The Villagers

Because of the horrible situation in Latin-American countries during the twentieth century, the majority of the writers could not choose the l'art pour l'art stance. The bulk of the literature at that age was protest literature, released not to last for centuries but to open the eyes of the public of what is going on the countries. The majority of the authors that lasted from this period and became extremely popular all over the world like García Marquez or Vargas Llosa had books that contained original experiments with the form of the novel, but they also unveiled to the world the situation the continent is in. Icaza's Huasipongo maybe is the best example to the protest literature without any major aim to be everlasting. It was written to show how the Indians were exploited by the American capitalists, and in its form it is similar to a lurid recollection of newspaper reports. The author stays outside the events, and documents with a dour, gelid voice the misery of the Indians and of everyone who lives in the region. What is more upsetting in the novel that the novel does not skip on the details and gives a precise description of a suppurating leg or the hunger of the Indians who resent to dig out carcasses to eat something. These details can make the reader wonder whether the writer chose to infuriate them or he revels in describing these nauseating events. Sometimes I had the feeling as if I was watching Bunuel's Las Hurdes, I did not know whether the writer was pulling my leg or not. Thus, instead of opening the eyes to the situation, the book was similar to a snuff movie, made to audience that has a perverted joy in knowing how miserable the world is, though nevertheless it also very absorbing.

"The Villagers," a novel by Jorge Icaza of Ecuador, was first published in 1934. It has been translated into English by Bernard Dulsey. I think of "The Villagers" as a sort of Ecuadoran counterpart to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (the classic anti-slavery novel by United States author Harriet Beecher Stowe). Like that earlier novel, Icaza's book is an impassioned expose of racially-charged violence and oppression."The Villagers" tells the story of the exploitation of Ecuadoran Indians by whites who are intent on taking economic advantage of the Indians' homeland. Icaza paints a fascinating portrait of the conflicts and twisted connections among three major groups: Indians, whites, and "cholos" (those of mixed blood). The "gringos," or white North Americans, form a sinister fourth group that lurks menacingly behind the scenes of the unfolding drama.The novel is full of vivid, graphic details--lice infestation, a worm-infected wound, rape, suffering, and death. Icaza mercilessly satirizes the lust and greed of the white landowner, Don Alfonso. Icaza also savagely critiques the complicity of the church (in the form of the hypocritical village priest) in the abuse of the Indians. And the author also exposes the insidious debt bondage that turns nominally "free" people into virtual slaves. Some of the more villainous characters seem a bit one-dimensional, but in my opinion the many strengths of the book outweigh this flaw. "The Villagers" is a powerful work of social protest that deserves a wide readership.

Jorge Icaza had a dream just like Martin Luther King, except his dream was not meant toward the United States, his dream was meant toward his people of Ecuador who, like people in the United States, are prejudiced against people who are of different races, and different economic statuses, etc. Jorge Icaza wrote his first novel The Villagers as the first step (in a series of steps) to make the dream come true. In it he portrays the Indian people of Ecuador as they truly are, as well as the landowners and government leaders, and the ways in which these ruthlessly treat the Indians. Religion plays a big role in this novel. Icaza leaves no prisoners, everyone in Ecuadorean society is criticized, including the mestizoes, persons of both European and American Indian descent. Icaza's 1934 novel is studied in many of the top universities of the United States in classes of Spanish, Comparative Literature, and Anthropology. I suggest this book to those who are interested in learning about Latin America and its peoples. I think people will be shocked and appalled. Icaza is by far the most important Indianist novelist Latin America ever brought forth, as well as one of Ecuador's most finest and important writers.

I read this book many years ago and it is the only book that has told of that brutality that is endemic and daily in this beautiful, yet sad country of Ecuador. Ycasa is the real heroe in our historical voyage. He has stuck his neck out and has told a story-amongs many- that reveal the destructive, oppresive, and racist nature of his society. His sense of justice and solidarity with the poor and the indians are as powerful as his indignation of the established oligarchy and it's system.

I have been obsessed with this book for four years. The Villagers (Huasipungo) presents some of the most passionate, horrific and sad events ever to take place in fiction. In his most famous book Jorge Icaza shows a part of Ecuadorian society that the entire world refused to take notice of or do anything about.Don Alfonso Pereira belongs to the property-owning class of Ecuador. The book takes us along his journey to his hacienda and introduces us to his Indian and mestizo peons that work and labor for him in exchange for a piece of land where they cultivate there vegetables, raise there animals, and build their huts - a piece of land called a "huasipungo."The rape of an Indian woman, adulterous threesomes, savage sex... All this shows that Icaza was holding nothing back. When the book first appeared in Latin America in the 1930s readers were enraged. But despite the rage of Ecuadorians the book was quickly translated into more than 20 other languages: Russian, Polish. Italian... etc. Finally it was translated into the English in the 1960s. There are things in this book which no writer in the world would have dared write about in the 1930s or even today.This book is so influential that a famous, contemporary hard-core band is named after it: Huasipungo. This book is a must read for those that love profound lyricism and brutal truth.