The Book of Lamentations

by Castellanos, Rosario

• ISBN13: 9780141180038
• ISBN10: 014118003X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-08-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

Set in the highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas, The Book of Lamentations tells of a fictionalized Mayan uprising that resembles many of the rebellions that have taken place since the indigenous people of the area were first conquered by invaders from Europe five hundred years ago. With the panoramic sweep of a Diego Rivera mural, the novel weaves together dozens of plot lines, perspectives, and characters: the ambitious Maya shaman Catalina and her husband, Pedro, a seeker after justice; the wealthy, ruthless landowner Leonardo; Marcela, the Maya girl raped by Leonardo who gives birth to a son, and many more. In a tour de force of narrative structure, these threads intertwine as the plot drives toward a conclusion as devastating as it is inexorable.

Author Biography

Born in Mexico City in 1925, Rosario Castellanos spent much of her childhood in Comitán, in Mayan southern Mexico. After traveling to Europe and to the United States for advanced study in aesthetics, she returned to the province of Chiapas to work with Indian theater groups and the Indigenous Institute of San Cristóbal. Much of her work, even throughout her involvement with the literary group "The Generation of the '50s," tried to traverse the distance between the pre-Columbian and the European cultural traditions of Mexico. While serving as Mexican ambassador to Israel, Castellanos died in a freak household accident in Tel Aviv. In an irony she might have enjoyed, she was buried in the rotunda of Illustrious Men, in Mexico City.