Impresiones de viaje: At the Crossroads of the Novel

Abstract

In 1862, Mexican writer Guillermo Prieto published the short novel Impresiones de viaje. Traducción libre de un zuavo, encontrado en su mochila, en la acción de Barranca Seca, which has received little critical attention, despite constituting an important link in the complex process of shaping the novel genre in Mexico. In this essay, I examine how he, using the parody method, fashioned a renewed and humorous vision of the ways in which many foreigners have narrowed their gaze toward the new world, oscillating between contempt and exalted admiration. In doing so, he opens the door to the creation of a marginal but highly significant narrative for understanding the formation of literary tradition in Latin America.