Jorge Icaza Coronel (Quito, June 10, 1906 – Quito, May 26, 1978) was a novelist, playwright, diplomat and bookstore owner. Icaza is Ecuador’s most famous author, as well as one of South America’s most important literary figures of the twentieth century. Huasipungo (1934), Icaza’s novel about the exploitation of his country’s indigenous peoples by whites, has been translated into over 40 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Chinese, and Russian. El Chulla Romero y Flores (1958), Icaza’s penultimate novel, is concerned with the cultural identity of the Ecuadorian mestizo and is regarded as his best work by many Icazan scholars and critics. It has been translated into more than 20 different languages. Icaza’s legacy continues to influence Latin American literature, and his work remains widely read and studied today.
Playwright
Jorge Icaza began his literary career as a playwright. El Intruso was published in 1928, La Comedia sin Nombre in 1929, Cuál es in 1931, Sin Sentido in 1932, and Flagelo in 1936. After his 1933 playscript, El Dictador, was rejected, Icaza shifted his focus to writing novels about Ecuador’s social conditions, particularly the oppression of its indigenous people.
Novelist
With the publication of Huasipungo in 1934, Icaza achieved international fame. The book is one of the best known Indigenist novels (Indigenist literature is a literary trend that deals with the indigenous peoples of Latin America and their problems). 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. (1973-1977).
The first complete edition of Huasipungo was translated into English in 1962 by Mervyn Savill and published in England by Dennis Dobson Ltd. An “authorized” translation appeared in 1964 by Bernard M. Dulsey, and was published by Southern Illinois University Press in Carbondale, IL as “The Villagers”.
Read an essay on Bernard M. Dulsey’s translation of Jorge Icaza’s novel Huasipungo.
Listen to Jorge Icaza read from selected chapters of his books.
Personal life


In 1936, Icaza married stage actress Marina Moncayo, with whom he had a daughter, Fenia Cristina Icaza Moncayo, in 1934. He met Moncayo while writing plays for the National Theater Company (Compañía Nacional de Teatro). Icaza and Moncayo remained married until his death in 1978.
Death
Jorge Icaza died of stomach cancer at the age of 71 on May 26, 1978 in Quito, Ecuador.
Legacy



A short documentary about Jorge Icaza.
Huasipungo in 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. Read a preview of Dulsey’s English translation here.
Publications
Year of Publication | Literary work | Genre | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1928 | El intruso | Play | |
1929 | La comedia sin nombre | Play | |
1931 | ¿Cuál es? y Como ellos quieren | Play | |
1932 | Sin sentido | Play | |
1933 | El dictador | Play | |
1933 | Barro de la sierra | Short Story | |
1934 | Huasipungo | Novel | Read it for free here. |
1935 | En las calles | Novel | Read it for free here. |
1936 | Flagelo | Play | Read it for free here. |
1937 | Cholos | Novel | Read it for free here. |
1942 | Media vida deslumbrados | Novel | |
1948 | Huairapamushcas | Novel | |
1958 | El chulla Romero y Flores | Novel | |
1961 | Obras escogidas | Selected works | |
1969 | Relatos | Short Story | |
1972 | Atrapados | Novel |
Partial list of Jorge Icaza’s works in translation
Original Title | Language | Title | Translator | Publisher | Year |
El chulla Romero y Flores | German | Caballero in geborgtem Frack | Horst Lothar Teweleit | Berlin Verl. Volk u. Welt | 1965 |
El chulla Romero y Flores | French | L’homme De Quito | Claude Couffon | Les Lettres francaises, Nº833, 14-20 juillet 1960. | 1960 |
El chulla Romero y Flores | French | L’homme De Quito | Claude Couffon | Albin Michel | 1993 |
Huasipungo | German | Huasi-Pungo. Ruf der Indios. Roman. | Paul Zech | Greifenverlag, Rudolstadt | 1952 |
Cholos | Italian | I meticci | Carlo Bo | Einaudi, Torino | 1949 |
Huasipungo | French | La Fosse aux Indiens | Georges Pillement | París, Ed . Pierre Fanlac | 1938 |
Huasipungo | English | The Villagers, a Novel. Authorized Translation | Bernard M. Dulsey | Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL | 1964 |
Huasipungo | English | Huasipungo | Mervyn Savill | Dennis Dobson Ltd, London | 1962 |
Huasipungo | German | Huasipungo. Roman | Suzanne Heintz | Bornheim – Merten Lamuv | 1978 |
Huairapamuchcas | Slovenian | Huairapamuške: sinovi vetra: roman | Barbara Pregelj | Mladinska knjiga | 2001 |
Huasipungo | Greek | Ουαζιπούνγκο | Πόλλα Ζαχοπούλου – Βλάχου (Pólla Zachopoúlou-Vláchou) | ΚΑΣΤΑΝΙΩΤΗΣ (Kastaniōtē) | 1982 |
En las calles | Slovak | Na uliciach | Tibor Kobáň | VPL – Vydavateľstvo politickej literatúry | 1963 |
El chulla Romero y Flores | Russian | Человек из Кито | Скины Вафа (Skina Vafa) | Khudozhestvennaia literatura | 1966 |
Huasipungo | Hungarian | Indián átok | Füsi József | Nyomtatta Athenaeum, Budapest. | 1949 |
Huairapamuchcas | Romanian | Copiii vîntului | Vlaicu Bârna, David Mihail | Editura pentru Literatură Universală | 1965 |
El chulla Romero y Flores | Czech | Chlapík z Quita | Věra Prokopová | Praha: SNKLU | 1963 |
Cholos | Slovenian | Mešanci: roman | Silvester Škerl | V Ljubljani: Cankarjeva založba | 1954 |
Huasipungo | Serbian | Indijanska polja | Rajna Đurđev | Biblioteka Reč i misao | 1964 |
French | Un roman : Terre indienne (I) | Jean Viet | Poésie 47, n° 38 | mars 1947 | |
French | Un roman : Terre indienne (II) | Jean Viet | Poésie 47, n° 39 | mai 1947 | |
French | Un roman : Terre indienne (III) | Jean Viet | Poésie 47, n° 40 | août-septembre 1947 | |
El chulla Romero y Flores | Ukrainian | Лихі пригоди Ромеро-і-Флореса: прозріння | Вадим Хазін (Vadim Khazin) | Vydavnyt︠s︡tvo khudoz︠h︡nʹoï literatury “Dnipro” | 1967 |
Huasipungo | Hebrew | אינדיאני על ההר: סיפור על נחלת דמים | Ioram Melcer | כרמל, Yerushalayim: Karmel | 2009 |
Cholos | French | “Cholos” | Lucie Sobol | Seghers | 1959 |
Huasipungo | Czech | Indiánská pole | Jaroslav Kuchválek, Miroslav Paťava | V Praze : Pavel Prokop : Svoboda | 1947 |
Huasipungo | Chinese | 養身地 / Yang shen di | Hao’erhe Yikasa zhu, Lin Zhimu yi | 上海譯文出版社, Shanghai : Shanghai yi wen chu ban she | 1986 |
En las calles | Russian | Na ulit︠s︡akh | N. Zagorskoĭ | Moskva : Izd-vo Inostrannoĭ lit-ry | 1963 |
Huasipungo | Japanese | ワシプンゴ / Washipungo | 伊藤武好 Takeyoshi Ito | 朝日新聞社 | 1974 |
Huasipungo | Italian | Huasipungo | Lucilla Soro | Elliot | 2018 |
Huasipungo | Portuguese | Huasipungo | INALD – Instituto Nacional do Livro e do Disco | 1980 | |
Huasipungo | Polish | Huasipungo: Dławiące dzierżawy | Tadeusz Jakubowicz | Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, Warszawa | 1950 |
Huasipungo | Italian | Huasipungo | Giuseppe Bellini | Nuova Accademia, Milano | 1961 |
Huasipungo | Russian | Уасипунго | V. Vinogradov (Виноградов В.) | 1976 | |
Two short stories: “Sed” and “Exodo” originally from the collection “Barro de la sierra (cuentos)” | French | Gens de l’Equateur («Soif» et «Exode») | George Pillement | Seghers | 1945 |
Two short stories: “Patrón Rafico” originally published under the title “Capítulo para una novela inédita” (1945) and “Fantasía reincidente” (1960) | French | Nouvelles de Jorge Icaza et études critiques | Olga Caro Alda | 2005 |