“Signs Preceding the End of the World” by Yuri Herrera
Summer Reading
Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World is a slim novel published in Spanish (Señales que precederán al fin del mundo) in 2009 and in English in 2015. This contemporary mythological quest invites us to consider many kinds of border crossings. Most obviously, there is the border between Mexico and the United States. But there are other kinds of border crossings in the novel: crossings between youth and maturity, crossings between languages (Makina, the young protagonist, speaks three), and crossings between many kinds of worlds, including–as the title alludes–the ultimate crossing between life and death.
The novel begins with Makina asserting, “I’m dead,” as a giant sinkhole seems to envelop her town. The novel’s symbolic vocabulary and narrative arc are inspired by Mictlān, the underworld of Aztec mythology, as well as by Dante’s Inferno, a fourteenth-century Italian poem narrating a tour of Hell. Herrera has stated that the story can be appreciated with or without knowledge of its dense cultural references. Although there are some suggestive placenames–such as “The Big Chilango,” which uses real-life slang to reference Mexico City–the novel is allegorical, allowing us to link it to multiple times, places, and contexts.
Translated from Spanish by Lisa Dillman, the novel’s unusual prose style is lyrical and poetic, sometimes drawing on archaic vocabulary, with characters named for letters of the alphabet: Mr. Double-U, Mr. Aitch, and Mr. P. And yet within this ambitiously symbolic landscape is Makina herself, a vividly real hero on a mission to find her brother. Makina breaks the finger of a boy who tries to grope her, makes unlikely friendships and alliances wherever she roams, and dresses her own gunshot wound. She is creative, resilient, and determined. Like all good novels, Signs Preceding the End of the World will leave the reader with more questions than answers. We look forward to exploring its evocative and rich textual landscape with you.
Questions to Consider As You Read
On page 18, Makina describes several “rules” that she follows. What do you think about Makina as a protagonist? How would you describe her personality?
After Makina escapes the border patrol, she wonders about rucksacks, asking “What do people whose life stops here take with them?” (51). What do the contents of Makina’s own bag reveal about her and her quest?
Near the middle of the story, first when Makina meets Mr. P and his “associates” (60), and again when Makina arrives at the big pink house where she believes her brother to have worked (77), Herrera emphasizes Makina’s reaction to seeing Black people. What do these reactions betray about Makina’s own potential racial prejudice or limited experience outside The Little Town? After the Black owner of the pink house both calls her out and laughs with her, Makina notes, “For the first time since she’d crossed she felt welcome, even if she still wasn’t invited in” (78). What does the homeowner make Makina understand? How does the book as a whole address (or perhaps, at times, not address) racism and xenophobia?
In “Translator’s Note” at the end of the book, Lisa Dillman discusses the challenging task of finding a way to translate Herrera’s unique prose style. Dillman points out a connection between the way the novel is written and many of the themes that it explores—migration, immigration, transnationalism, transculturalism, and linguistic hybridity. What did you think of the way the novel was written or translated? How are issues of language central to Makina’s story?
In particular, Dillman explains her decision to translate the verb jarchar as “to verse,” to leave, derived from the Arabic kharja, “to exit” (112-113). What is the significance of this word in the novel? Try finding and comparing different sentences in the book that use this verb.
The novel begins with Makina observing, “I’m dead,” as she watches a giant sinkhole swallow a man in the street. Where and how do you see its mythological allusions to Mictlān, the underworld, or other mythology in the book?
Spoiler Alert! We recommend completing the novel before reading and reflecting on the below questions.
In Chapter 7, Makina finally reunites with her brother, but is startled at how much he has changed (86). What do you make of this awkward reunion? How does he explain why he never returned to The Little Town?
Chapter 8, “The Snake That Lies in Wait,” describes a cop rounding up migrants. He ridicules someone who claims to be a poet and demands that he write a poem, but the man can’t do it. Makina grabs the paper and begins writing. After she finishes, the cop reads what she has written and is immediately disarmed, giving up on his harassment of the migrants (99-100). How does Makina’s writing manage to stop the cop?
The novel ends with Makina saying to herself, “I’m ready” (107). Ready for what? What does the ending of the novel make you think and feel– right after you read it and then in the days or weeks that follow?
This webpage began with our attempt to describe this strange and surprising book. How would you choose to describe the book to a curious friend?
Continuing Students Optional Reading
We invite all of our sophomores, juniors, and seniors to read this book over the summer and join incoming students at our Summer Book Club discussion.
Studio instructors would like to offer an optional opportunity for students to share their thoughts on the novel in a summer book club meeting on Zoom on Tuesday, August 13, from 4-5:30 pm EST. We’ll facilitate an informal and open conversation about the novel, focusing especially on the questions noted above.
Summer Book Club