Signs Preceding the End of the World
2015 book cover | |
| Author | Yuri Herrera |
|---|---|
| Translator | Lisa Dillman |
| Language | Originally Spanish, translated to English for Anglo readers |
| Subject | Immigration fiction, Border area fiction |
| Genre | Surrealism |
| Set in | Fictional geographical locations |
| Published | 2009 |
| Publisher | & Other Stories, |
| Publication place | Spain and United Kingdom |
Published in English | 2015 |
| Media type | Print, eBook, Audio |
| ISBN | 9781908276421 |
| OCLC | 889949964 |
| Website | Official website |
Signs Preceding the End of the World (Spanish: Señales que precederán al fin del mundo) is a 2009 novel by Yuri Herrera and translated into English by Lisa Dillman in 2015.[1][2][3][4][5][6] In 2016, Herrera and Dillman won the Best Translated Book Award for Fiction. Also, with this book, Herrera is the first Spanish-language writer to win the award for fiction.[7] The Spanish title of this novel is Señales que precederán al fin del mundo.[8]
Plot
This narrative follows a young woman's cross-border journey from the south, crossing the border to the north. for two objectives: to deliver a package and to find her brother. The protagonist's mother has tasked her with bringing her brother home after he was persuaded to cross the border by their estranged father's promise of land. The trip involves travel through her home village, a provincial town, the Big Chilango, and a subsequent bus ride to a river crossing that borders the north. She completes the crossing by inner tube and successfully traverses the desert, where she faces risks from people-smugglers, vigilantes, and border patrol.[1][7][9][10][11]
References
- ^ a b Jaggi, Maya (22 April 2015). "Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera review – a lyrical Mexican migrants' tale". The Guardian.
- ^ "Reviews: New Books from Thomas McGuane, Hanif Kureishi and More (Published 2015)". The New York Times. 25 March 2015.
- ^ Barrera, Cordelia E. (2021). "Utopic Dreaming on the Borderlands: An Anzaldúan Reading of Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World". Utopian Studies. 31 (3): 475–493. doi:10.5325/utopianstudies.31.3.0475. JSTOR 10.5325/utopianstudies.31.3.0475.
- ^ "Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera". The Rompus. 7 September 2015.
- ^ "Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Yuri Herrera's "Signs Preceding the End of the World" - Words Without Borders". Words Without Borders.
- ^ a b "Yuri Hererra-Gutierrez - Book Translation". The Faulkner Society. 2016
- ^ Gates-Madsen, Nancy J. (2024). "Irony's Edge in a World Without Borders". Chasqui. 53 (2): 105–126. JSTOR 27339955.
- ^ Broughel, James."A Migration Tale That is About More Than Migration".June 17, 2022. Discourse magazine.
- ^ "Book Review: Signs Preceding the End of the World | Talon Marks". 14 November 2025.
- ^ Roberts, Katherine Ann (2025). "Migrant World-Making in Yuri Herrera's Signs Preceding the End of the World and Luis Alberto Urrea's Into the Beautiful North". Comparative American Studies an International Journal: 1–19. doi:10.1080/14775700.2025.2582297.
Further reading
- "The Mexican Novelist Who Found Himself in New Orleans (Published 2024)". The New York Times. 30 September 2024.
- "Learning from Decadence". 24 October 2024.
- "Twenty Questions with Yuri Herrera".
- Jokic, Olivera (2018). "No country, no cry: Literature of women's displacement and the reading of pity". Journal of Postcolonial Writing. 54 (6): 781–794. doi:10.1080/17449855.2018.1551271.