Fascist Elements in Dr. Atl's Short Fiction

Abstract

Abstract:This article argues that the fiction work of Gerardo Murillo (Mexico, 1875-1964), best known by his artistic name of Dr. Atl, should be read in relation to his support for fascism in the period before and during the Second World War. For the past forty years, Dr. Atl has been one of Mexico's most celebrated and recognizable painters. His work is rightly understood as having modernized landscape painting in Mexico, often in distinction to the socially focused work of the muralist painters. However, Dr. Atl was also a prolific writer. For many years during the mid-twentieth century, his books were considered important. He was especially praised for the three volumes of short stories he published, all under the title Cuentos de todos colores (1933, 1936, 1941), which critics understood as a meaningful advance for regional or costumbrista fiction. In the same years, Dr. Atl produced many political tracts praising Mussolini and Hitler and advocating for the Axis powers in the buildup to the Second World War. This article argues that, if Dr. Atl's literary works are read alongside his political writings from the same period, it is possible to identify fascist elements overdetermining his fictional representations of Mexican life.