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Overview
Writing with force and clarity, Vallejo makes it hard to turn away from the anger and suffering that breathe through these pages. He explains and dramatizes the roots of the hatred, bitterness, and fear often expressed by Third World intellectuals--not so much against the American people, but against the large corporations and the U.S. Government.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
The characters in this 1931 agitprop novel by the celebrated Peruvian poet Vallejo (who died in 1938) are all stereotypes. Mr. Taik, pipe-smoking manager of a U.S. mining company, drools arrogant paternalism. Fat, crafty Jose Marino, labor contractor and accomplice of the yanquis, willingly hands over his Indian girlfriend Graciela for a gang rape. Servando Huanca, the working-class hero, is pure Indian, humble yet noble. With its sloganeering and flimsy, schematic plot, Tungsten might be unreadable today, except that Vallejo, himself half-Indian, summoned up his lyrical powers and rage in documenting how the Quechuan Indians were swindled out of their farms and ``conscripted'' to slave in Andean mines and plantations for the gringos' profit. The deft translation by poet Mezey captures Vallejo's gritty portrayal of neocolonialism. In an extensive introductory essay, O'Connor sets the noveltranslated into English here for the first timein the context of South American protest literature. (Nov.)Library Journal
The noted Peruvian poet's only major novel (1931), appearing for the first time in English, is written in the indigenista tradition of protesting the abuse of Indians. Practically plotless, it focuses on the heinous exploitation of tungsten mine workers until a noble native, inexplicably not introduced until the novel is half over, vindicates the victims' rights. This proletarian novel, a mouthpiece for Vallejo's leftist, anti-imperialist ideology, succeeds only at the level of ineffectual declamation. The plain prose and stereotyped characters fail to move the reader to react with horror to the miners' oppression, as the author intended. Of historical interest only. Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, OhioBooknews
This is the first translation into English of Vallejo's only novel, a best seller in Spain and the USSR. It is a passionate documentation of a representative movement in modern Peruvian history, and a powerful indictment of North American corporations and their malign impact on the people of Peru, particularly the Indians of the Andes. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Book Details
Published
January 1, 1988
Publisher
Syracuse University Press
Pages
168
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780815602262