FRANCISCO ROJAS GONZÁLEZ: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Francisco Rojas González (1904-1951) was a Mexican writer, screenwriter, and ethnologist. His literary work was developed around the history and evolution of the aboriginal peoples in the Hispanic world. In some of their stories there were traditional and costumbristas features.

Rojas González spanned various literary genres, including novels, short stories, and essays. Some of his best known and most prominent titles were: Historia de un frac, El diosero, Lola Casanova and La negra Angustias. He also collaborated in the production of several books on ethnology.

Statue of Fancisco Rojas González, located in the Rotunda of the Jalicenses. Source: Elmerhomerochombo, via Wikimedia Commons

The Mexican writer dedicated part of his life to serving his country abroad. For some years, he served as ambassador and consul. However, his short –but well used– forty-seven years of life were largely devoted to literature and ethnology.

Biography

Birth and family

Francisco was born on August 11, 1904 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The writer came from a small-town family with little economic resources. Although no information is known about his parents, it is known that he was related to prominent writers such as Luis Manuel Rojas and José López Portillo y Rojas.

Rojas González Education

Francisco Rojas González studied his first years of education in the town of La Barca, Jalisco, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. Then, after a few years, he went to the capital of the country to study commerce and administration, while he trained as an ethnologist at the National Museum.

First publications

Rojas González began to publish his literary work in 1930. First, Historia de un frac, and then Y otros cuentos followed, in 1931. Three years later, the essay La Literature de la Revolución appeared; and the story The Birdie, eight stories.

Diplomatic work

During his youth, the writer and ethnologist dedicated himself to working in the foreign service of his country. He served as a diplomat in several nations, including Guatemala, where he was Chancellor. He was also an ambassador to the United States, specifically in San Francisco and Colorado.

Rojas ethnologist

Rojas González's vocation was more oriented towards ethnology, which he optimally combined with literary. His passion led him, in 1935, to put aside his diplomatic tasks to join the Institute of Social Research under the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

That work experience allowed him to travel the national territory, an opportunity that he took advantage of to come into contact with the indigenous people. In addition, at that time, he shared his knowledge in publications such as Ethnological Studies of the Mosque Valley and Ethnographic Caste of Mexico, to name a few.

Coat of arms of the UNAM, where Francisco Rojas González worked. Source: Both, the shield and the motto, José Vasconcelos Calderón, via Wikimedia Commons

Lawsuit for plagiarism

Francisco Rojas González was forced to prosecute a lawsuit against the Fox production company, due to what he considered a “plagiarism” of his work Historia de un frac. The chain dared to bring his story to the big screen in 1942, under the title Six Destinations, without his permission, and without giving him any credit.

Although Fox recognized the plagiarism, it transferred responsibility to the co-producer of the film, which had been directed by Frenchman Julien Duvivier. Finally, the Mexican writer did not receive any type of recognition or payment. However, his lawsuit asserted the authorship of the original work before the public.

Last years and death

Unfortunately, Rojas González's life was short. However, he took advantage of what he could to dedicate himself, with passion and care, to both literature and ethnology.

The writer always maintained his concern for indigenous peoples, as well as for those marginalized after the Revolution. On such concerns he developed his work. Among the last titles he managed to write were: Tales of yesterday and today, Lola Casanova, 12 monographs and On the route of the Mexican tale.

Francisco Rojas González died in the city where he was born, on December 11, 1951, when he was barely forty-seven years old.

Style

Rojas González's literary style was characterized by the use of precise, clear and easily understood language. His interests for the social, and anthropology led him to investigate and document to give depth to his literature.

The main theme of his work was the indigenous Mexicans, and everything related to them. His method of observation and direct contact, added to his knowledge, allowed him a careful production, where the environment played an important role.

Aqueduct of Santa María de los Ángeles, in Jalisco, city of birth of Rojas González. Source: Aqueduct of Santa María de los Ángeles, Jalisco,

Plays

Novels

- La negra Angustias (1944).

- Lola Casanova (1947).

Brief description of his novels

The black Angustias

It was one of the most important novels of the Mexican writer. With her he won the National Prize for Literature. The work kept a certain relationship with the stories of the Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos. The resemblance stands out in the attitude of the protagonist towards men.

Angustias lost her mother after she was born, a situation that filled her with hatred. She grew up and became interested in witchcraft while she lived in the house of Dona Crescencia. Throughout history the young woman was involved in various complicated situations with men, and these entanglements led her to commit murders.

Fragment

“The walls supported large mirrors with gilt frames; on the French moons a prescient but disgraceful fare had been written. In the gaps in the walls German stickers with cynical figures who tried to reconstruct the most daring feats that mythology attributes to the unruly little god of the inoculated spears… ”.

Lola casanova

Through this story, Francisco Rojas González reflected the story of Lola Casanova, a woman who lived in Sonora and became a legend after being kidnapped by an indigenous tribe from that city. Her stay with the Indians pleased her and she ended up marrying El coyote, who was the head of the ethnic group.

Fragment

“That young woman, with strong hips, aggressive breasts and graceful steps, is none other than Tórtola Parda, owner of magical secrets and irresistible physical charms; She carries in her hands a freshly sliced donkey liver…

Seris females are then an extension of stubbornness, they are a flow that bursts at unusual distances… ”.

Stories

- History of a tailcoat (1930).

- And other stories (1931).

- The birder, eight stories (1934).

- Chirrín and cell 18 (1944).

- Tales of yesterday and today (1946).

- The last adventure of Mona Lisa (1949).

- El diosero (Posthumous edition, 1952).

Brief description of some of his stories

The goddess

It was Rojas González's best-known work, presented through a collection of stories. The central theme of the book was based on the different indigenous ethnic groups of Mexico, in relation to their customs, traditions, values ​​and idiosyncrasies.

Some of the stories that made up the work were:

- "The cows of Quibiquinta".

- "Hculi Hualula".

- "The couple".

- "The parable of the young one-eyed man."

- "The cenzontle and the sidewalk".

- "Our Lady of Nequetejé".

- "The revenge of Carlos Mango".

- "The goddess".

- "The sad story of Pascola Cenobio".

- "The Xoxocotla square".

- "The tona".

- "The goat on two legs".

- "The ten responses".

"The parable of the young one-eyed man"

The story was about a boy who was one-eyed, and although his mother and he had not given importance to his condition, it did affect them when the school children began to make fun of his defect. Faced with the suffering of her son, the mother sought many solutions.

The story dealt with faith towards the Virgin of San Juan from the town of Yucatán. Mother and son came hopeful to the procession, but an unexpected event, the explosion of a rocket, caused the boy to lose his other eye. The mother saw it as a miracle, and explained to her son that he would be blind and not one-eyed.

Fragment

"-The rod of a rocket has blinded my boy," shouted the mother, who later implored: -Look for a doctor, in God's charity.

He groaned and cursed his luck… but she, caressing his face with her two hands, said:

-I already knew, little boy, that the Virgin of San Juan was not going to deny us a miracle… Because what she has done with you is a patent miracle!

He made a stunned face upon hearing those words.

"That is the prodigy for which we must bless her: when they see you in town, everyone will be disappointed and they will have no choice but to find another one-eyed man to make fun of… because you, my son, are no longer one-eyed".

"The goat on two legs"

This story told the life of Juá Chotá, who lived happily with his wife and daughter María Agrícola. Everything was quiet until one day a married engineer fell madly in love with Chotá's daughter, and proposed to buy the young woman, whom he had begun to stalk from the first day he saw her.

Fragment

"The Indian erased the smile that had remained on his lips after his laugh and stared at the miner, trying to penetrate into the abyss of that proposal.

"Say something, even blink, idol," the white man yelled angrily. Solve for once, can you sell me your daughter? Yes or no?

-Aren't you ashamed of your mercé? It is so ugly that I sell it, as you buy it… They give themselves to men of one's race, when they have no commitments and when they know how to work the team.

"When you charge and pay well, there is no shame, don Juan," said the engineer, softening his accent. Race has nothing to do with it… A beautiful breed that only serves to scare children who come to museums! ”.

Fragment of "The ten responses"

“It was Monday afternoon; He remained on the side of the road with his arms outstretched in a cross, a look of surprise persisted on his dusty coppery face and a horrible squint in his half-open eyes, which said clearly from the last shock…

The skeletal Jolin dog scratched his scabies without losing sight of his master's corpse ”.

Fragment of "La tona"

“Crisanta, a young Indian, almost a girl, was coming down the path; the mid-afternoon air chilled her body, hunched under the weight of a third of wood; the head bowed and on the forehead a bundle of hair soaked with sweat…

The march grew more difficult with every step; the girl stopped for a moment as she took her breaths; but then, without raising her face, she would resume her journey with the impetus of a beast… ".

"The goddess"

It told the story of an Indian who had the ability to mold idols to help his community, who lived in the middle of the jungle with his three wives. However, one day he decided to put into practice his ability to stop the torrential rains, and the women could not see him in his work.

Fragment

“Outside the champa, the jungle, the stage where the drama of the Lacandones unfolds. In front of Kai-Lan's house, the temple of which he is a high priest, as well as an acolyte and faithful, looms. The temple is a hut covered with palm leaves, it only has a wall that faces the west; inside, rustic carved easels… In the jungle, demonic fury rages on, tamers of beasts… ”.

"The sad story of Pascola Cenobio"

The story was set in a Yaqui tribe. It dealt with Cenobio's efforts to provide his future wife with everything she needs without having to depend on her father-in-law. He managed to get a job as a guide for some whites; however, those of his ethnic group rejected him for working for another race.

Fragment

“On the impenetrable faces of the Indians a dark veil has fallen; particularly this sign of unease becomes more noticeable in young women, in those who admire the posture and grace of the ill-fated Pascola.

Emilia, the beloved and fiancée of Cenobio Tánori, is absent due to the veto that her presence imposes on the law; however, her father, old Benito Buitimea, rich and famous, does not hide her emotion at that dramatic event of the protagonist who one day wanted to be her son-in-law ”.

essays

- The Literature of the Revolution (1934).

- The Mexican tale, its evolution and its values ​​(1944).

- 12 monographs (1947).

- Along the route of the Mexican tale (1950).

References

1. Francisco Rojas González. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Francisco Rojas González. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Francisco Rojas González. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
4. Francisco Rojas González. (2018). Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
5. Rojas González, Francisco (1904-1951). (S. f.). (N / a): The Web of Biographies. Recovered from: mcnbiogramas.com.