juan villoro

ESSAY  text by JUAN VILLORO artwork by ELIZA DOUGLAS all artwork courtesy of the artist and overduin & co the grammar of hope, from the maya past to the zapatista future Epidemics produce prophecies. When people are facing the possible end of all things, to assume that what’s to come will be worse offers some relief. It’s no coincidence that speculative literature rarely promises paradise. From Ray Bradbury to William Gibson, science fiction has spawned more fears than joys. In his essay on Charles Fourier, Italo Calvino asserts that the intangible “New Amorous World,” where the sea will taste of lemonade, is implausible because it lacks the human imprint — it has not been used. To be convincing, imagination must exhibit the wear and tear that only experience confers. That is why most successful futuristic narratives tend to have a melancholic tone; they feed off the past. The invention of…