Huasipungo

Huasipungo (hispanicized spelling from Kichwa wasipunku or wasi punku, wasi house, punku door,[1] "house door") is a 1934 novel by Jorge Icaza (1906-1978) of Ecuador.

Huasipungo became a well-known "Indigenist" novel, a movement in Latin American literature that preceded Magical Realism and emphasized brutal realism.

Huasipungo is often compared to John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath from 1939, as both are works of social protest. Besides the first edition of 1934, Huasipungo went through two more editions or complete rewritings in Spanish, 1934, 1953, 1960, the first of which was difficult for even natives of other Hispanic countries to read and the last the definitive version.

Besides being an "indigenist" novel, Huasipungo has also been considered a proletarian novel, in that Latin America had to substitute the Indians for the working class as a model or character of proletarian literature.

Huasipungo has been translated into over 40 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, and Russian.

  1. ^ Fabián Potosí C. et al., Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador: Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu, Runa Shimi - Mishu Shimi, Mishu Shimi - Runa Shimi. Quito (DINEIB, Ecuador) 2009. (Kichwa-Spanish dictionary)