Elmer Mendoza

Elmer Mendoza (Culiacán, Sinaloa, December 6, 1949) is a Mexican black writer, representative of the so -called narcoliteratura . playwright and storyteller, it is known above all for his black novels. Some of them have as the protagonist the detective Edgar the left -hander Mendieta.

Biography

Although he was born in the city of Culiacán - in the popular colony, a place that will be normally present in his works such as Col Pop—, " he grew up in the countryside, next to his maternal grandfather, working, between corridos and Northern music. When he returned to the city he discovered the music and culture of rock, and at the same time reading ".

His literary vocation suddenly broke up, already turned at 28, when he spent a night in candle writing stories. " in the early morning I was euphoric. He decided to become a writer [...], he resigned from his work as an engineer and moved to Mexico D. F. to study literature " at the National Autonomous University.

published his first book, the collection of stories much to recognize in 1978, when he was already around 30 years of age. This was followed by four more before he took out, with 50, his first novel, a lonely murderer (1999).

Federico Campbell argues that with her Mendoza became not only "the first narrator who successfully collects the effect of drug trafficking culture in our country", but also in the author of an acute and lively linguistic exploration of the bass Mexican funds, converted into rigorous literary matter.

The international consecration came with Silver bullets , a novel that won the 2007 Tusquets Award and in which detective Edgar Mendieta appears. The Zurdo Mendieta - a Mexican police officer, not too immune to the corruption that surrounds him, who also consumes anxiolytics - is " an intuitive psychologist, as every detective is worthwhile: so he knows that the murderers They lack aptitude for sadness " and it is guided by the " the culprits find me ".

In this novel there is a metaliterary wink to Juan Rulfo: Pedro Páramo appears in it (as he had done in cobraselo expensive , published in 2005) and probably also the title to Ricardo Piglia and his police novel burned silver . By the way, Elmer Mendoza himself appears in The Queen of the Southern to the narrator of Arturo Pérez-Reverte's novel.

About the narcoliteracy says: “It is an aesthetic of violence that is taking place in cinema and music but also in opera, dance, plastic arts and theater. It is a movement, it is not opportunism. It is like discovering a vein: there will be those who take the best pickles and who only scratch. I like the word narcoliteratura because those who are committed to this aesthetic registry of social novel we have the balls to write about it because we grew up there and we know what we are talking about. ”

Professor at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, is an incessant promoter of reading and cultural institutions.

was elected corresponding member of the Mexican Academy of Language in the plenary session of August 11, 2011 and joined it on April 26, 2012.

Works

Tales

• Much to recognize, B. Costa-Amic Editor, 1978 (145 p.)
• I want to count the footprints of an afternoon in the sand, Palo Knife, 1984 (53 pp.)
• Counts for convert militantsAutonomous University of Sinaloa, 1987 (105 pp.)
• TrancapalancaDepartment of Research and Promotion of Regional Culture (DIFOCUR), 1989 (83 p.)
• Every breath you takeDIFOCUR, 1991 (62 pp.)
• Love is a dog without owner, Ibero-American Cultural Board, 1991 (32 p.)
• Signed with a klinnexTusquets, 2009

Chronicle

• Good boys., Cronopia Editorial, 1995

Novels

• A lonely killerTusquets, 1999
• Janis Joplin's loverTusquets, 2001
• Tequila effectTusquets, 2004
• Eat it expensive.Tusquets, 2005
• Silver bulletsTusquets, 2008
• The Acid Test, Tusquets, 2010
• Dog name, Tusquets, 2012
• The mystery of the orchid Calavera, Tusquets, 2014
• Kiss the detective, Random House, 2015
• Murder at the Sinaloa Park, Random House, 2017
• Not all kisses are equal, Random House, 2018
• The fourth questionRandom House, 2019
• She went through the bath window.o, Alfaguara, 2021

Theater

• Did you see the Pink Floyd movie?
• Light my fire
• Out seconds
• The Flautist of Hamelin
• The trip of the turtle Panza Rosa

Awards

• José Fuentes Mares National Literature Award 2002 for Janis Joplin's lover
• Finalist of the 2005 Dashiell Hammett Prize Tequila effect
• Novela Tusquets Award 2007 for Silver bullets