Humanity and revolution in José Fuentes Mares’ ‘La joven Antígona se va a la guerra’

Abstract

José Fuentes Mares’ La joven Antígona se va a la guerra (‘Young Antigone Goes to War’) is a Mexican adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone written and first performed in 1968. The play, full of unique accomplishments, demonstrates a deep engagement with the Sophoclean original and has a complex original performance context. It premiered a week after the biggest student massacre in Mexican history, the Tlatelolco Massacre of 2 October 1968. In this article, I bring attention to Fuentes Mares’ work as an exceptional contribution to the Latin American reception of Sophocles’ Antigone. I detail the play’s explicit invitations to be read against Sophocles’ original and highlight the playwright’s choices to reframe Antigone’s resistance by reworking long-standing dualisms. I argue that Fuentes Mares’ adaptation of Antigone advises introspection, compassion, and endurance in the face of violent oppression. This function differs from other Latin American adaptations of Antigone, which tend to give a voice to the marginalized with calls for organized social action or pleas for the acknowledgment of ongoing abuses. This analysis should help expand our understanding of the reception of Sophocles’ Antigone as a multifaceted instrument varying in its response to oppressions throughout Latin America.