The Villagers is a story of the ruthless exploitation and extermination of an Indian village of Ecuador by its greedy landlord. First published in 1934, itis here available for the first time in an authorized English translation. A realistic tale in the best tradition of the novels of social protest of Zola, Dostoevsky, José Eustasio Rivera, and the Mexican novels of the Revolution, The Villagers (Huasipungo) shocked and horrified its readers, and brought its author mingled censure and acclaim, when itwas first published in 1934. Deeply moving in the dramatic intensity of its relentless evolution and stark human suffering, Icaza’ s novel has been translated into eleven foreign languages, including Russian and Chinese, and has gone through numerous editions in Spanish, including a revised and enlarged edition in 1953,on which this translation is based, but ithas never before been authorized for translation into English. His first novel, but not his first published work, The Villagers is still considered by most critics as Icaza’ s best, and itis widely acclaimed as one of the most significant works in contemporary Latin American literature. Thirty years after its original publication in Ecuador, The Villagers still carries a powerful message for the contemporary world and an urgent warning. The conditions here portrayed prevail in these areas, even today. The Villagers is an indictment of the latifundista system and a caustic picture of the native worker who, with little expectation from life, finds himself a victim of an antiquated feudal system aided and abetted by a grasping clergy and an indifferent government.

The Villagers (Huasipungo)

Literature & Fiction

Icaza Ph.D., Professor Jorge

Contemporary

Southern Illinois University Press

This Huaisipungo edition is based on the author's definitive revision that was published in 1960. Among Ecuadorian writers, Icaza is perhaps the most renowned internationally due in great part to the publication of this novel in 1934. In it he proclaimed to the world the injustices to which the powerful landowners in an unholy alliance with the clergy held subjected the large indigenous population of Ecuador. The oligarchy of his country had throughout its history degraded them, violated any human right they were entitle to, took away anything of value that they possessed; in essence they considered the Indian population as entities that could be used and be disposed of at will. The novel's two revisions enabled Icaza to develop the main character, Andrés Chiliquinga, as a profoundly human and rational being. Through the suffering he is forced to endure, he, as a heroic figure, realizes that the patch of land that he has always labored is land that belongs to them, to all who had labored it and improved it. Atavistic wisdom had taught him that one must oppose and combat despotism. The time had come to encourage and exhort his people to confront and declare their unwillingness to continue to be submitted to such iniquity. In the same manner in which the actions of the protagonist transcend communities, fragment traditions and diminish attitudes, the message of the novel profoundly reverberated on a society steeped in traditional values and mores. The effort of structuring and recomposing this narrative world which Icaza carried out in his revisions (1953, 1960) contributes to both securing the extraordinary artistic merit of the work and strengthening the tone of the novel. This allows the modern reader to effectively participate in that reality. Having done this, Icaza guaranteed that Huasipungo stands as a monument to his intentions, and consolidates the literary seat of honor that it has achieved with the vigor of his 1934 denunciation.

Huasipungo (Spanish Edition)

World Literature

Stockcero

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