José Revueltas
Encyclopedia
José Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican
writer
, essayist, and political activist. He was part of an important artistic family
that included his siblings Silvestre
(composer), Fermín
(painter) and Rosaura
(actress).
. He participated in the Railwaymen’s Movement in 1958, for which they imprisoned him again. In 1968 he was accused of being the "intellectual author" of the Mexican student movement that culminated in the Tlatelolco massacre
, so he was arrested and sent to the jail of Palacio de Lecumberri
(aka The Black Palace), where he wrote one of his more popular books: El Apando (The Thief) (A. Revueltas 1998; Valle, Alvárez Garín, and J. Revueltas 1970).
José Revueltas was a revolutionary from the start, because he practiced that which soon would become his most important pedagogical proposal: Academic Self-intervention, a product of his own form of studying reality by means of theoretical knowledge that supplies the reading. For this reason he left secondary school because they went very slowly and he dedicated himself, from then on, to visiting libraries and acquiring books. He was a complete man with many facets, bound to the necessities of the proletariat
, of the people, he was dedicated on all the fronts in which he participated to the task of socializing and of politicizing society, the latter task a revolutionary one. He used literature
, cinematographic scripts, the academy, partisan participation and the street to promote his project.
He joined the Mexican Communist Party
in 1928, but was expelled in 1943 for his criticisms of the organisation’s bureaucratic practices and for one of the best analyses of the left in Mexico: Ensayo de un proletariado sin cabeza (Essay on a Proletariat without a Head). He founded the Liga Espartaquista (Spartan League) and the Partido Popular Socialista (Popular Socialist Party, or PPS), from which he also was expelled for questioning and criticizing the errors of the left.
Translated from the Spanish Wikipedia article.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, essayist, and political activist. He was part of an important artistic family
Revueltas Sánchez
Revueltas Sánchez is the surname of the children of Gregorio Revueltas Gutiérrez and his wife Romana Sánchez Arias , a Mexican artist family with roots in Durango. All in all they had twelve children...
that included his siblings Silvestre
Silvestre Revueltas
Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor.-Life:...
(composer), Fermín
Fermín Revueltas Sánchez
Fermín Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican painter.- Biography :Fermín Revueltas was son of Gregorio Revueltas Gutiérrez and his wife Romana Sánchez Arias. The Revueltas Sánchez family came from the North of Mexico, and lived in Guadalajara, Jalisco, from 1910 to 1913...
(painter) and Rosaura
Rosaura Revueltas
Rosaura Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican star of screen and stage, and a dancer, author and teacher.-Early life:...
(actress).
Life
He was often imprisoned for his political activism, almost from the time he was a boy (from the age of 14–15 years) and was still a minor when he was sent for the first time to the maximum-security jail of those days: the Islas MaríaIslas Marías Federal Prison
The Islas Marías Federal Penal Colony is a penitentiary establishment of the Federal Government of Mexico, administered through the Federal Secretariat of Public Security...
. He participated in the Railwaymen’s Movement in 1958, for which they imprisoned him again. In 1968 he was accused of being the "intellectual author" of the Mexican student movement that culminated in the Tlatelolco massacre
Tlatelolco massacre
The Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco , was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City...
, so he was arrested and sent to the jail of Palacio de Lecumberri
Palacio de Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive ....
(aka The Black Palace), where he wrote one of his more popular books: El Apando (The Thief) (A. Revueltas 1998; Valle, Alvárez Garín, and J. Revueltas 1970).
José Revueltas was a revolutionary from the start, because he practiced that which soon would become his most important pedagogical proposal: Academic Self-intervention, a product of his own form of studying reality by means of theoretical knowledge that supplies the reading. For this reason he left secondary school because they went very slowly and he dedicated himself, from then on, to visiting libraries and acquiring books. He was a complete man with many facets, bound to the necessities of the proletariat
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
, of the people, he was dedicated on all the fronts in which he participated to the task of socializing and of politicizing society, the latter task a revolutionary one. He used literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, cinematographic scripts, the academy, partisan participation and the street to promote his project.
He joined the Mexican Communist Party
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1911 as the Socialist Workers' Party by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian intellectual. The PSO changed its name to the Mexican Communist Party in November 1919 following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia...
in 1928, but was expelled in 1943 for his criticisms of the organisation’s bureaucratic practices and for one of the best analyses of the left in Mexico: Ensayo de un proletariado sin cabeza (Essay on a Proletariat without a Head). He founded the Liga Espartaquista (Spartan League) and the Partido Popular Socialista (Popular Socialist Party, or PPS), from which he also was expelled for questioning and criticizing the errors of the left.
Translated from the Spanish Wikipedia article.
Writings
- Los muros de agua (1941)
- El luto humano (1943)
- Dios en la tierra (1944)
- Los días terrenales (1949)
- Los errores (1964)
- El apando (1969)
- México 68: Juventud Y Revolución (1968-1972)
Sources
- Revueltas, Andrea. 1998. "José Revueltas y el 68. (escritor mexicano)." Siempre! 45, no. 2363 (October): 58–60.
- Revueltas, Rosaura. 1980. Los Revueltas: Biografía de una familia. México: Editorial Grijalbo. ISBN 9684191111
- Sáinz, Gustavo, et al. 1977. Conversaciones con José Revueltas. Introduction by Jorge Ruffinelli, bibliography of works by and about José Revueltas by Marilyn R. Frankenthaler. (Cuadernos de texto crítico 3). Veracruz: Universidad Veracruzana, Centro de Investigaciones Lingüístico-Literarias.
- Slick, Sam L. 1983. José Revueltas. Edited by Luis Davila. Twayne's world authors series 683. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
- Valle, Eduardo, Raúl Alvarez Garín, and José Revueltas. 1970. Los procesos de México 68; tiempo de hablar. México: Editorial Estudiantes.