Tlatelolco y Su Impacto en la Intelectualidad Mexicana Los Casos de Elena Poniatowska y Octavio Paz

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Labrador-Rodriguez, Sonia

Keywords

Tlatelolco Massacre, Poniatowska, Elena, Paz, Octavio

Area of Concentration

Hispanic Language and Culture

Abstract

In 1968, Mexico City was the theater of an important student movement which demanded democratic reforms. On October 2nd while students were pacifically manifesting in Tlatelolco, paramilitary forces sent by the government shot at the crowd, injuring and killing hundreds of people. Evidence of the massacre was immediately destroyed and the authority manipulated all information related to the shooting. However, despite the censorship many Mexican intellectuals appalled by their government's barbaric behavior, wrote and acted to denounce the massacre. This was especially the case of Elena Poniatowska and Octavio Paz, who reacted personally to the tragedy with public actions that, although separate, were related to their writing. Poniatowska interviewed hundreds of witnesses and published Massacre in Mexico. Paz resigned from his position as Ambassador of Mexico in India and wrote the poem 'Mexico: Olimpiada de 1968', as well as Postdata. It seems, however, that tensions appeared between their written discourse and their actions, which led both authors, as well as many other Mexican writers, to seriously question their role as intellectuals. As a result of this questioning, numerous intellectuals started to distance themselves from the Government despite the tradition that united them. This thesis is written entirely in Spanish. En 1968, se organiz� en M�xico un importante movimiento estudiantil en protesta de la falta de democracia del gobierno. El 2 de octubre, mientras estudiantes manifestaban pac�ficamente en la Plaza de las Tres Culturas en Tiatelolco, fuerzas paramilitares enviadas por el gobierno dispararon a la multitude hiriendo y matando a centenares de personas. Las pruebas de la masacre fueron destruidas y la informaci�n fue manipulada por las autoridades. A pesar de la censura, varios intelectuales mexicanos, indignados por la barbarie del gobierno, escribieron y actuaron en denuncia de la masacre. Esto fue especialmente el caso de Elena Poniatowska y Octavio Paz, que reaccionaron personalmente a la masacre con acciones p�blicas que, aunque separadas de su escritura, se relacionaban con �sta. Poniatowska entrevist� a centenares de testigos y public� La noche de Tiatelolco. Paz renunci� a su puesto de Embajador de M�xico en la India y escribi� el poema 'M�xico: Olimpiada de 1968', as� como Postdata. Al analizar las acciones y los textos de ambos escritores, se evidenei� que, a pesar de sus diferencias, la masacre cre� cierta tensi�n entre su discurso y sus acciones. Este fen�meno revela que la masacre engendr� un serio replanteamiento del papel del intelectual mexicano en el medio literario. De hecho, varios intelectuales se distanciaron del gobierno, a pesar de la larga tradici�n que les un�an.

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