Review by Booklist Review
This short Mexican classic, by a physician who served with Pancho Villa, has grown in stature since its first publication in 1915. Not only has it come to be seen as the novel of the Mexican revolution, but its flatly objective presentation and reliance on dialogue to move the story along anticipate writers as diverse as Carlos Fuentes and Manuel Puig. The story contrasts the intellectual and romantic sensibilities of Luis Cervantes with those of a ruthless but courageous rebel soldier, Demetrio Mac{{¡}}ias;both rise in Villa's army. Mac{{¡}}ias is coarse but compelling and in his way as romantic as Cervantes, but Azuela shows the hopeless fate of all ideals in wartime. The fighting is brutal, and one does not necessarily sympathize with the rebels, or despise the federales. The rugged Mexican backcountry is almost a character here, and the simple life of the campesinos is vividly portrayed. This is a new translation, the first with access both to the original version (published in installments in a Texas newspaper) and the author's own emendations. But it could have been written yesterday and should have popular appeal as well as a place among other Latin American novels. With commentary by Carlos Fuentes. (Reviewed Oct. 15, 1992)082293728XJohn Mort
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
If Los de abajo , long considered one of the masterpieces of revolutionary literature in Mexico, has not received wide recognition north of the border, it is not for lack of trying. This is its fourth translation into English. Azuela himself described the book as ``a series of sketches and scenes of the constitutionalist revolution,'' at the center of which is Demetrio Macias, an Indian farmer who, following a petty fight with the local boss, became a bandit--which in 1913-1916 was basically the same thing as a revolutionary. His heroism must be read in the context of fellow rebels, like Luis Cervantes, the sometime journalist who spouts heroic claptrap between bouts of cowardice and avarice, or the brutal and crude Margarito. Unlike Azuela, who was a medical officer with Pancho Villa's forces, Macias does not know for whom or what he is fighting and is eventually trapped. Fornoff has wisely avoided translating the quickly outmoded Spanish slang into equally transient English; rather, he leaves Azuela's spare, lucid prose to tell its own story of the tyranny of revolution. This volume in the Pittsburgh Editions of Latin American Literature also includes scholarly essays by Carlos Fuentes, Seymour Menton and Jorge Ruffinelli. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Azuela was one of several well-known Latin American writers, among them Martin Luis Guzman, Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes, and Rafael Munoz, who worked in the genre known as the ``novel of the Mexican Revolution.'' Although Azuela (1873-1952) wrote Los de Abajo ( The Underdogs ) in 1915, it didn't begin to have a following until almost a decade later. Azuela received the Prize in Letters from the Mexican National Society for the Arts and Sciences in 1940 and remained Mexico's foremost novelist until his death. The novel chronicles the conflict between the revolutionaries and the federales (government troops), focusing on war and its effect on the people. This translation, accompanied by critical essays, is the first volume in a series that promises to introduce authoritative new English editions of classic works. Recommended for libraries that purchase Latin American literature.-- Peggie Partello, Keene State Coll., N.H. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
