The Costumbrismo of the Pensador Mexicano and Micrós

Abstract

T HE Pensador Mexicano and Micr6s with their sketches of human types and characteristic scenes make evident the factors of strength and interest inherent in costumbrismo as a literary medium. Fernandez de Lizardi brings into focus the manner of living in all parts of the land with his Periquillo Sarniento1 and other writings.2 Lizardi, who took an active part in the struggle for the independence of New Spain in 1810, and whose spirit of realistic interpretation was as profound as his apostolic zeal, gives us a true picture of the sprawling, teeming, swarming people of Mexico.3 Angel de Campo concerns himself with delineations of the types of the populace of Mexico City, which in the eighteen nineties, was passing from the status of a somewhat provincial capital to that of a more cosmopolitan center. The Semanas Alegres,4 Cartones,5 Cosas vistas,6 and Ocios y apuntes7 of Angel de Campo mirror faithfully, though not without their touches of satire, public and private aspects of society in changing Mexico City, and remain of permanent value for one who would study political, social and literary activities in the heart of Mexican national life of the time.