Latin American Literature In Translation

"Guzmán was uniquely qualified to offer his critique of the Mexican political scene. His resume reveals a man who lived the Revolution as military commander, advisor, confidant, emissary, politician, academic, and writer. The style of The Shadow of the Strongman borrows from each of those diverse experiences to become, in many ways, a mixed genre that hovers between novel and biography, invention and history. Great reading for anyone interested in Mexico. The novel is not easy to translate. Guzmán is writing about political and historical events that require realistic accuracy while also incorporating complex and poetic descriptions of people and places. Pellón is to be congratulated for his translation that understands this duality." —Douglas J. Weatherford, Brigham Young University

"Chasteen conveys [the novel's] power and action, as well as the colorful language and humor of the gaucho found in the original text. Acree's astute introduction contextualizes the life and exploits of Argentina’s great 19th-century bandit hero. Moreira's humanity and heroism come through clearly to the modern reader. Thanks to Gutiérrez's skillful blending of fact and fiction about Moreira, readers today will learn a great deal about the social realities and folk customs of 19th-century gauchos. General readers will enjoy the action and pathos of this early work of ‘true crime.’ Instructors seeking to engage their students with a compelling tale of 19th-century Latin American class conflict and social injustice will want to assign the book in their courses."
    —Richard W. Slatta, North Carolina State University

"An engaging entry point for students, readers who enjoy a well-crafted short story, or anyone interested in the legacy of slave-holding society in the Western Hemisphere. I attribute the success of [t]his volume to the way Chasteen highlights points of personal identification for an English-speaking readership, especially students, and the way he frames these short stories by Machado as relevant sources for a comparative history of racial politics in Brazil and the USA. . . . In my evaluations of Chasteen's translations, I am drawing from student reactions to their first exposure to Machado through this volume in a course about Brazilian culture taught at the University of California, Los Angeles. In short, they loved Machado and quickly made him their own. I credit this immediate embrace with the way Chasteen has selected, ordered, and framed the collection with a young student audience in mind. He introduces Machado with selections that reflect the concerns of an educated class through the eyes of a young university student." —Machado de Assis em linha, The Electronic Journal of Machado Studies

In addition to a fresh translation of Los de Abajo, Azuela's classic novel of the Mexican Revolution, this volume offers both a general Introduction to the work and an extensive appendix setting the novel in its historical, literary, and political context.  Related texts include contemporary reviews of Azuela's book, an excerpt from Anita Brenner's Idols Behind Altars (1929), and selections from John Reed's Insurgent Mexico (1914).

"Pellón's translation marks a clear improvement over the previous English versions of this seminal novel.  Pellón captures the crisp, tense, and terse dialogue of Azuela's original, and I believe that his decision to leave some words in Spanish is a good one, given that most of the words involved are already well known to the non-Spanish speaking public.  The retention of these Spanish words adds flavor to the translation without turning it into a 'Taco Bell' version of the novel.  I am so enthusiastic about Pellón's translation that I believe it should become the standard edition of Los de Abajo read in America. . . In short, this new translation is worthy of the classic on which it is based.  I will certainly use it in my courses, but more to the point, I will recommend it to my colleagues teaching courses on English literature, Comparative literature, and American studies." —Roberto González Echevarría, Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literatures, Yale University

David Frye’s abridgment of his 2003 translation of The Mangy Parrot captures all of the narrative drive, literary innovation, and biting social commentary that established Lizardi’s comic masterpiece as the Don Quixote of Latin America.

“Finally, an engaging, full-fledged rendition of the first Latin American novel ever—and still one of the savviest. José Joaquin Fernández de Lizardi invented Mexico . . . and David Frye shows us how.”
     —Ilan Stavans