From the Archives: On Francisco I. Madero as Medium: Q & A with Rev. Stephen A. Hermann, Author of "Mediumship Mastery”

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Ignacio Solares' Short Story "Victoriano's Deliriums" Translated by Yours Truly in the Lampeter Review

This issue #11 of The Lampeter Review includes
a masterful short story by one of Mexico's
greatest writers, Ignacio Solares.

Ignacio Solares

Just out, the new issue of the Lampeter Review on magic realism and Latin America, edited by Tony Kendrew, which includes a masterful short story by one of Mexico's greatest writers, Ignacio Solares, translated by Yours Truly, on page 22. 

> Read the complete issue on-line here. 
> And for the free PDF download, click here.

Ignacio Solares' masterful short story "Victoriano's Deliriums," enters into the points of view (and what may or may not be some hallucinations) of the dying general and ex-President of Mexico, Victoriano Huerta.

A little background: In 1913 General Victoriano Huerta led the coup d'etat that overthrew Mexican President Francisco I. Madero. A wealthy Coahuilan businessman and ardent Spiritist, Madero had led the 1910 Revolution, then campaigned for and won the presidential election in 1911. As President, Madero had trusted General Huerta, a fatal mistake. Huerta's own rule was troubled and brief. In 1914 he fled for Europe and then on arriving in El Paso, Texas he was arrested. Huerta died there in early 1916 from cirrhosis of the liver, while under house arrest.

It's funny, literary translators are forever grumbling about the crumbs, if that, of recognition we receive for our work. In this instance, however, I believe I've been given too much of the pudding, plus the whole pitcher of the rum sauce, as on the title page my name appears more prominently than the author's!! Happily, his bio is included in the back, and it reads:

 IGNACIO SOLARES is one of Mexico's best-known literary writers. Among his many works are the novels Un sueño de Bernardo Reyes; Madero, el otro; El Jefe Máximo; and El sitio, which won the prestigious Xavier Villaurrutia Prize. Born in Ciudad Juárez, he now lives in Mexico City where he is editor-in-chief of La Revista de la Universidad, the magazine of the Mexico's National University. 

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Creelman Interview with Porfirio Díaz in Pearson's Magazine March 1908

***UPDATE Dec 2013 My book, Metaphysical Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution, is now available***

Still plowing on here with the revisions to my introduction to my translation of Francisco I. Madero's Spiritist Manual of 1911. The new edition will be published this fall in both paperback and Kindle-- and Spanish. Stay tuned. Apart from providing more of the metaphysical context (see my previous posts on Madame Blavatsky, Allen Kardec, the Bhagavad-Gita and El Niño Fidencio) I'll go into much more detail about Madero's political career and the Revolution, which he launched in November 1910. And apropos of the Revolution, the fuse was lit in 1908 by yellow journalist James Creelman's interview with Porfirio Diaz, the dictator who was then nearing 80 years old, without having indicated a clear successor. (Chimes of Hosni Mubarak...) If there were a banana peel of destiny, Don Porfirio smoked it. It is a deeply strange interview... a bubblebath of drool... Read it for yourself here.

The oft-quoted part, where Porfirio Diaz states that he does not want to run for reelection in 1910 and would welcome an opposition party, appears on the 12th page in.

“I welcome an opposition party in the Mexican republic,” [Don Porfirio] said. “If it appears, I will regard it as a blessing, not as an evil. And of it can develop power, not to exploit, but to govern, I will stand by it, support it, advise it and forget myself in the successful inauguration of complete democratic government of the country.
“It is enough for me that I have seen Mexico rise among the peaceful and useful nations. I have no desire to continue in the Presidency. This nation is ready for her ultimate life of freedom.”

Of course Don Porfirio did run in 1910, jailed the opposition candidate, Framcisco I. Madero, and outrageously stuffed the ballot boxes. Madero then overthrew him in 1911.

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