Playwright Jorge Icaza's literary career began as a playwright. His plays include
El Intruso in 1928,
La Comedia sin Nombre in 1929,
Cuál es in 1931,
Sin Sentido in 1932, and
Flagelo, which was published in 1936. After his 1933 playscript,
El Dictador, was censured, Icaza turned his attention to writing novels about the social conditions in Ecuador, particularly the oppression suffered by its indigenous people.
Novelist With the publication of
Huasipungo in 1934, Icaza achieved international fame. The book became a well-known
"Indigenist" novel, a movement in
Latin American literature that aspired to
realism in its depiction of the mistreatment of the indigenous. Fragments of the book first appeared in English translation in
Russia, where it was welcomed enthusiastically by Russia's peasant socialist class. Jorge Icaza was later appointed Ecuador's
ambassador to Russia. The first complete edition of
Huasipungo was translated into
English in 1962 by Mervyn Savill and published in
England by Dennis Dobson Ltd. An "authorized" translation appeared in 1964 by Bernard H. Dulsey, and was published in 1964 by
Southern Illinois University Press in
Carbondale, IL as "The Villagers". His other books include
Sierra (1933),
En las calles (1936),
Cholos (1938),
Media vida deslumbrados (1942),
Huayrapamushcas (1948),
Seis relatos (1952),
El chulla Romero y Flores (1958), and
Atrapados (1973). Although the latter two books are recognized as Icaza's greatest literary achievements by experts (such as Theodore Alan Sackett),
Huasipungo continues to be his most popular book and has been translated to over 40 languages. ==Impact==