Revista Mexicana de Literatura: literary autonomy and criticism of society

Abstract

This article aims to study the early days of the Revista Mexicana de Literatura (1955-1957), directed by Carlos Fuentes and Emmanuel Carballo, the most outstandig figures of a new generation of Mexican letters, usually known as Generación de Medio Siglo. This is a new generation determined by different social and cultural backgrounds with respect to most notable writers trajectories between 20 and 40. The rising of this magazine in the cultural field in Mexico represents the articulation of a new social order of literature, which replaced the that prevailed as a result of the revolutionary cultural nationalism. The dominant pattern of this emerging social order lies in the criticism of the inclusion of the writer in the domain of the symbolic apparatus of the Mexican State. Also, this order encourages independent action of the writer, critical feature with respect to the dominant political system, as well as the development of an autonomous identity. The autonomous identity of the writer involves the construction of a speech according to which the writer is subject exclusive holder of an exceptionally refined and elaborate symbolic heritage. However, this characterization of writers led by Carlos Fuentes and Emmanuel Carballo also involves the assimilation of a critical agenda of radical character in terms of social issues. Revista Mexicana de Literatura is not only the first collective effort that represents these new directions, but the only publication where social agenda meets artistic autonomy of the new subject writer identity.