Francisco Rojas Gonzalez (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: Story of a tailcoat, El diosero, Lola Casanova Y The black Angustias. He also collaborated in the realization of several books on ethnology.
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 he devoted to a great extent to literature and ethnology..
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Francisco was born on August 11, 1904 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The writer came from a small-town family with few 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.
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 training as an ethnologist at the National Museum.
Rojas González began to publish his literary work in 1930. It first came to light History of a tailcoat, and then they followed him And other stories, in 1931. Three years later the essay appeared The literature of the Revolution; and the story The birder, eight stories.
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..
The vocation of Rojas González was more oriented to ethnology, which was optimally combined with the literary one. 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 to get in touch with the indigenous people. Also, back then, he shared his knowledge in posts like Ethnological studies of the Mosque Valley Y Ethnographic caste of Mexico, to name a few.
Francisco Rojas González was forced to prosecute a lawsuit against the Fox production company, due to what he considered a “plagiarism” of his work History of a tailcoat. The chain dared to bring his story to the big screen in 1942, under the title Six destinations, without your permission, and without giving you any credit.
Although Fox acknowledged the plagiarism, it transferred responsibility to the film's co-producer, which had been directed by Frenchman Julien Duvivier. Finally, the Mexican writer did not receive any type of recognition or payment. However, his claim asserted to the public the authorship of the original work.
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 Y Along the path 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..
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..
- The black Angustias (1944).
- Lola casanova (1947).
It was one of the most important novels of the Mexican writer. With it 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 protagonist's attitude towards men.
Angustias lost her mother after she was born, a situation that filled her with hatred. He grew up and became interested in witchcraft while he lived in the house of Dona Crescencia. Throughout history the young woman was involved in several complicated situations with men, and these entanglements led her to commit murders.
“The walls supported large mirrors with gilded frames; on the French moons a prescient but disgraceful fare had been written. In the gaps in the walls German stickers with cynical figures that tried to reconstruct the most daring feats that mythology attributes to the unruly little god of the inoculated spears ... ".
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. His stay with the Indians pleased him and he ended up marrying El coyote, who was the head of the ethnic group..
“That girl, with strong hips, aggressive breasts and graceful steps, is none other than Tórtola Parda, owner of magical secrets and irresistible physical charms; he carries in his hands a freshly sliced donkey liver ...
Seris females are then an extension of stubbornness, they are a flow that bursts at unusual distances ... ".
- 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).
- Mona Lisa's Last Adventure (1949).
- The goddess (Posthumous edition, 1952).
It was Rojas González's best-known work, presented through a collection of short 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 idiosyncrasy.
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 story was about a boy who was one-eyed, and although he and his mother had not given importance to his condition, it did affect them when the school children began to make fun of his defect. Faced with her son's suffering, the mother looked for 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.
"-The rod of a rocket has made my boy blind," 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, my son, that the Virgin of Saint John 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 ".
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..
"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 at once, can you sell me your daughter? Yes or no?
-Are you not 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! ".
“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 coppery and dusty 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 ".
“Crisanta, a young Indian, almost a girl, was coming down the path; the mid-afternoon air chilled his body, bent 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 his face, he would resume the path with the impetus of a beast ... ".
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.
“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 barrack roofed with palm leaves, it only has a wall that faces the west; inside, rustic carved easels ... In the jungle, devilish fury rampages, tamers of beasts ... ".
The story was set in a Yaqui tribe. It dealt with Cenobio's efforts to provide his future wife with everything she needed 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 ethnicity rejected him for working for another race.
“On the impenetrable faces of the Indians a dark veil has fallen; particularly this sign of unease is 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, his father, old Benito Buitimea, rich and famous, does not hide his emotion at that dramatic event of the protagonist who one day wanted to be his son-in-law ".
- The literature of the Revolution (1934).
- The Mexican tale, its evolution and its values (1944).
- 12 monographs (1947).
- Along the path of the mexican tale (1950).
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