Identification in Life and Literature: Studies of Montezuma and Julio Cortázar

Sigmund Freud viewed the coping strategy of identification as both an expansion of the verb “to identify,” as well as a validation of the concept “to identify with.” This book shows how the Aztec emperor Montezuma and the noted Argentine writer Julio Cortázar each, respectively, used the process of identification in a Freudian manner. In the case of Montezuma, it is argued that he identified the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés as the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), while for Cortázar, it is demonstrated that he identified with a Moteca Indian from the Aztec world, who was about to be sacrificed.