Horizontal vertigo : a city called Mexico / Juan Villoro ; translated from the Spanish by Alfred MacAdam.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Villoro, Juan, 1956- author.

Contributor:

Mac Adam, Alfred J., 1941- translator.

Standardized Title:

Vértigo horizontal. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Mexico City (Mexico)--Civilization--21st century.

Mexico City (Mexico).

Mexico City (Mexico)--Social life and customs--21st century.

Civilization.

Manners and customs.

Mexico--Mexico City.

Physical Description:

xi, 346 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Pantheon Books, [2021]

Summary:

"Horizontal Vertigo: the title refers to the fear of ever-impending earthquakes, which led Mexicans to build their capital city outward rather than upward. With the perspicacity of a keenly observant flâneur, Villoro wanders through the city seemingly without a plan, describing people, places, and things, while brilliantly drawing connections among them, the better to reveal, in all its multitudinous glory, the vicissitudes and triumphs of Mexico City's cultural, political, and social history: from indigenous antiquity to the Aztec period, from the Spanish conquest to Mexico City today, one of the world's leading cultural and financial centers. In his deeply iconoclastic book, Villoro organizes his text around a recurring series of chapter titles: "Living in the City," "City Characters," "Shocks, Crossings, and Ceremonies." What he achieves, miraculously, is a stunning, intriguingly coherent meditation on Mexico City's genius loci, its spirit of place"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Entry into the Labyrinth: Chaos Is Not Something You Improvise

Living in the City: "If You See Juan ..."

City Characters: El Chilango

Shocks: How Many of Us Are There?

Crossings: Memory Atlas

Living in the City: The Child Heroes (Los Ninos Heroes)

Ceremonies: The Shout (El Grito)

La Independencia, S.A. de C. V.

Places: The Back Patio (La Zotehuela)

Living in the City: Oblivion

Ceremonies: Coffee with the Poets

City Characters: El Merenguero

Shocks: Street Children

Places: The Mausoleums of the Heroes

City Characters: The Manager

Crossings: From Eye Candy to Moctezuma's Revenge

Ceremonies: "Do Good Without Staring at the Blonde": Wrestling Movies

Places: Public Government Ministry

Living in the City: My Grandmother's Outing

Places: Tepito, El Chopo, and Other Informalities

City Characters: Paquita la del Barrio

Ceremonies: The Virgin of Transit

Living in the City: The Conscript

City Characters: The King of Coyoacan

Ceremonies: The Bureaucracy of Mexico City

-Giving and Receiving

Places: Fairs, Theme Parks, Children City

Places: A Square Meter of the Nation

Ceremonies: How Does the City Decorate Itself? From the Foundational Image to Garbage as Ornament

Crossings: Extraterrestrials in the Capital

Shocks: A Car on the Pyramid

Places: The Meeting Place

Living in the City: Rain Soup

City Characters: The Tire Repair Man

Ceremonies: The Passion of Iztapalapa

Shocks: The Anxiety of Influenza

-Diary of an Epidemic

City Characters: The Quack

Places: Santo Domingo

Shocks: The Disappearance of the Sky

Crossings: The City Is the Sky of the Metro

City Characters: The Zombie

Shocks: The New Meat

City Living: The Political Illusion

Ceremonies: The Security Book

City Characters: The Sewer Cleaner

Shocks: The Earthquake: "Stones of This Land Are Not Native to It".

Notes:

"Originally published in Mexico as El vértigo horizontal by Almadía Ediciones S.A.P.I. de C.V., Mexico City, in 2018."

Other Format:

Online version: Villoro, Juan, 1956- Vértigo horizontal. English Horizontal vertigo.

ISBN:

9781524748883

1524748889

OCLC:

1162792054