The new book Now I Surrender by acclaimed Mexican author Álvaro Enrigue explores a little known era of history: The Indian Wars and the final surrender of the Chiricahua Apache in 1886.
The novel — released on March 3 and translated to English by Natasha Wimmer — divides itself into three books. It weaves the past and present together to tell the runup to, the end of, and the aftermath of the Apache surrender in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.
Unlike Enrigue’s previous novel, which took a fantastical and psychedelic spin on Mexican history, Now I Surrender centers on real historical figures told with less fantastical elements.
“My love story with the history of the Apache nation dates long before the beginning of this novel,” Enrigue said. “For me, it’s always important … to confront the sensibilities of the past with our contemporary sensibility.”
The book utilizes a dual timeline that jumps between the 19th century war and the present day, where a Mexican-born academic is reckoning with his country’s role in the fall of the Apachería.
Enrigue said it was important to highlight Mexico’s role and responsibility in the war.
“The Apache Wars are seen like an American phenomenon in Mexico,” he said. “I was making a big effort to propose the Mexican point of view of a conflict that I think ended up, as all traumas do, marking the life of both countries."
