Jorge Icaza Coronel

Jorge Icaza Coronel (1906 – 1978) is a writer from Ecuador, best known for his novel "Huasipungo", which brought attention to the exploitation of Ecuador's Native Americans by Ecuadorian and North American "whites".

Career

Playwright

Jorge Icaza’s literary career began as a playwright. His plays include "El Intruso" in 1928, "La Comedia sin Nombre" in 1929, "Cuál es" in 1931, "Sin Sentido" in 1932, and "Flagelo", which was published in 1936. After his 1933 playscript, "El Dictador", was censured, Icaza turned his attention to writing novels about the social conditions in Ecuador, particularly the oppression suffered by its indigenous people.

Novelist

With the publication of "Huasipungo" in 1934, Jorge Icaza Coronel achieved international fame. The book became a well-known "Indigenist" novel, a movement in Latin American literature that preceded Magical Realism and emphasized brutal realism. Fragments of the book first appeared in English translation in Russia, where it was welcomed enthusiastically by Russia's peasant socialist class. Jorge Icaza was later appointed Ecuador's ambassador to Russia.

The first 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".

His other books include "Sierra" in 1933, "En las calles" in 1936, "Cholos" in 1938, "Media vida deslumbrados" in 1942, "Huayrapamushcas" in 1948, "Seis relatos" 1952, "El Chulla Romero y Flores" in 1958, and "Atrapados", which was published in 1973. Although the latter two books are recognized as Jorge Icaza’s greatest literary achievements by experts (such as Theodore Alan Sackett), "Huasipungo" continues to be Icaza’s most popular book and has been translated to over 40 languages.

Impact

Jorge Icaza and "Huasipungo" are often compared to John Steinbeck and his Grapes of Wrath from 1939, as both are works of social protest. Icaza became internationally popular based upon his publications, and was invited to many colleges in the United States to give lectures on the problems of Native Americans in Ecuador. However, many of his countrymen accused Icaza of exaggerating the interracial and social class conditions in Ecuador in order to shock his readers.

Further reading

*Social protest and literary merit in Huasipungo and El mundo es ancho y ajeno / Armando González-Pérez., 1988
*Three Spanish American novelists a European view / Cyril A Jones., 1967
*The Ecuadorian Indian and cholo in the novels of Jorge Icaza; their lot and language / Anthony Joseph Vetrano., 1974
*Reevaluation of Jorge Icaza's Huasipungo / Edwin S Baxter., 1979