Ignacio Solares – författare

Cristina, the young protagonist of Tree of Desire, and her little brother JoaquÍn run away from a home that is outwardly normal, but inwardly disfunctional. Lost on the streets of Mexico City, they confront some of the most terrifying aspects of city life. Or is it all a dream? The story suggests, without confirming, that sexual abuse has driven Cristina to her desperate escape. But is it an escape? Are they awakening from a dream, or reentering a nightmare? SerafÍn, too, is lost in the city. Searching for his father who has deserted the family, he is virtually helpless amid the city dangers. SerafÍn finds compassion in surprising places, but will he survive to return to his mother and their rural village? These two novels by one of Mexico's premier writers illuminate many aspects of contemporary Mexican life. Solares describes Mexico's different social classes with Dickensian realism. His focus on young protagonists, unusual in Mexican literature, opens a window onto problems of children's vulnerability that know no national borders. At the same time, his use of elements of the fantastic and the paranormal, and his evocative writing style, make reading his novels a most pleasurable experience.

Letters to a Young Psychologist consists of a series of essays in the form of letters. As a primer on the subject of psychology, it is unique because it comes through the lens of a novelist with insightful references to the junction of psychology and literature. Early in the book, Solares gives an overview of why the field of psychology fascinates him: Vast regions of the human mind havent yet been mapped. He encourages the reader: I can only hope that you will fall madly in love with [psychology]. I give you these letters thoroughly drenched in that same spirit, starting with Freud and ending with the discovery of hypnosis and the volatile introduction of drugs into psychotherapy. Solares explores Freud''s contributions and limitations, and does the same for Jung. He also tackles Behaviorism. Pragmatism, spirituality, an entertaining predecessor of Freud, Franz Mesmer, the use and misuse of drugs in psychological treatment, and role of meditation in psychology. The Golden Coin: Freud or Jung?, an award-winning play, features an enlightening and lively intellectual duel between the two famous psychologists of the title, one of whom visits the other from the afterlife.

A man wakes up in someone elses body and then struggles to figure out what has happened. What happened to his former body, wife, and life? Who was the man whose body he is now in? Can he just fit in to a new family and life, or can he get his old life back? Is this all just a bad dream? Another man receives a series of threatening notes at work (Watch Out!) and then struggles to make sense of the situation and his life. He discovers that others at his office receive identical notes, and panic ensues. Can he and his colleagues puzzle it out? Should they flee or can they fight back? The stories of these two men intertwine in Anonymous. Their lives come together in a completely unexpected way. Rich scenes populate the novelmany of them highly ironic, others deeply poignant. Ignacio Solares published the original Spanish version of Anonymous in 1979. It has enjoyed numerous editions and boasts sales of over one hundred thousand copies. It is one of eighteen Mexican novels recently placed in every high school library in the country.