Strange Pilgrims: Twelve Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Cogan’s Reviews Frankly, I find this a rather lightweight collection of stories. And, as I’ve never read anything else by Garcia Marquez I’m left wondering where he got his great reputation. I guess I should get around to reading those better known works of his, like One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera and […]

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Underdogs

The Underdogs (Los de Abajo): A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela

Cogan’s Reviews This novel is described in several places as a classic of modern Hispanic literature and it really is a powerful book. Since it’s appearance it has been published in more than 27 editions and in several languages. The edition I just read is a Signet Classic paperback. It comes with a very useful […]

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Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village / Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo: A Few Comments

Washing Dishes in the Ancient Village / Lavando platos en el antiguo pueblo is a collection of one-hundred short poems about Mexico and Latin America. Because I wrote this book, I do not intend to review it here but rather to recount some of the experiences I had while writing this little book. I have been […]

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The Pearl: a novella by John Steinbeck

Available from Amazon Books: Paperback That first film version of The Pearl (1948) was directed by the prominent Mexican director, Emilio Fernández. It won the Ariel – the Mexican Academy Award – for best picture, and Gabriel Figueroa won the Golden Globe for best cinematography; the director, Emilio Fernández, was nominated for a Golden Lion award at the […]

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Inscription on the statue of Evangeline. © TexasEscapes.com

Six degrees of separation: how a Mexican star became a Cajun legend

Even if you have never wondered what ties Mexico to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I’m going to tell you anyway. It begins with a poem. Longfellow’s epic 1847 poem, “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie,” is the story of an Acadian girl, Evangeline Bellefontaine (“Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers”), her betrothed, Gabriel […]

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Mariachis perform at a gala held at the Hacienda of Nogueras, Comala, Colima.

Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo – Universal artist from Colima

In the half-light I enter the ‘horno’ or oven room. A base of reds frames the pre-Hispanic pieces in the Museum of Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo. It is easy to imagine the fiery origin of the land and the fire that formed the ancient ceramics. Outside, the Volcano of Fire smokes above the countryside. And so I meet […]

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