Mouth of the Jaguar

About the Book

Mouth of the Jaguar concerns the very exotic and historic first Western encounter with the great Mayan civilization of Yucatan in 1511.  Spanish sailors are rescued by the Mayans after a shipwreck.  Gonzalo Guerrero, a peasant, and Geranimo de Aguilar, an aristocrat, are the two who survive the initial night of sacrifices.  Aguilar becomes a servant to the Mayan ruler whereas Guerrero eventually marries a Mayan princess and becomes himself a Mayan lord – refusing to join Cortes when offered the opportunity because he has been so physically and morally transformed.  The book is a study of power, its loss and gain, and of religious similarities and cultural antagonisms affording a startling view into the lives of the already decadent Mayans.  It is Gonzalo Guerrero’s search for himself and his final speculation that ‘we are all really Mayan, siding more with the spectacle of cruelty and suffering than with the love and peace we pretend to espouse’ which centers the novel’s unsettling theme.

About the Author