Infernal Paradise

The allure of Mexico in modern English fiction is a compelling and underexplored subject, particularly in the works of D. H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, and Malcolm Lowry. These authors, drawn to Mexico's mystique, crafted major novels that explore the country's unique cultural, social, and political landscape. Infernal Paradise examines how Mexico influenced their artistic visions and how their experiences in the country shaped significant literary works, such as The Plumed Serpent, Eyeless in Gaza, The Power and the Glory, and Under the Volcano. By delving into both the travel writings and novels of these authors, the analysis seeks to understand the dual processes of encountering Mexico firsthand and transforming those encounters into fiction.

The book is structured to first contextualize the writers' fascination with Mexico, focusing on the country's dramatic landscapes, revolutionary ideals, and the enigmatic presence of its indigenous culture. The travel writings of Lawrence, Huxley, Greene, Waugh, and Lowry offer a bridge between their immediate experiences and the novels that followed, reflecting the initial reactions that evolved into deeper insights. The writers' personal motives for visiting Mexico—ranging from Lawrence's utopian dreams to Greene and Waugh's concern for the Catholic Church's plight under socialist policies—shaped their perceptions and creative responses. Through a detailed exploration of these travel accounts and the major novels, this book illuminates how Mexico became both an infernal and paradisiacal setting in the English literary imagination, a paradox that continues to resonate in these works. An appendix further enriches the discussion by examining Ralph Bates's The Fields of Paradise, adding another dimension to the "infernal paradise" theme in English fiction about Mexico.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1978.