A short interesting post over at constellationDefiant on one of Diego Rivera's murals in Detroit. In my thesis I haven't taken up much on art, the Mexican muralists, or their relationship to the Mexican left during/after the Revolution, but nevertheless find that relationship fascinating.
What I have been taking up recently: been re-reading Adolfo Gilly's The Mexican Revolution, alongside John Reed's Insurgent Mexico (for the first time). The latter is a somewhat humorous, illustrative account, though I'm not far in so maybe that impression will change. I'm hoping that text, and a few others like Mariano Azuela's Los de Abajo and B. Traven's Rebellion of the Hanged can give me some inspiration for how to animate my thesis...how to make it a living, breathing history/perspective and not just a dry academic tract.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Art and more
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Glad to see you blogging again. So far, how does Reed's book compare to Gilly's? I am assuming the former is more of a narrative and the later is more theoretical, yes?
ReplyDeleteWhat up Rebel,
ReplyDeleteReed's book is a different animal from Gilly's so they're difficult to compare. "Insurgent Mexico" is more of a narrative as you point out -- it's a first hand account by Reed of his travels with guerrillas fighting under Pancho Villa. What seems highly applauded in Reed's work is that it sketches his impressions of the lives and experiences of rank and file peasant fighters during the Revolution.
Gilly's book, on the other hand, is a second-hand overview of the Revolution. There's much less of the first hand reflection in his text; instead it has more straightforward political analysis and historical recounting of the different social forces at play during the Revolution.