The brief narrative in Spanish America: 1835–1915

Indian Saints and Nation-States: Ignacio Manuel Altamirano’s Landscapes and Legends

“…Thus, the cuadro often functioned as a pressure valve of dissent, an outlet for social commentary, and the introductory medium of new political and social ideas. 7 Altamirano's sketches are well within this tradition, yet they are especially interesting due to their author's own social, cultural, and economic journey from his Nahuatl-speaking, rural, Indian youth to the halls of power and recognition as one of the Restored Republic's most celebrated intellectuals. In the early 1880s he contributed a number of cuadros to Mexico City newspapers, and in 1884 at the urging of his friends he edited and republished many of them in a single volume.…”