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

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