In The Mexican Dream, Le Clezio imagines how the thought of early Indian civilizations might have evolved and influenced the world were it not for the interruption of European conquest. The dream of the title refers to the dream that was Aztec religion with its apolcalyptic visions of the Spanish; the dream of the conquistadores of the gold in the new world; the dream of amerindian cultures of "equilibrium between man and the world." In the words of the translator, "Beyond describing the extraordinarily rich and complex cultures of those peoples, Le Clezio makes the American adventure and the effect it had on the lives and civilizations of Indian populations--and consequently on our own--an immediate, disturbing issue."