Jorge Icaza (1906–1978)

Jorge Icaza's "Huasinpungo," translated by Bernard Dulsey as "The Villagers," is a dense, inarticulate, and difficult read. The edition I have is perhaps 215 pages, but many of the sentences carry on for some time, using language that seems quite stilted, making the book feel much longer. Even though some of the language is ostentatious, it is a mere recitation of cruel descriptions and actions. Spanish vocabulary is interjected very well and will be easy to understand within the context of individual sentences, even without the Spanish glossary at the end of the book.

Written in 1934, Icaza uses the book to criticize several aspects of Ecuadorian society: the church, chauvinism, US commercial imperialism, the vestigial encomienda system, and the despair of the indigenous population. The book chronicles an hacendado's construction of a road through his land. During the construction, he takes advantage of the indigenous people, whom the translator refers to as Incans in the introduction, whom he controls through a serf-like system of exploitation.

The church is portrayed horribly. The local priest conspires with the landlord to mistreat the Incans. In addition, the priest is constantly taking advantage of the locals by charging them for masses and exploiting their innocence. Icaza's portrayal of their innocence, however, seems very naïve. They are almost dog-like in their obedience and fearful of the priest or landlord's most basic warnings up until the final three or four chapters when they revolt.

Throughout the book, the hacendado uses alcohol and food to exploit the population. The main protagonist is mentioned early on in the book when he carries the hacendado on his back through a swamp, but he is largely ignored until the final chapters.

However, the indigenous people are not without fault in this book. The main protagonist sexually, physically, and emotionally abuses his wife, even having her withhold food from herself and their son for his benefit. When they are around European descendants, they are meek, servile, and superstitious. Showing the Incans in this light - none of them are brave or hold any kind of personal jurisdiction - does not hold up well at all, even though Icaza was obviously trying to bring attention to their plight.

"Huasipungo" is brutal. No reader will come away from the book with a good feeling, for there is nothing optimistic, nothing that offers the reader any hope. It reads like the pessimistic pre-Communist authors of Russia and China, but without Lu Xun's literary brevity or Fyodor Dostoyevsky psychological commentary.

I am glad to have read the book. There are few books from this period in translation and it does provide good insights into this far-flung corner of the world at the time. Regrettably, it is a heavy and difficult read.… (més)

1934 novel which highlights the plight of the Inca-descended Ecuadorian Indians under the local whites, Big Business and the Catholic church. Trying to scrape together a living, utilized at will as slave labour to work for the Spaniards, their women seen as fair game, the church extorting every penny it can by invoking God's displeasure... This is a grim read, focussing on the Job-like figure of Andres Chiliquinga, a spirited Indian, but one who will, over time, lose everything.
Not brilliant writing, but I did think the final scene was VERY movingly desribed. Horrifying situation which I had previously never heard of.… (més)

A gripping and tragic tale of an Ecuadorian native and his fate at the hands of the local landowner, Don Pereira. In the vein of Steinbeck, the book is a statement and protest against the treatment of indigenous Indians and villagers by the feudal landlords who own the tiny plots of rented land (huasipungo) on which the natives subsist. The landowner starts in the capitol, Quito, far away from his mountainous fiefdom. He is weak-minded and perhaps necessarily bullied by his creditors--thus an allusion that although Don Pereira is ultimately to blame, that there are other forces 'higher up' wreaking the tragedy. Europeans suspect oil on Pereira's land, and he is forced by creditors to return to his remote home, aided by another family challenge, and his requirement to clear his land for speculation means Pereira must conscribe hundreds of locals for backbreaking labor, abuse, and other crimes.

Painted against this backdrop is a painfully devoted poor husband who lives up in a hidden spot, who makes perilous treks to see his wife and young son, but the regimen of work and hunger make him easy prey to be beaten down. Ultimately his resistance is squelched brutally and he continues to struggle until everything that is dear to him is taken away. The story continues until Pereira drives his tenants to the limits of humanity and tells the story of how this continues and ultimately turns out.

Clearly a part of the canon that loosened and broke the hold of authoritarian feudalism, colonialism, and oligopolies of the mid-20th century.… (més)