Honorable Mention, Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize, Modern Language Association, 2023
Honorable Mention, Premio al Mejor Libro en Humanidades, Latin American Studies Association–Mexico Section, 2025

No book until now has tied in two centuries of Mexican serial narratives—tales of glory, of fame, and of epic characters, grounded in oral folklore—with their subsequent retelling in comics, radio, and television soap operas. Wright’s multidisciplinary Serial Mexico delves into this storytelling tradition: examining the nostalgic tales reimagined in novelas, radionovelas, telenovelas and onwards, and examining the foundational figures who have been woven into society.
 
This panorama shows the Mexican experience of storytelling from the country’s early days until now, showcasing protagonists that mock authority, make light of hierarchy, and embrace the hybridity and mestizaje of Mexico. These tales reflect on and respond to crucial cultural concerns such as family, patriarchy, gender roles, racial mixing, urbanization, modernization, and political idealism. Serial Mexico thus examines how serialized storytelling’s melodrama and sensationalism reveals key political and cultural messaging.
 
In a detailed yet accessible style, Wright describes how these stories have continued to morph with current times’ concerns and social media. Will tropes and traditions carry on in new and reimagined serial storytelling forms? Only time will tell. Stay tuned for the next episode.

Introduction

1. Nation as Family in Mexico’s First Novel: Lizardi’s Periquillo (1816) as Pamphlets
2. Back to the Future: Mexico as Serial Hero in Riva Palacio’s Historical Novels (1868–1872)
3. Family Education through Mexico’s First Comic: Don Catarino y su apreciable familia (1920s–1960s)
4. Mexican Radionovelas’ Serial “Stay Tuned”: Announcing . . . ¡Chucho el Roto! (ca. 1965–1975)
5. History’s Eternal Return in Televisa’s Telenovelas: Martín Garatuza (1986) and El extraño retorno de Diana Salazar (1988–1989)

Continuará • To Be Continued