Oscar Monroy Rivera: A Border Consciousness

By Mario Bahena Uriostegui, Ph.D

“México es mi madre, es mi patria, mi país moral; México es mi tierra, en esa tierra está mi alma, lo que digo no tendría sentido si no amara inmensamente a mi país.”

—Oscar Monroy Rivera

Oscar Monroy Rivera is one of the most prolific, yet relatively unknown, authors of late 20th Century Mexican Literature. Born in 1933, in Nogales, Sonora, where he currently lives, Monroy Rivera studied in Arizona, Sonora and Guadalajara, Mexico. This cross-cultural experience, as well as the post-revolutionary epoch in which he lived has profoundly influenced the content of his literature. Beginning in 1956 with Antología de poesía sacro criminal, Monroy Rivera has written in an array of genres—poetry, theater, essays and novels; he currently has over 300 books published. He founded three editorial houses, and has helped many others to develop literary abilities through his writing workshops. His cultural contribution has been significant to the border city of Nogales, and, by extension, to Mexico and the United States. He is, by nature, a border thinker, the poet-philosopher of Nogales.

Monroy Rivera is the youngest of nine children born to parents exiled to Sonora by the violence of the Mexican Revolution. Growing up during the cultural revolution of Mexico, Monroy Rivera met intellectuals and artists as well as local and foreign diplomats interested in Mexican culture, all of whom had an impact on his character. He and his wife, Guadalupe Elena Avila, whom he calls, “piece of God” had five children, all of whom were influenced by the artistic aura of their father. At their home it was typical for their children to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the typewriter striking paper.

While his art reaches for the sublime within the daily reality of Mexico, his intellectual analysis exposes the debilitating effect of the nationalistic culture. His south-of-the border perspective provided commentary on established and emerging national and group identities in relationship with a cultural exchange with the United States and the rest of Latin America. His observations could be understood as cutting edge analysis that other authors reaffirmed and developed. His versatility, productivity, and range make him a clear representation of late twentieth century south-of-the border thinking. His vantage point sets him apart from mainland Mexican authors, as well as north-of-the border Chicano/a authors of the last 50 years.

Monroy Rivera’s poetry reflects a humanistic approach that finds the sublime in everyday situations. His analysis in his famous book El mexicano enano: un mal de nuestro tiempo, or the Midget Mexican lays bare the incapacitating mentality developed under the paternalistic and nationalistic post-revolutionary state. In his attempt to explain what he titles un mal de nuestro tiempo, or an illness of our day, Monroy Rivera speaks of the far-reaching effects of the restrictive mentality that permeated the second part of the 20th Century. In scrutinizing this national ideology, Monroy Rivera has written one of the most direct criticisms of the close-minded mentality created by the nationalism that engulfed all public life. Many of his readers south of the border have identified with his approach, reflecting and reaffirming his position as a poet-philosopher of the border region. But this has turned his writing into a political, social, and cultural demand for change. And all this dissident writing took place during a time of extreme nationalism when the single-state party considered any criticism a malinchismo, a political treason.

Monroy Rivera’s writings rest on an organic vision of Mexico, perhaps influenced by his background—la frontera mexicana del norte. He calls Mexico the place where his “soul” is as a metaphor of the purpose of his literature and his life. He points out that “what I write would not make any sense if I did not love my country immensely,” revealing the underlying national concerns in his literature. However, his critical border perspective was often at odds with the cultural mindset that held sway during the nationalist decades. For his frank criticism of the social conditioning of post-revolutionary nationalism, Oscar Monroy Rivera has been considered “dangerous” by local politicians. Needless to say, a division developed between his perspectives and the prominent close-minded thinking underlying the political system, a separation that has widened with time. Reflecting upon this situation, he stated that “This country did not understand what I did.” And this has made him a cultural outsider who lives at the border of the political entity called Mexico. However, it also turns his literature into a window of possibilities for Mexican culture.

On the one hand, his marginalized status reflects the cultural, political, and social difficulties Monroy Rivera has had to overcome to express his critical visions of Mexico. On the other hand, his geopolitical and cultural background makes his vision of Mexico an alternative to the mainstream intellectuals commonly known and studied in U.S. academia. Thus, his border-focused, non-mainstream cultural perspective is what makes his literature unique. His geographical location has become a metaphor of his cultural viewpoint. In other words, the border status that made him suspicious to politicians (or other nationalistic agents) also makes him an alternative to the mainstream, state-sponsored artisan intellectuals. To read Monroy Rivera is to discover an opening--a window--in the restrictive nationalistic environment that not only reveals the shortcomings of extreme nationalism but the possibilities for alternative conceptions of culture.

Monroy Rivera’s cultural contribution is not limited to his published material—essays, poetry, or plays, etc.—for which he has been recognized on both sides of the border. For him, culture is a means to raise the human spirit. This led him to promote writing workshops as well as theater groups in Nogales. As part of his desire to share culture with others, Monroy Rivera has mentored more than 70 writers, founded two editorial houses, a humanistic center, and the theater group, the No Grupo. Known for his lively recital of his published and unpublished poetry, he has earned the title: the “poet-philosopher of Nogales.”

From an early age, he demonstrated a natural ability to educate and lead others. At 12, he was placed in charge of his peers at a Jesuit school, an assignment that became a moral imperative for him. Since then he has felt the weight of helping his fellow countrymen to achieve a critical consciousness and appreciation of their surroundings. And his life has been consistent with this calling. The work of Oscar Monroy Rivera is the result of his genuine devotion for his beloved country in spite of the lack of official funding—and even at times suspicion—of his art. 

As a person whose writings and actions demand a paradigm change, Monroy Rivera incarnates the “poet-philosopher” envisioned by Plato in The Republic. He entrusted his artistic creations as well as his social work with the task of liberating the mind and spirit of his fellow countrymen to rise above the narrow-minded thinking that plagued the worldview of his time. His love for his country and belief in art as a means of changing attitudes and tranforming minds, accompanied by his consequent actions to promote such goals, make him a living example of a south-of-the border poet-philosopher. As such, Oscar Monroy Rivera embodies a much needed—yet traditionally overlooked—alternative to the mainstream Mexican intellectuals of the 20th century. His culturally marginalized observations offer fresh perspectives to overly studied authors in academia, and a refreshing interpretation of Mexican culture of the second part of the 20th century. 

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