JOSÉ REVUELTAS: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE, WORKS, PHRASES - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

José Revueltas (1914-1976) was a Mexican writer and politician. His literary work spanned genres such as the novel, the short story, the essay, and the theater. He is considered one of the most controversial intellectuals of the 20th century.

His writings were characterized by being precise and critical and were closely related to the political events of his time. His literature was a reflection of his rebellious and revolutionary personality, which brought with it multiple criticisms of the writer from his detractors throughout his career.

José Revueltas. Source: Fonotecanacional.gob.mx

The most important works of José Revueltas were: Human mourning, In some valley of tears, El apando, They await us in April, Material of dreams and Mexico: barbaric democracy. The writer received few recognitions in life, however those that were awarded to him were significant, among them the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize.

Biography

Birth and family

José Maximiliano Revueltas Sánchez was born on November 20, 1914 in Durango. The writer came from a cultured, middle-class family. His parents were Gregorio Revueltas Gutiérrez and Ramona Sánchez Arias. He had three brothers, Silvestre, Rosaura and Fermín, who were important artists of the time.

Studies

National Library of Mexico, where Revueltas studied on his own. Source: Rojomar, via Wikimedia Commons

José Revueltas and his family moved to the Mexican capital in 1920. There they spent their years of studies, first at the German School and then at public institutions. In 1923 his father died and two years later he left school to learn on his own at the National Library.

First traits of rebellion

Revueltas demonstrated in his early teens his rebellious character, his passion for politics and his revolutionary ideals. At the age of fifteen, he was taken to jail accused of rebellion after participating in a rally. Six months later he was released on bail.

His Marxist thinking remained firm and he continued to participate in political activities. As a consequence of his attitude, he went to prison twice more in the 1930s. One of them was in 1934, after launching a protest with farm workers in the state of Nuevo León.

First marriage

In the midst of his convulsive political life, Revueltas gave up a space for his personal life. That is how in 1937 he married a young woman named Olivia Peralta. The following year their daughter Andrea was born; the couple stayed together for about a decade.

First literary steps

Literature and writing were other of José Revueltas' passions. The writer knew how to combine these trades with politics very well during his life. In 1941 he took the first steps in his literary career with the publication of the novel Los muros de agua, which dealt with his experience in the prison of the Islas Marías.

Literary growth

Revueltas' literary growth was on the rise in the 1940s. In 1943, he released the work El luto humano, a novel of a political and ideological nature in which the author dealt with the distinctive characteristics of Mexico. With this publication, he won the National Prize for Literature.

The writer remained active in the development of his work in subsequent years. This is how in 1944 he released his first book of stories entitled God on earth.

Five years later Revueltas published Los Días terrenales, his third novel, and the following year the play El cuadrante de la soledad. The criticism was negative, so the writer stopped publishing for a while.

Second matrimony

Revueltas separated from his first wife and married María Teresa Retes in 1947. On that same date, he participated as a scriptwriter in the film The kneeling goddess. In 1951, the newly married couple had a daughter named Olivia and the following year Roman was born.

Back to the ring

In 1957, José Revueltas resumed his literary career after almost seven years of absence, and he did so with a fourth novel which he entitled In some valley of tears. Then, between 1960 and 1968, he published works such as Essay on a Headless Proletarian and Sleeping on Earth.

Back to jail

Images of one of the student protests of the 1968 movement in Mexico, of which Revueltas was part. Source: Cel·lí, via Wikimedia Commons

In November 1968, José Revueltas was once again imprisoned for his participation in an event with the student movement that culminated in the well-known 'October 2 massacre'. The activist was accused of being the "ringleader" of the protests. The series of student protests was called "the 1968 movement."

Before being arrested, Revueltas hid with several friends. Finally the authorities apprehended him during a conference at the university. The writer agreed with the government assuming the unfounded allegations and sentenced him to sixteen years in prison, but he was able to get out in 1970.

Last years and death

In prison, the author conceived the novel El apando, and once he was released he published The Mexico Processes 68: Time to Talk. In 1973 he married for the third time, this time with Ema Barrón Licona. José Revueltas kept writing the rest of his days, and died on April 14, 1976 in Mexico City of a brain condition.

Chapel of the French Pantheon of Mercy in Mexico City. Place where the mortal remains of José Revueltas rest. Source: Pablo Fossas, via Wikimedia Commons

The mortal remains of the writer José Revueltas rest in the Panteón Francés de la Piedad, in Mexico City.

Style

José Revueltas's literary style was strongly marked by his political ideology and his rebellious and anarchic personality. The writer used a simple and colloquial language, but precise and critical. The author wrote about his experiences in prison and about the political and social situation in Mexico.

It should be noted that Revueltas was aggressive with its lyrics, provocative, sought to impact with its contents and cause changes in its environment. His political life and struggles went hand in hand with his writings. He did not want to disassociate both aspects because he considered that the revolutionary needed to be integral, and his way of acting should be in everything.

Plays

Novel

In some valley of tears

It was one of the Revueltas novels least discussed and studied. The story was developed within an urban environment and was about a wealthy and greedy man who lived accompanied by his maid, Amparo. In a deep sense it was a critique of the capitalist system.

The author gave the main character features of the typical macho man, in addition to adding phrases that denote a clear contempt for indigenous peoples. It was a short work and narrated almost entirely in the past tense.

Characters

The characters in this story were:

- The protagonist: the author did not give it a name, because he compared it to how abstract money was.

- Macedonia: is an elderly lady who served as the main character's housekeeper.

- Hipólito Cervantes: he is one of the complementary characters in the novel. He was a man of vices and explosive character, the author used it to reflect the malfunction of public entities.

- Saldaña: ​​is the lawyer of the protagonist and notary public. Represents corruption.

- Doña Porfirita: she is an ex-prostitute, owner of the dating house where the protagonist attends.

- The affectionate: it is the cat that the protagonist had as a pet.

- The stutterer: he is the only friend of the protagonist. He's honest, with a good job, but his speech problem keeps him stuck.

- Doctor Menchaca: he is the main doctor's doctor.

- Professor Moralitos. is the teacher in the main character's school.

Fragment of

Fragment of

Phrases

- “We have learned that the only truth, above and against all the miserable and small truths of parties, of heroes, of flags, of stones, of gods, that the only truth, the only freedom is poetry, that song gloomy, that luminous song ”.

- "For me, the bars of the apando are the bars of my life, of the world, of existence."

- "Every act of creation is an act of love."

- "If you fight for freedom you have to be in prison, if you fight for food you have to feel hungry."

- “I equal men; the executioner and the victim… ”.

- “My literary life has never been separated from my ideological life. My experiences are precisely ideological, political and of social struggle ”.

- “I speak of love in the highest sense of the word. The redignification of man, the alienation of the human being himself ”.

- "The freedom of conscience has a unambiguous meaning, it does not admit coordinates, it does not accept being caged, it cannot live locked up in the apando".

- "God worries me as social existence, as sociology, but not as a God above men."

- "God exists in man, he does not exist outside of man."

References

1. Peña, S. (2018). José Revueltas. Mexico: Encyclopedia of Literature in Mexico. Recovered from: elem.mx.
2. José Revueltas. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
3. Centenary of José Revueltas (1914-2014). (2014). Mexico: Secretariat of Public Education. Recovered from: cultura.gob.mx.
4. José Revueltas. (S. f.). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
5. Moreno, V., Ramírez, M. and others. (2019). Jose Revueltas. (N / a): Search Biographies. Recovered from: Buscabiografias.com.