Lost Souls: Stories Book

Not since the Jungle Novels of B. Traven has there been such an indictment of the treatment of Indians by white landowners. Don Alfonso Pereira is in debt to his uncle Julio, whereupon Julio convinces him to talk his Indians into building a road so that gringos could tear down the forests and drill for oil.

Written in 1934, Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza tells the story of the brutality, starvation, and natural disasters that come in the wake of Don Alfonso's road. The landowner refuses to show any weakness, and winds up doubling down on all the injustices he causes. At the same time, he rapes the young women from the huasipungos or Indian huts and insists on being extra cruel lest he be thought of being weak by the Indians and his partners.

This Ecuadorian novel is not well known to Norteamericanos, but it should take its place beside the novels of Traven and Paraguay's Augusto Roa Bastos, Brazil's Jorge Amado, Guatemala's Miguel Angel Asturias, and Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano.