La Insurgenta / The Insurgent [Spanish]

Premio Bicentenario Grijalbo de Novela Hist rica

Agosto de 1842. Leona Vicario, la hero na insurgente, ha muerto. Y ha muerto en medio de ese torbellino que es la Rep blica de Antonio L pez de Santa Anna, «un mal llamado Estado que no es m s que un charco pestilente en el que saltan los renacuajos ambiciosos y los ajolotes oportunistas . Pocos saben hoy que el fallecimiento de Leona Vicario, la Madre de la Patria, concit un abigarrado concierto en el que participaron los m s dis mbolos personajes de la vida p blica del M xico independiente: Lucas Alam n y Carlos Mar a de Bustamante, arrieros y criadas, Benito Ju rez y la anciana G era Rodr guez, damas de sociedad y pelados, Valent n G mez Far as y antiguos inquisidores, h roes vivos, viejos militares, monjas profesas y exclaustradas, deudos, parientes y enterradores, as como su viudo, don Andr s Quintana Roo.

Con fina iron a, rigor hist rico y un certero manejo del lenguaje, Carlos Pascual realiza una cuidadosa reconstrucci n que da vida a una serie de personajes hist ricos al mismo tiempo que define un profundo retrato psicol gico de Leona Vicario. Un complejo mosaico creado con oficio de artesano que hizo a esta obra ganadora del Premio Bicentenario Grijalbo de Novela Hist rica.

«Escrita en el contexto de la poca m s dram tica de este pa s, La insurgenta nos muestra que, en el umbral de "las m s grandes desilusiones", irrumpen mexicanas con la calidad humana de Leona Vicario, protagonista de una novela que maravilla de la primera a la ltima p gina. - lvaro Cepeda, Contral nea

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Grijalbo Bicentennial Prize for Historical Novel

August 1842. Leona Vicario, the insurgent heroine, has died. She died in the midst of that whirlwind that is the Republic of Antonio L pez de Santa Anna, "a misnamed State that is nothing more than an infected puddle in which ambitious tadpoles and opportunistic salamanders live." Few know today that the death of Leona Vicario, the Nation's Mother, brought about a motley concert in which the most diverse characters in Mexico's public life took part in: Lucas Alam n and Carlos Mar a de Bustamante, muleteers and servants, Benito Ju rez and old Blondie Rodr guez, ladies of high society and poor folk, Valent n G mez Far as and former inquisitors, living heroes, old military men, cloistered and released nuns, relatives, as well as her widower, Don Andr s Quintana Roo.

With fine irony, historical rigor, and an accurate use of language, Carlos Pascual carries out a careful reconstruction that brings to life a series of historical characters while defining a profound psychological portrait of Leona Vicario. A complex mosaic created as a craftsman that made this work the winner of the Grijalbo Bicentennial Prize for Historical Novels.

"Written in the context of Mexico's most dramatic times, La insurgenta / The Insurgent shows us that, on the threshold of the greatest disappointments, Mexican women burst forth with the same human quality as Leona Vicario, the protagonist of a novel that marvels from the first to the last page." -- lvaro Cepeda, Contral nea