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Huasipungo
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Wikipedia article
'Huasipungo' (hispanicized spelling from Kichwa 'wasipunku' or 'wasi punku', 'wasi' house, 'punku' door,Fabin Potos C. et al., Ministerio de Educacin del Ecuador: Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu, Runa Shimi - Mishu Shimi, Mishu Shimi - Runa Shimi. Quito (DINEIB, Ecuador) 2009. (Kichwa-Spanish dictionary) "house door") is a 1934 novel by Jorge Icaza (1906-1978) of Ecuador.
'Huasipungo' became a well-known "Indigenist" novel, a movement in Latin American literature that preceded Magical Realism and emphasized brutal realism.
'Huasipungo' is often compared to John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' from 1939, as both are works of social protest. Besides the first edition of 1934, 'Huasipungo' went through two more editions or complete rewritings in Spanish, 1934, 1953, 1960, the first of which was difficult for even natives of other Hispanic countries to read and the last the definitive version.
Besides being an "indigenist" novel, 'Huasipungo' has also been considered a proletarian novel, in that Latin America had to substitute the Indians for the working class as a model or character of proletarian literature.
'Huasipungo' has been translated into over 40 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, and Russian.
English translation
Fragments of the book first appeared in English translation in Russia, where it was welcomed enthusiastically by Russia's peasant socialist class.
The complete edition of 'Huasipungo' was first translated into the English language in 1962 by Mervyn Savill and published in England by Dennis Dobson Ltd. An "authorized" translation appeared in 1964 by Bernard H. Dulsey, and was published in 1964 by Southern Illinois University Press in Carbondale, IL as 'The Villagers'.
Etymology
A 'wasipunku' (the term transliterated into 'huasipungo') was a parcel of land of an hacienda given to the indigenous people in exchange for their labor on the hacienda rather than monetary remuneration. In a typical 'wasipunku' the people built huts and used the surrounding land to cultivate food.
Characters
* Don Alfonso Pereira considered a gentleman of high society in Quito.
* Doa Blanca Chanique Pereira's wife and a matron of the church.
* Doa Lolita Pereira's adolescent daughter.
* Uncle Julio Pereira's powerful uncle, who has the habit of talking in plural.
* Mr. Chapy the manager of the exploitation of wood in Ecuador; an American with great financial resources and millionaire connections abroad.
* Policarpio the mayordomo of the Cuchitambo hacienda owned by Don Alfonso Pereira.
* Andrs Chiliquinga the novel's main protagonist of the novel, an Indian in the hacienda of Don Alfonso Pereira. He heads the resistance during the eviction of the Indians from their huasipungos.
* Jacinto Quintana a mestizo who is the teniente politico, he is a bartender and foreman. He is corrupt and authoritarian. He despises and abuses the Indians.
* Juana Jacinto Quintana's mestiza wife, who has occasional sexual relations with Pereira and the priest.
* Gabriel Rodrguez a one-eyed mestizo who is mean to the Indian people.
* The priest An adulterer who gives sermons and puts fear in the hearts of the Indians in order to take advantage of them and achieve financial gain.
* Cunshi Andrs Chiliquinga's wife, who is physically and sexually abused both by Pereira and by her own husband.
References
Category:Novels set in Ecuador
Category:1934 novels
Category:Ecuadorian novels
Category:Proletarian literature
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