Martin Luis Guzman

Martín Luis Guzmán was a Mexican novelist and journalist who was one of the pioneers of the revolutionary novel, a genre inspired by the experiences of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He joined the revolution as a supporter of Francisco I. Madero and later of Pancho Villa, serving as a colonel in his army. He was also a political activist who opposed the regimes of Venustiano Carranza and Plutarco Elías Calles, and was forced into exile in Spain and the United States for several years. He founded newspapers, weekly magazines, and publishing companies, and was involved in the cultural and intellectual life of Mexico and Spain. He wrote several novels, memoirs, biographies, and essays that reflected his historical and political vision of Mexico. His most famous works include El águila y la serpiente (1928), a chronicle of his participation in the revolution; La sombra del caudillo (1929), a novel that denounced the corruption and violence of the post-revolutionary period; and Memorias de Pancho Villa (1940-1951), a five-volume biography of the revolutionary leader. He was awarded the National Prize in Literature in 1958 and served as a senator from 1969 to 1976. He died of a heart attack in Mexico City in 1976.