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

The Mexican Dream, Or, The Interrupted Thought of Amerindian Civilizations is an English translation of an essay written in French by J. M. G. Le Clézio first published in 1988.

Contents

 * Le rêve du Conquérant (The Dream of the Conquerors)
 * Moctezuma, Huitzilopochtli, Mexico
 * Le rêve des origines (The Dream of Origins)
 * Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilopochtli, Aztèques
 * Mythes mexicains (Mexican Myths)
 * Nahuatl, Huicholes, Quetzalcoatl
 * Nezahualcoyotl, or the Festival of Words
 * The barbarian dream
 * Antonin Artaud, or the Mexican Dream
 * The interrupted thought of Amerindian Civilizations
 * Notes
 * Map of region
 * The interrupted thought of Amerindian Civilizations
 * Notes
 * Map of region
 * Map of region

Subjects

 * History: Latin American History
 * Latin American Studies
 * Literature and Literary Criticism: Romance Languages
 * Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion

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.

other French Edition
Also published in French under

Reviews
Le Figaro and Kirkus Reviews reviewed the book.