Diálogo Volume 17 Number 1 Article 17 2014 Elena Poniatowska: Then, Now and Forever Claire Brewster Newcastle University, United Kingdom Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Brewster, Claire (2014) "Elena Poniatowska: Then, Now and Forever," Diálogo: Vol. 17 : No. 1 , Article 17. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo/vol17/iss1/17 This Reflection is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Latino Research at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Diálogo by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Elena Poniatowska: Then, Now and Forever Claire Brewster Newcastle University, United Kingdom indigenous peasants of Chiapas since January 1994. Her Abstract: Elena Poniatowska’s extraordinary literary out- incredible contribution provided more than sufficient put and her delightful personality justly merit her position material for my dissertation. as Mexico’s most dearly loved and highly respected au- It has been said that one of Poniatowska’s many at- thor. I consider myself truly fortunate to have had the tributes is her natural ability to put people at ease. For luxury of intensively studying her writings during the example, Beth Jörgensen draws attention to Poniatowska’s process of my doctoral dissertation. In this essay, I recall “tremendous capacity for engaging people in dialogue, my introduction to Poniatowska’s work, her impact on my […] especially people with whom she has little in com- postgraduate studies, and how I, as a historian, employ m on .” 1 This was certainly the case when I, as a terrified her testimonial literature in my classes and the teaching tongue-tied postgraduate student from England, arrived of undergraduate students in the United Kingdom.