The ominous nature of Rosario Castellanos's poem ‘Advertencia al que llega’ [‘Warning to the Person Arriving’] constitutes a forceful introduction to her work as a whole with its references to pain, scarring and the desire for silence and death. Castellanos is quite rightly considered a pioneering force in Mexican literature of the twentieth century. Indeed, Elena Poniatowska describes her as, ‘la precursora intelectual de la liberación de las mujeres mexicanas’ [the intellectual precursor of Mexican women's liberation] (1985: 22). Her output was prolific and included novels, short stories, many collections of poetry, drama and essays. She worked in various capacities as an academic, journalist and diplomat, and was a formidable presence in Mexican literary circles from the 1950s onwards. Castellanos was born and raised in Comitán in the southern state of Chiapas, which forms the backdrop for much of her early work, the child of wealthy landowners. Her family lost their lands as the result of President Lázaro Cárdenas's six-year regime, during which major land reforms were implemented and vast tracts of land holdings were transferred to indigenous owners.