Product Description

Recognized as the greatest novel of the Mexican Revolution, the tale of a heroic Indian, Demetrio Macias, battling side by side with Pancho Villa, captures the common man's struggles and sacrifices during a difficult period in history. Reprint."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54210 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-01
• Original language: Spanish
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780140266214
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Language Notes
Text: Spanish

From the Publisher
Titles of related interest from Waveland Press: Arguedas (trans. Barraclough), Deep Rivers (ISBN 9781577662440); Azuela (trans. Fornoff), The Underdogs (ISBN 9781577662419); Asturias (trans. Partridge), The President (ISBN 9780881339512).

Customer Reviews

My two cents
More than a review this is a comment to those who wrote reviews before me.
First of all, this is NOT a history book. If you're interested in learning about the Mexican Revolution pick up a history book.
Second of all, you didn't get the point. It's not about the life of rural Mexico, or how people lived, or how they lost their ideals. It's about joining "la bola" the mass of people fighting for no particular reason. The "campesinos" didn't really join the fight because they believed they were getting land and freedom, they joined because they believed in their leaders, joining the fight for the love of their "jefe" or simply to join "la bola".
I'm sure many of you will disagree with me, and I'm sure there were exceptions to what I'm saying, but I'm only commenting on what Mariano Azuela was trying to get across; don't forget, Azuela fought in the war.

THIS REVIEW REFERS TO THE CLASSIC EDITION OF THIS ESSENTIAL ANTI-WAR NOVEL INTRODUCED BY ENGLEKIRK WITH GLOSSARY BY KIDDLE
Among the earliest editions of this important, objective, journalistic, anti-war novel, which thus speaks much to our brutal and lethal presence in Iraq, is that presented by Englekirk and Kiddle around 1940, again in 1971 (the edition which I have) and again twenty years later.

Englekirk prepares us for understanding the historical context and significance with a forty page biography of the author, Dr. Mariano Azuela, who as well as writer served his long life as a doctor, providing free medical care to the poor in fulfilling his lifelong ideals. Five more pages present the Mexican revolution of 1910, and twenty additional pages are dedicated to discussing the language read in Los de abajo, the dialect of the poor campesinos of the northern and western area of Mexico, a Spanish which is not Castilian. A bibliography of works by the author follows, as well as a listing of critical studies.

An over fifty page glossary completes this very comprehensive volume, which has often and long been used in teaching Spanish as a second language to high school students. We realize of course the better way to teach students a second language would be for them to trace the author's footsteps for a few years in Mexico and thus to hear and to speak only this language for their very survival and comfort, but this text offers a distant substitute which might put too many pupils to sleep but nevertheless tantalizes with the promise of vivid tales of adventure and of ideals.

The two editors note the early phenomenon in second language education of expurgating texts which were deemed "overly realistic" and remark in the preface: "This excessively protective attitude on the part of both editors and publishers amounted to a form of censorship. Such a procedure is highly out of place today. Our present edition of 'Los de abajo' is, therefore, the complete text of Azuela's novel (p. vii)."

We perhaps have returned to an "excessively protective attitude" in our schools, watchful for liability and offending parents, and despite the easy availability to our youth outside of school, in fact in the home, of material far more offensive. Perhaps the earthiness of this novel would find censure by certain school boards, which fortunately do not read, and which do not normally read Spanish. Perhaps this novel could also find accusations of Marxism, accusations which have never been inhibited by the utter lack of any evidence. Nevertheless, it is a great novel for our children to read, and an important novel for us all to read.

Several other editions are easily available, and an early if shortened filming as well (Los de Abajo), but certainly this edition with the certain guidance and assistance from Englekirk and Kiddle renders this great novel most comprehensible to the US reader unfamiliar with the history and language of western Mexico.

Highly recommended not only for the history and language lessons, but above all for the universal lessons of the destructiveness of war, that war cannot create peace and social development, that war only destroys, including its most unfortunate survivors. This is the most important lesson for us now. Read the book.

THE personalized novel of the Mexican Revolution
Just as Los Cipreses Creen en Dios personalizes the Spanish Civil War by presenting it through the daily life of the Alvear family of Gerona, Spain, Los de Abajo intensely captures the feeling of the Mexican Revolution by letting us live it through the experiences of Demetrio Macías and his family. I have lived in Mexico, was raised in New Mexico, am very fluent in Spanish, and am part Cherokee. This helps me evaluate the degree to which Azuela grasps the sentiments of the characters he portrays. In my opinion, he does a masterful job on all levels. Even the relative simplicity with which he describes historical and social factors communicates authenticity, in that intelligent but uneducated peasants such as Demetrio did not comprehend the sociological complexity that underlay the Revolution.

This is a novel that so deeply moved me that I still recall its last sentence even though I last saw it twenty years ago: "Y Demetrio Macías, sus ojos fijos para siempre, sigue apuntando por el cañon de su fusil." This, in sum, is a very memorable novel.