Jorge Icaza

Jorge Icaza

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

Novelist Jorge Icaza, circa 1920s-1930s
Actress Marina Moncayo, circa 1920s-1930s

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

House of Ecuadorian Culture
In 1944, along with Benjamín Carrión and others, Jorge Icaza was a founding member of la Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (the Ecuadorian House of Culture), a cultural organization created to stimulate, to direct and to coordinate the development of an authentic national culture. Headquartered in Quito (picture above), it maintains several museums throughout Ecuador.

Jorge Icaza Statue in Moscow Russia
In 2010, a bust of Jorge Icaza was placed in the MUZEON Park of Arts in Moscow, Russia where there are monuments of other worldwide intellectuals, such as the Russian writers Nikolai Gogol and Alexander Pushkin, and the Chilean writer Pablo Neruda.
Jorge Icaza 2006 stamp
Jorge Icaza on a 2006 stamp (bottom right) featuring the title character (on the left) of his 1958 novel El chulla Romero y Flores. It shows the title of the book’s 1965 German translation: Caballero im geborgten Frack. El chulla Romero y Flores was translated into over 20 languages.

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 PublicationLiterary workGenreNotes
1928El intrusoPlay
1929La comedia sin nombrePlay
1931¿Cuál es? y Como ellos quierenPlay
1932Sin sentidoPlay
1933El dictadorPlay
1933Barro de la sierraShort Story
1934HuasipungoNovelRead it for free here.
1935En las callesNovelRead it for free here.
1936FlageloPlayRead it for free here.
1937CholosNovelRead it for free here.
1942Media vida deslumbradosNovel
1948HuairapamushcasNovel
1958El chulla Romero y FloresNovel
1961Obras escogidasSelected works
1969RelatosShort Story
1972AtrapadosNovel

Partial list of Jorge Icaza’s works in translation

Original TitleLanguageTitleTranslatorPublisherYear
El chulla Romero y FloresGermanCaballero in geborgtem FrackHorst Lothar TeweleitBerlin Verl. Volk u. Welt1965
El chulla Romero y FloresFrenchL’homme De QuitoClaude CouffonLes Lettres
francaises, Nº833, 14-20 juillet 1960.
1960
El chulla Romero y FloresFrenchL’homme De QuitoClaude CouffonAlbin Michel1993
HuasipungoGermanHuasi-Pungo. Ruf der Indios. Roman.Paul ZechGreifenverlag, Rudolstadt1952
CholosItalianI meticciCarlo BoEinaudi, Torino1949
HuasipungoFrenchLa Fosse aux IndiensGeorges PillementParís, Ed . Pierre Fanlac1938
HuasipungoEnglishThe Villagers, a Novel. Authorized TranslationBernard M. DulseySouthern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL1964
HuasipungoEnglishHuasipungoMervyn SavillDennis Dobson Ltd, London1962
HuasipungoGermanHuasipungo. RomanSuzanne HeintzBornheim – Merten Lamuv1978
HuairapamuchcasSlovenianHuairapamuške: sinovi vetra: romanBarbara PregeljMladinska knjiga2001
HuasipungoGreekΟυαζιπούνγκοΠόλλα Ζαχοπούλου – Βλάχου (Pólla Zachopoúlou-Vláchou)ΚΑΣΤΑΝΙΩΤΗΣ (Kastaniōtē)1982
En las callesSlovakNa uliciachTibor KobáňVPL – Vydavateľstvo politickej literatúry1963
El chulla Romero y FloresRussianЧеловек из КитоСкины Вафа (Skina Vafa)Khudozhestvennaia literatura1966
HuasipungoHungarianIndián átokFüsi JózsefNyomtatta Athenaeum, Budapest.1949
HuairapamuchcasRomanianCopiii vîntuluiVlaicu Bârna, David MihailEditura pentru Literatură Universală1965
El chulla Romero y FloresCzechChlapík z QuitaVěra ProkopováPraha: SNKLU1963
CholosSlovenianMešanci: romanSilvester ŠkerlV Ljubljani: Cankarjeva založba1954
HuasipungoSerbianIndijanska poljaRajna Đurđev
Biblioteka Reč i misao
1964
FrenchUn roman : Terre indienne (I)Jean VietPoésie 47, n° 38mars 1947
FrenchUn roman : Terre indienne (II)Jean VietPoésie 47, n° 39mai 1947
FrenchUn roman : Terre indienne (III)Jean VietPoésie 47, n° 40août-septembre 1947
El chulla Romero y FloresUkrainianЛихі пригоди Ромеро-і-Флореса: прозрінняВадим Хазін (Vadim Khazin)Vydavnyt︠s︡tvo khudoz︠h︡nʹoï literatury “Dnipro”1967
HuasipungoHebrewאינדיאני על ההר: סיפור על נחלת דמיםIoram Melcerכרמל, Yerushalayim: Karmel2009
CholosFrench“Cholos”Lucie SobolSeghers1959
HuasipungoCzechIndiánská poleJaroslav Kuchválek, Miroslav PaťavaV Praze : Pavel Prokop : Svoboda1947
HuasipungoChinese養身地 / Yang shen diHao’erhe Yikasa zhu, Lin Zhimu yi上海譯文出版社, Shanghai : Shanghai yi wen chu ban she1986
En las callesRussianNa ulit︠s︡akhN. ZagorskoĭMoskva : Izd-vo Inostrannoĭ lit-ry1963
HuasipungoJapaneseワシプンゴ / Washipungo伊藤武好 Takeyoshi Ito朝日新聞社1974
HuasipungoItalianHuasipungoLucilla SoroElliot2018
HuasipungoPortugueseHuasipungoINALD – Instituto Nacional do Livro e do Disco1980
HuasipungoPolishHuasipungo: Dławiące dzierżawyTadeusz JakubowiczLudowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, Warszawa1950
HuasipungoItalianHuasipungoGiuseppe BelliniNuova Accademia, Milano1961
HuasipungoRussianУасипунгоV. Vinogradov (Виноградов В.)1976
Two short stories: “Sed” and “Exodo” originally from the collection “Barro de la sierra (cuentos)”FrenchGens de l’Equateur («Soif» et «Exode»)George PillementSeghers1945
Two short stories: “Patrón Rafico” originally published under the title “Capítulo para una novela inédita” (1945) and “Fantasía reincidente” (1960)FrenchNouvelles de Jorge Icaza et études critiquesOlga Caro Alda2005

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