Pineda Book Presented at Mexican National Film Archives
Adela Pineda’s latest book, Steinbeck y Mexico, was presented at the prestigious National Film Archives in Mexico City on February 6.
Steinbeck y Mexico: una mirada cinematográfica en la era de la hegemonia estadounidense explores U.S.-Mexico relations through the lens of Steinbeck, film, and literature on both sides of Rio Grande from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. “Steinbeck’s intellectual anxieties (the importance of popular culture to shape a national imaginary during the Great Depression, the waning of community in a context of technological development during World War II, and the questioning of revolutionary purpose during the Cold War) were irremediably linked to Mexico,” says Pineda.
Edith Negrín, one of the commentators at the presentation, praised Pineda’s work, saying:
“This book which brings us together today is not just yet another example of the many books in which Mexican authors try to untangle the relationship between a foreign artist and their reliable, mythical, enthusiastic or disappointed vision of our country. In this essay, the Mexican scholar Adela Pineda Franco, tackles an exceptional artist through an analysis on par with such exceptionality. She approaches the Californian writer as a public intellectual in the context of Mexican-US relations, placing a greater emphasis on his film projects than on his literary work.”