Elena Poniatowska, a Mexican journalist born in France, focuses her work on social and political issues. Her mother fled Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, and she was born in Paris to wealthy parents. When she was just a child, she went to Mexico to escape the Second World War, and soon began writing for the local newspaper, Excelsior.
Despite her privileged upbringing, Elena Poniatowska is not a typical writer. Her writing is often categorized as testimonial narratives, which are based on the first-person accounts of people who have been marginalised by society. Her works often contain voices that are unheard or not recognized. The voices she gives voice to will resonate with readers.
She started her writing career in journalism, writing about Mexican social problems. Her first book, “La Noche de Tlatelolco,” recounts the repression of students by police during the 1968 revolution. Other books she has written include “Here’s Looking at You, Jesus,” a fictionalized account of a Mexican peasant woman during the revolution.
Schuessler’s “Poniatowska’s Mexico” examines Poniatowska’s interviews. She discusses her awareness of her Mexican heritage as well as her role in the early creation of testimonial literature. In Novedades, Poniatowska begins to fuse testimonial work with journalism and uses her command of Spanish to achieve this. Josefina Borquez was initially nervous about being interviewed. However, she eventually accepted and was impressed by her personality and interview techniques. Through the interview, she captured a slice of Mexican history and culture.