in Mexico, also known as La noche de Tlatelolco, prominent Mexican journalist Elena Poniatowska has compiled an oral history gathered from the eyewitness stories of those who were there to see the events unfold.
This powerful account of individual voices – corroborated by the release of official Mexican and US documents decades after the fact – tells a far more tragic and oppressive story than what was originally stated by the Mexican government at the time.
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