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SOCIETY AND ARTISTIC TECHNIQUE,
IN THE NOVELS OF THE
“GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

Thesis for the Degree of :Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
KARL H. .HEISE
1972

 

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This is to certify that the

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SOCIETY AND ARTISTIC TECHNIQUE
IN THE NOVELS OF THE "GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

presented by
Karl H. Heise

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

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ABSTRACT

SOCIETY AND ARTISTIC TECHNIQUE
IN THE NOVELS OF THE "GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

By

Karl H. Heise

During the thirties and forties a group of Ecuadorian
novelists composed of José de la Cuadra, Joaquin Gallegos
Lara. Enrique Gil Gilbert, Demetrio Aguilera Malta. Alfredo
Pareja Diezcanseco. and Adalberto Ortiz formed a literary
association known as the "Grupo de Guayaquil". Their aim
was to analyze and denounce social ills in coastal Ecuador
through novels that had artistic value.

Their point of departure was Los gue se van (1930),

a collection of short stories written by Gallegos Lara,
Gil Gilbert. and Aguilera Malta. This book was hailed at
the time as a phenomenon unique in the national literature
for its bold and frank exposition of littoral society.

Society was treated in the novels with emphasis
on positive qualities in lower class characters. in the light
of their relation to other characters and the environment,
and their role in history.

Interaction was stressed between the characters and

their environment, as well as between the characters themselves.

Language and syntax were imitative of the speech of the

i

Heise

ii
coastal poor. Characters were treated as individuals, even when
they symbolized race or class. Lyrical attributes and a sense
of beauty were often achieved in the portrayal of coastal
Ecuadorian life.

Pareja Diezcanseco. Aguilera Malta, and Ortiz con-
tinued to write after the mid-forties. They no longer limited
the scenario to the Ecuadorian coast, examined society more
objectively than in previous work, viewed history primarily
for its effect on the characters' psychologies. and experi-
mented with contemporary narrative techniques.

The 'Grupo de Guayaquil” again showed that it is
possible to write novels of social concern that are also

works of art.

SOCIETY AND ARTISTIC TECHNIQUE
IN THE NOVELS OF THE "GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

By

(’0
Karl H? Heise

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Romance Languages

1972

Copyright by
Karl H. Heise

1972

TO MY ECUADORIAN FRIENDS

Introduction

Chapter 1.:

Chapter 11.:

Chapter 111.:

Chapter V.:

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendices

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The "Grupo de Guayaquil”: Its Members
and Novelistic Aims

L s ue Se Vans The Point of
eparture

The Novelistic Treatment of
Society

The Writers as Artists

The Legacy of the "Grupo de Guayaquil”
and the Contemporary Novels

p.

18

39

63

113

178

211

215

222

INTRODUCTION

During the period from the thirties through the mid-
forties the Ecuadorian novel experienced a revitalization.
Ecuador's young writers were preoccupied with global and
national political and socio-economic problems. They felt
compelled to take a stand on those problems. using narrative
fiction for the conveyance of their ideas and opinions.

They focused attention on social ills through a process or
"denunciation and protest."1

Ecuador produced nearly a score of novelists during
the thirties. Jorge Icaza divides them into three groups.
according to geographical location.2 One of these, based
in the capital, was known as "El grupo de Quito." It was
composed of Jorge Icaza, Fernando Chaves, Humberto Salvador.
Enrique Teran. and Jorge Fernandez. Another, located in the
cities of Cuenca and Loja. was called “81 Grupo del Austro."
Angel F. Rojas, G. Humberto Mata, and Alfonso Cuesta y Cuesta
were the members of this group. The third, "El Grupo de
Guayaquil", was located along the coast. Originally it was
made up of José de la Cuadra, Enrique Gil Gilbert, Joaquin
Gallegos Lara, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, and Alfredo Pareja
Diezcanseco. Later, Adalberto Ortiz became the sixth

member. This latter group is the subject of my study.

Although the groups worked independently of each
other, they had a spiritual unity stronger than physical
or geographical proximity. Jorge Icaza refers to their
writings as "obras todas ... en las cuales, a pesar de
sus diferencias regionales, latia un fondo unificador,
un espiritu de emoci6n propia que era a la vez e1 espiritu

"3

del continente hispanoamericano. Icaza further states:

"Parece imposible que se pueda hablar de
expresién unificada 0 de un solo espiritu en
un pais como el nuestro ... No obstante, fue
la literatura --es ecialmente e1 relato ... --.
la que ... advirtio con claridad meridiana ...
la posibilidad y la existencia de un contorno
y de un espiritu definitivos. En esas obras
... e1 contenido emocional era mas transcendente
y sincero que cualquier experiencia estética
llegada de Occidente. Era mas elemental, mas
nuestro--a pesar de su probreza de recursos
técnicos, a pesar de su ingenHidad primitiva,

a pesar de su precipitacion."

As Icaza suggests, many writers of that period
lacked artistic finesse. These Ecuadorians, not unlike
many of their contemporaries in Peru, Bolivia, and
Mexico,5 were interested in a literature of pragmatism,
rather than escapism. For the most part, theirs was
literature of urgent necessity, indignation, and anger.
In their world brutal landholders exploited underlings
in a state of neo-feudalism, poor people endured disease,
overwork, short life-span, and the complete absence of
dignity, with no ideal more important than the next meal,

and sensualism born of desperation and resembling the

conduct of beasts. At times they emphasized the sordid
aspects of society to such an extent that the final product
had little more resemblance to reality than did the

earlier modernists' excusions into fantasy and exoticism.
Enrique Anderson Imbert points out that the "... languaje
crudo, exageraci6n de lo sombrio y lo sérdido, valentia en
la exhibicién de verguenzas nacionales, sinceridad en el
propdsito combative, dan a esta literature mas valor moral
que artistico.”6 Arturo Torres-Rioseco is of much the same
opinion as the Argentinian critic:

"... el tema indigena ha sido casi completamente

acaparado por un grupo de novelistas militantes

que se han dedicado a exponer los despiadados

aspectos de la esclavitud india ... . Estos

Jovenes escritores, ecuatorianos en su mayori

muestran un categorico menosprecio por la gramktica,

por el estilo. por la sintaxis y hasta or e1
sentido comun. ... Sin embargo, sus libros tienen
el mérito incuestionable de mogtrar un estado

de cosas espantoso y real ...

Both critics agree that Ecuadorian socially-oriented
literature of the thirties owes its value more to content
than to form. Nonetheless, the young novelists were just
beginning to create a national literary identification
and individuality. As Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco points
out through a character in one of his novels, "Nuestra
novela de hoy es una formidable novela, aunque recién

nacida. Y es de suponer que mejorara. Porque un pufiado

de muchachos no puede hacer mas en el primer momento.

4

iExperiencia, sagrada experiencia!"8 The first appearance
of a literary movement indigenous to Ecuador and applica-
ble to only Latin America did not arrive until the thirties.
However, the new writers were not the first in
their country to treat social 1118. Emuadorian men
of letters have been aware of their country's social
problems since they first began producing literature. If
one is to accept as truth what is written by Ecuador's
literati as they portrayed their countrymen, he must
become aware that the physical and economic well-being
of the lower classes is in a sorry state. In Juan Le5n
Mera's "chateaubriandesque" idealization of the Indian,
Cumanda, (1879) the landholder-turned-priest protagonist
speaks for the author when he observes the injustices
suffered by the Indian and considers justifiable his
savagery against the white men. Juan Montalvo once wrote:
"Si mi pluma tuviese don de lagrimas, yo escribiria un
libro titulado El Indio, y haria llorar al mundo."9
Gonzalo Zaldumbide's Egloga Tragica (1910), through the
the description of a love affair between a white land-
holder and an Indian girl, shows the vast differences
in social status between the members of the two races.
Similarly, Fernando Chaves, in glata y Bronce (1927),

shows the social and psychological chasm between the

5

white and the Indian, and in La Embrujada (1927) demonstrates

 

how this gap can be broadened by hate then filled with
violence when the vengeful Indian protagonist rapes the
daughter of a white landholder. Thus sporadically, but
consistently, social problems were treated in the Ecuadorian
novel throughout the latter nineteenth century and the

first decades of the twentieth.

There is furthermore one main precursor for the
novels dealing with the Ecuadorian coast that appeared
in the third and fourth decades of the present century.
A la Costa (l90h), by Luis A. Martinez, is of primary
importance in understanding the Ecuador into which the

six novelists of this study were born. In A la Costa

 

Martinez presents a country of social suffering,

class conflict, interior political struggle, and regional

prejudices, that is not essentially different from the

one with which the six authors of the "Grupo de Guayaquil“

deal in their work.10
A la Costa is a novel of transition, whose action

takes place around 1895, during the campaigns of the

11 It is an ambitious novel

Liberal caudillo, Eloy Alfaro.
in which every Ecuadorian human and social element is
brought forth with the exception of the Indian, who is
mentioned only in passing.

Most of the first part of the novel is not of great

importance, since Martinez is most concerned with presenting

the triumph of Liberalism over Conservatism in Ecuador.12

The second half is of value to this study, for there
Martinez becomes an observer of the Ecuadorian coast and
its ever-increasing importance in the national life.13
Martinez achieves admirable contrast between the
two principal regions of his country. The tropical coast
opposes the high Andes, the colorful language of the montuviol“
contrasts with the unaffected Spanish of the highland
people, the liberal political ideals from the River Guayas
area clash with the conservative ones from the sierra,
and the growing and aggressive giant that is Guayaquil
counters the serene and Catholic city of Quito.15
Like Martinez, the novelists of the "Grupo de
Guayaquil" hope their novels will influence society. In
its attention to social phenomena, ethnic elements, poli-
tical division, and geographic influence A Is Costa
is the precursor for the next generation of novels.16
Nonetheless, the writers from the coastal tropics
who appear in the thirties do not follow Martinez' technique
of lengthy description. They attempt newer, more effective

means of artistic expression, paying much more attention to

dialogue. While Martinez is somewhat Olympian in his

treatment of Ecuadorian society, the later generation of
novelists treat it from the point of view of belonging to
it, especially where the lower classes are concerned.17

Martinez takes an important step in the development of

the Ecuadorian novel. The novelists of the thirties

and the forties quicken the pace and step more boldly.

Of the three novelistic groups, the one from

Guayaquil possesses several distinctive features. It

represents the first modern effort in the Ecuadorian

novel to focus attention on the coast and its inhabitants

as Sources for artistic interpretation. It concentrates

on the native socio-ethnic types. The Blacks, and especially

the coastal cholo18 and the montuvio are the principal

Characters in its novels. It was the most prolific of the

thr‘ee groups.19 It was also the most concerned with

balancing artistic awareness and social conscience. Its

er‘ters wanted to set the Ecuadorian novel on a course

that was artistically sound, so their literature would have

Value beyond the given historical moment. Many of their

novels are now in second or third editions, and some have
been translated and have been favorably received by
literary critics abroad. These facts attest to their
Cont inuing appeal.

Much of the critical evaluation of the "Grupo de

Gu .
a‘5’aqu:Ll's" novelistic production has been erroneous or

8

general. Anderson Imbert and Torres-Rioseco, whose work

treats the panorama of Spanish American literature, tend
to consider the entire novelistic production of Ecuador

during the thirties as concerned almost exclusively with

social commentary, having little artistic value. Apparently,

they hold representative the work of novelists like Jorge

Icaza, whose novels in that period do put thesis above

technique. Even critics who concentrate on the novel,

like Fernando Alegria, dedicate very little Space to the

Ecuadorian writers since the thirties, and fail to recognize

snrfficiently the artistic value of the work produced by

the: coastal authors.20 Within Ecuador, there have been

thrwae major critical studies that deal specifically

Witii prose fiction: Benjamin Carri5n's Eeruevo Relato

 

Ecua‘toriano, (1958) Edmundo Ribadeneira's La Moderna

 

 

 

-EQXEEQ£LEEEQ$9§2§Q§, (1958) and Angel F. Rojas' La Novela

\Ecuatoriana. (1911(8 )

131 ELrtistic technique between individual writers and

While they recognize differences

betwleen groups, and attribute artistic value to the work
of the "Grupo de Guayaquil", they neither consider it in
de131ih nor distinguish its novels for being equally

Val uable as works of art and social documents. Perhaps
the most perceptive study belongs to Rojas. However,

h . .
e laments the general and schematic nature of his

9

evaluation of both social and artistic merit in the work

of the coastal novelists.21 Other studies have treated

individual authors of the group, or have dealt with it

within a general context.22 In 1951 Reuben Siegel wrote

a Doctoral Dissertation on the "Grupo dc Guayaquil9. His
study is general, dealing with all the fiction written by

the group. He states that his purpose is "to help shed

light on the Guayaquil authors."23 No study has appeared

that evaluates specifically the novels of the group. Neither

has one appeared that confirms both the social and the

artistic values of the novels. This study proposes to fill

both these lacunae.
After the mid-forties the "Grupo de Guayaquil" ceased

to exist as a literary nucleus, because of the deaths of
de la Cuadra and Gallegos Lara, the lack of literary activity

on the part of Gil Gilbert, and the extensive travels of the

remEtining three. Nonetheless, these three have continued to

ev(I’lve as artists and have been writing novels up to the

present time. Ortiz, and especially Aguilera Malta and Pareja
Diezcanseco, participate in the contemporary literary move-
wants that have made the world look to the Spanish American
novel for its artistic craftsmanship as well as its content-
While this Dissertation is concerned primarily with

an QValuation of the work of the six writers when they

1‘ .
Llh<l‘tioned as a novelistic group, a secondary purpose lS

»10

to determine the extent of the artistic maturation in
the contemporary novels of those who have continued
their literary involvement.

As background for my study, I made brief visits
to Ecuador in 1969 and in 1970 where I interviewed the
surviving members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil". The
purpose of those interviews was to gain knowledge from
the authors' personal insights into the successes and
shortcomings of the novels written by them in the past,
'h3.1earn their attitudes concerning the goals of the
novels they are writing in the present, and to ascertain

the 1cole they see themselves playing in the process of

the IScuadorian novel in particular and the Spanish

Amerfiican novel in general.
In addition, I obtained interviews with the novelists

Jorge Icaza and G. Humberto Mata, and the critics Angel

F° IRojas and Edmundo Ribadeneira. They are contemporaries

OfI‘tlle novelists from the coast. The purpose of inter-
vieWing them was to gain breadth and depth in my appraisal
or 13he "Grupo de Guayaquil's" novels.

I am e5pecially grateful to Adalberto Ortiz, Angel
F- Ficsjas, Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, and Jorge Icaza.
They gave me many hours of their time beyond those allotted

f
(lb itI‘ormal interviews. They met with me in the most relaxed

Sit . . . . . .
LIEltions, in some cases introduced me to their families

11-

and acquaintances, answered happily even my most
elementary questions, and in general treated me as a
friend. Moreover, they encouraged me in my project
and offered their warmest support.

Finally, I must express gratitude to Albion
College, which supported my trips through its Faculty
:Summer Research Fellowship Program. In addition to
meeting leading novelists and critics, I was able to
'visit the Ecuadorian coast, particularly the regions of
Chuayaquil and Esmeraldas, and experience for myself
Sonusthing of what inspired the novelists of the

"Grulpo de Guayaquil".

NOTES

1. The writers themselves characterized their con-
sistent theme in the novel as "denuncia y protesta social."

2. Jorge lcaza, "Relato, Espiritu Unificador en la
Generaci6n del Ano 30," Letras del‘Egaudor, No. 129 (1965),

pp. 10-11.
3. Icaza, p. 10.
u. Icaza, pp. 10-11.

5. As points of reference, Ciro Alegria in Perfi,
.Alcides Ar uedas in Bolivia, and Mariano Azuela and
(lregorio Lopez y Fuentes in Mexico are examples of
‘writers from Spanish America who were contemporaries of
‘qu Ecuadorian writers under discussion and who also
cruncentrated on social themes and the portrayal of lower

class socio-ethnic types in their novels.

. 6. Enrique Anderson Imbert, Historia de la Literatura
Elfiiganoamcricagg (México: Fondo de Cultura EconEmica, 1961),

 

 

p. 253,
, 7. Arturo Torres-Rioseco, Nueva Histpria de la Gran
Lllxeratggg Iberoamericana (Buenos Aires: EmecE Editores,
1. . p. 191.

8. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, El Aire_y los Recuerdos
(Ihaeenos Aires: Editorial Losada, 1959775P- 35-

b 9. Juan Montalvo, §1_§§pgqtadqr. The quotation is
forirowed from Angel F. Rojas, La Novela Ecuatgriana (Mexico:
cnicio de Cultura Ecuatoriana, l9h8), p. 27.

( - 10. Manuel J. Calle, in Luis A. Martinez, A la ngta
Q“Alto: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1946), Intro.,

p0 XXVI.

(Q - 11. Benjamin Carri6n, §1_Nug1gdgglgtg.Ecuatqrianq
uJfito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958Y, pp. 65-67.

12. Augusto Arias, Luis A. Magtiggg (Quito: Imprenta

de1_ lMinisterio de Gobierno, 1937;.
Arias points out that much of A la Costa is auto-

b‘ -...
loR‘raphical. For example, he indicates (p. 108) that
12

13

Martinez was himself a middle-class Liberal, as is one

of his protagonists. He also notes (p. 71) that the
poligguniti§_palfidiqg from which another of his characters
suffers was also an affliction of Martinez.

13. Edmundo Ribadeneira, La MQQQEQQ-NQYQLQ.EQQQEQEAQQQ
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958), p. 49.
Ribadeneira observes that "E1 problema social
ecuatoriano, en su doble marco geografico de sierra y costa,
constituye la esencia y el sentido de A_l§-gqsta."

l4. Throughout the Guayaquil area and generally more
Ethnically, he is a mixture

inland one finds the montgvig.
of Indian, Black, and White. Jose de la Cuadra estimates
thatzthe montugiq is approximately sixty percent Indian,

'Uiirty percent Black, and ten percent White. One should
txxar in mind that his are only approximate figures. When
cmue questions Ecuadorians today on the same matter, he
fUJTds a great deal of variation in the estimated percentages
0f‘:raoial composition. The montuvio is generally considered

intuelligent, introspective, and independent.
See de la Cuadra, "E1 Montuvio Ecuatoriano," Obras

ggguglgtgg (Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958 ,
. 8,

ggt_ (Quito: Casa de la

 

15. Luis A. Martinez, A 1a_g

CulftLue.Ecuatoriana, 1946).
As the author begins the second part ofihis novel

r“? égives the following description of the contrasting

Andean and coastal Geography (p. 145):
" se descubre otra zona, otra naturaleza, un

Eundo nunca imaginado por el habitante de las cordilleras.

Bis cerros ... se aplanan y casi se'hunden en_un abismo.

fi I='->osque trepa afanoso hasta las mas altas cimas: "2 a1
r1 cerros, colinas, barrancos, se confunden, disfuminan,

D
3:5381parecen ... para convertirse en una llanura infinita
alfnCD el mar... . Y en esa inmensa pampa brillan aqui y
:rfl‘éi algunos ... puntos que indican curves de inmensos
€953: ... un.aire caliente y denso bana ese gigantesco
gzlSaje ... . Hacia la izquierda del observador se levanta
filtla llanura una altis1ma cordillera azul turqui: es el
Jame contrafuerte de lost viejos Andes, que avanzan hasta

e C I O I O
ei’ IImacifico. Esa tierra vaporosa, esa llanura infinita,
3 1.a Costa ecuatoriana."

14

Although Martinez' description is more that of
an observer of the coast than a participant in the total
environment, as is the case of the writers of the "Grupo
de Guayaquil", it still must be recognized as the first
major novelistic effort in that direction.

While Martinez does not go to the extemes of
transposing the speech of the poor coastal inhabitant as
do the next generation of writers, he does make some ortho-
praphical recognition of the coastal accent. Here is a
segment of a conversation between a man from the highlands

and one from the coast (pp. 186-87):
"--Eta bien. Dende mafiana Uté saldra al

campo con una cuadrilla. Como supongo que Ute no sabra
cosa~de provecho en cacao, e1 guia de la cuadrilla 1e
ensenaré. ...

-—Ya aprenderé.....
--.....'Si Ute cree que trabajar de agricultor

es cosa facil, et equivocao. No es lo mismo que quemarsc
pnestafia sobre libros. iQué familial"

, After the first part of the novel, which is
Bert in great colonial mansions and imposing cathedrals, the

{Villowing description of Guayaquil offers a striking contrast
p. 173 3

"... Al fondo de esta antesala de cerrillos de
-Feciondas cumbres, y como saliendo de las aguas del rIo, asoma
Guayaquil, con sus esbeltas torres, las chimeneas de las

fibricas, los claros y alegres edificios, los buques

afiuarrados a los muelles, los grandee vapores del Pacifico
a“clados en la mitad del rIo, penachos de humo negro que sale
Ch? las fabricas y vapores, grupos de palmeras entre las casas,
5' Ian sol de oro, e1 sol de las cuatro de la tarde que hace

centellear e1 rIo, ilumina magicamente la ciudad ..."

l6. Enrique Gil Gilbert, in Luis A. Martinez, A la Costa

(Cilaito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1946), Intro., p. VII.
Gil Gilbert says of Martinez, "Hombre de su tiempo,

erhpapado de pasiones politicas, actor 61 mismo, no entiende
‘3§?Ei sutileza encubridora, ese burladero del compromiso
hilsstorico que denominan serenidad; ni tampoco quiere que
e:L artista ... y cl hombre tengan distinctos camnos de
a(Scion. Se siente una sola persona y entiende que su obra
1t‘L-‘teraria no debe estar divorciada de su accion cuotidiana;

antes bicn, sabe que es parte de ella."
Gil Gilbert could well be talking about himself

31nd his contemporaries with the same words he uses to describe
a:Ir‘tfnez.

 

1“- 17. Manuel Pedro Gonzalez, "Trends in Hispanic American
3<terature," Books Abroad, XVII (1943), n. 19.

15

Speaking of Hispanic-American literature in general,
Gonzalez observes: "... In the past, the educated Indian

or negro endeavored to emulate the white man and usually
... But today, the educated Negro and Indian,

succeeded.
far from striving to imitate the thought patterns of the
white man, take pride in fostering and developing their

own racial and artistic traits and characteristics.”
With the exception of Adalberto Ortiz, the writers

in the "Grupo de Guayaquil“ are only sympathizers with
the socio-ethnic types in their novels. They belong to

the lower classes only in spirit.

Waldo Frank, "El Siglo del Mestizo," Letras del'
.Ecuador, No. 42 (Febrero de 1949), pp. 15-16.
Frank's article points out that the time is ripe
in Hispanic America for people of the mixed bloods of all
Juices (such as the cholos and montuvios in coastal Ecuador)
'ho become an important, self-expressive, and integral part
<xf the continent. Again, with the exception of Ortiz,
the writers dealt with in this study are essentially
nmnnbers of the upper (in this case middle) classes writing

about people in the lower classes.

18. The cholo is an element of both the highlands and
the! coast. In the highlands the term is fairly synonymous
Wl1fli mestizo (the mixture of White and Indian). This cholo
éPIHears in the work of Jorge Icaza. The term is also used
in 'the Peruvian highlands, where Ciro Alegria uses this
SEHQQ;Q in his novels. On the Ecuadorian coast, however, the
£1!2§;Q usually contains an African element. Specifically,

't 9' Ecuadorian coastal cholo inhabits the arid Santa Elena
Deflninsula, where he works in close proximity to the sea.
This cholo appears in the novels of the "Grupo de Guayaquil",
especially in those of Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Demetrio
Although he is not

guilera Malta, and Joaquin Gallegos Lara.
90Tlssidered so independent as the montuvio, the coastal cholo

iic)rioted for his intelligence and hlS capacity for introspec-
n.

 

19. Angel F. Rojas, La Novela Ecuatoriana, pp. 222-25.
Rojas lists more than seventy works of fiction

¥u131.ished by Ecuadorian novelists from 1930 through the mid-
Nearly one third of these novels were written by the

s? .ties.
3: ‘writers who make up the "Grupo de Guayaquil".

a"! 20. Fernando Alenga, Historia de la Novela Hispano-
“~§E£;igaga (Mexico: Ediciones de Andrea, 1965), pp. 261-62.

16

Alegria dedicates seven full pages (261-67) to
Ecuadorian novelists since the thirties. In three and one
half of those pages he discusses Jorge Icaza. In the
remaining pages he gives a paragraph to Pareja Diezcanseco,
Aguilera Malta, and Gil Gilbert, and discusses briefly and
in general the novelistic movement of that period in
Ecuador. Although he does recognize the different artistic
techniques of the individual writers, he commits some
fundamental errors when he generalizes. In his opening
remarks he talks about Lgs que se van, saying that it:
"encerraba un ataque implicito a1 costumbrismo superficial
de fines de siglo. Por desgracia, la obra ... adolecia de
elementales defectos. ... la lucha del indio no siempre
resulta de una crisis individual interpretada con profundi-
dad psicolégica y que complemente la descripcién del
ambiente: se trata ... de una condicién fijada a priori
en la cual los personajes juegan un papel asignado de
antemano. Muy aocrtadamente afirma Angel F. Rojas que estos
escritores trataban a sus personajes como hombres-mass y
no como individuos, sin llegar jamas, entonces, a la creaci6n
del héroe singular.”

The Indian is hardly mentioned in any part of the
work of the ”Grupo de Guayaquil”. As this study shall
affirm, the writers give careful attention to the creation
of characters, and in general can not be accused justly
of treating only the "hombre-mass". It appears that Alegria
has given more careful attention to the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
since he published his study, for on December 28, 1971,
1n Seminar 41 of the meeting of the Modern Language Associa-
tion in Chicago, he declared that the novels of Aguilera
Malta and de la Cuadra are worthy artistic precusors to
highly discussed and acclaimed novels like Mario Vargas
Llosa's La Ciudad y lgs Perros and Gabriel Garcia Marquez'
.____.__Cien Apps- 99-..§9;9922.

21. In my conversations with him both in 1969 and in
1970 Rojas lamented that his work as a lawyer kept him from
updatinghis study of the Ecuadorian novel (published in
1948). He feels the work of his fellow Ecuadorian writers
has not received the critical attention it deserves. He
was especially pleased with the purpose of my study, for the
?embe§s of the "Grupo de Guayaquil" are among his closest

rien s.

22. The following general studies on the Ecuadorian
novel are found in Dissertation Abstracts;
Wayne L. Allison, "A Thematic Analysis of the
Contemporary Ecuadorian Novel," DA, XXV., 6612-13 (New
Mexico).

 

17

Zonia Tacks De Silva, "The Contemrarary Ecuadorian
Novel,” DA, XV. (1955), p. 2531 (New York University).

One Dissertation has been written on de la Cuadra:

Humberto E. Robles, "La Estética de José de la
Cuadra," Northwestern University, 1968.

Also, an M. A. thesis was done on Pareja
Diezcanseco:

Karl H. Heise, "The Novelistic Evolution cfi‘
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Michigan State univerSity,

1961.

23. Reuben Siegel, "The Group of Guayaquil. A Study
in Contemporary Ecuadorian Fiction," University of Wisconsin,
1951). p. 10

Siegel's study considers only the original five

members of the group. He does not include Ortiz. He passes
lightly over Los que se yap, neither analyzing it nor affirm-
ing its importance. Since his study was completed more than
two decades ago, it does not treat the contemporary novels
of OrtiZ, Aguilera Malta, or Pareja Diezcanseco. He dedicates
a major part of his work to detailed biographical material.

CHAPTER I.
THE “GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL":
ITS MEMBERS AND NOVELISTIC AIMS
The young men who began the narrative movement from
Ecuador's coast were associates in literature and intimate
friends. Even when their group expanded to six members,
neither individual fame nor non-literary interests marred

1 The strength of

the feeling of unity or friendship.
this spirit can be illustrated by Enrique Gil Gilbert's
declaration at the graveside of José de la Cuadra:

"Eramos cinco. Como un pufio.”2, referring to the original
five members of the group.

Some general observations should be made about the
backgrounds of the individual authors. The chief concern
pertains to those elements in their lives that have bearing
on their work.

The novelist from coastal Ecuador considered by
his contemporaries to show the most artistic development
during their early years of association was the oldest
member of the group. He was also the first to pass away,
at the age of thirty seven. Born in Guayaquil on September
3. 1903. José de la Cuadra died there in February, 1941.

He graduated from the Colegio Vicente Rocafuerte in
Guayaquil and then continued his studies to receive a law

degree.
18

19

His friends say that de la Cuadra was a man with a
turbulent personal life, and at times appeared neurotic.
However, his professional life provided the substance
for his literary enterprises. As a lawyer who dealt
often with criminal cases that involved the socio-ethnic
types living along the coast, he came to know these
people through incidents when they acted at the height
of their passions. Murders, robberies, and sex crimes,
sometimes against each other and other times against
abusive atrones, gave him ample novelistic material.

He often represented the poor, and was acquainted
personally with many of them.3 In addition to observa-
tions of his countrymen that stemmed from his profession,
de la Cuadra enjoyed more relaxed moments of human study.
Demetrio Aguilera Malta makes the following observation:
"Amigo de los hombres de toga y justicia,
alternando a veces con los gamonales, sabe

también conversar, horas de horas, con los

compadres que va cultivando a lo largo del

caming. En las horas humosas del cigarro

dauleno, bebiendo jugo de cana fermentada,

oyendo e1 lamento de la vihuela dulce, bailando

sobre los pisos de cana brava picada o simplemente

escuchando la voz rumorosa de lgs rios, va 4

almacenando en su conciencia punados de vida."

De la Cuadra was a sensitive man intensely aware of
everything around him. He was extremely interested in

all types of people from his native Ecuador, and observed

them carefully before transposing them to the pages of

20
his narrative.

Although he wrote many short stories, de la Cuadra
has only two novels, Los Sangurimas (1934) and Los Monos
Enlgguegidgs_(l951).5 His complete works were published
in a single volume in 1958 by the Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana.

Another member of the group to die prematurely was
Joaquin Gallegos Lara. He was thirty eight when he died
in Guayaquil on November 17, 1947. He was born in the
same city on April 9, 1909. He is most remembered by
his friends for his courage in living with a severe physical
handicap (he was a cripple, having been born with stunted
legs) and for his consuming allegiance to Marxism.6 Since
he was unable to attend school physically, he was educated
at home through tutors and his own efforts. He was a
voracious reader, and his early life was mostly contemplative.
In spite of his disability, however, he managed to leave
his room and enter the "real" world. José de la Cuadra
points out that:

"Habria continuado leyendo, sin duda: pero,
cierto dia, desde la alta ventana de su buhardilla
advirtio la vida que trajinaba alla abajo, en
la Calle, y quiso verla pr6xima, inmediata.

gigaun despertar violento. Mejor, el7entrar
en una pesadilla tras un amable ensueno.

Gallegos Lara did not limit his relationship with

the outside world to observation. In spite of his handicap,

21

he held a number of jobs, of a clerical and bureaucratic
nature for the most part. During his late 'teens, however,
he worked on a truck that hauled cargo between Guayaquil
and the mountains. For a time he lived in the countryside,
where he became acquainted with the montuvios who would

, a
appear in Los gug_§e;ggg.

 

it has been theorized by friends and critics of
Gallegos Lara that his physical condition indirectly led
to his interest in montuvios and cholos, that he admired
their virile way of life and would have enjoyed being like
the masculine characters his imagination created.

Gallegos Lara was not from a wealthy family. He
identified with the lower classes and saw their redemption
through Marxism.

While de la Cuadra was the artistic leader of the
group, Gallegos Lara was its spiritual leader. He appears
to have compensated for his physical defect by concentrating
on the growth of his intellectual capacity. Unable to
dominate others through physical strength, he became a
master of the polemic.9 His was a primary role during
the many discussions about society and literature that
took place among the members of the "Grupo de Guayaquis".

There is no evidence that Gallegos Lara hid his
affliction or was in any way ashamed of it. To the

contrary, "... brazos amigos se ofrecieron. Y pudo asi

22

entrar en las ruas trajinadas, en las fabricas, en las

barriadas obreras."10

Ten years after his death, Alfredo
Pareja Diezcanseco recalled:
"... t6, feo como un apostol, como un apostol
conocias las calles y las casas, y las trajinabas
para que las gentes fueran mejores, los ladrones
robasen menos y los pobres comieran mas. Yo te
gzlviggg.lifrar por el dolor de los otros y reir
Joaquin Gallegos Lara's only published novel was
Las Cruces Sobre el Agua (1946).
As of this writing, the remaining four writers of
the group are alive.
The youngest of the original five writers is Enrique
Gil Gilbert. He was born on July 8, 1912, in Guayaquil.
As was Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Enrique Gil Gilbert
has been deeply involved with Marxism for many years.
Unlike the other writers, however, Gil Gilbert does not
have his origins with the middle class. José de la Cuadra
notes that "... la familia de Gil Gilbert, [es] familia
de hidalgos campesinos con cuya tradicién ha roto e1
escritor."12
From accounts by his friends and personal impressions,
it appears that Gil Gilbert has been both the idealist and
the rebel during most of his life. As a youth he had access

to his family's library and became enamoured of the

Romanticists, especially the Spanish poet, Espronceda.

23

While in secondary school he became a leader in student
activist movements and directed his romantic idealism
toward Marxism. Rebelliously identifying with the working
classes, he totally disavowed his own family's wealth.

Gil Gilbert is still a boyishly jovial figure, He
does not give the impression of a "wild-eyed radical”.
Adalberto Ortiz once told the anecdote that during an
extended period of bad weather Gil Gilbert declared that
”e1 partido se encargaria del asunto y lo arreglaria."

When he was young he spent a good deal of time on
his family's property in the country, where he became
acquainted with the mgntuyigg who lived and worked there.
His experience gave him much of the material for his
literature.

Enrique Gil Gilbert has published only one novel,
Nuestro Pan (1941), with which he earned considerable fame.
It won honorable mention in the Latin American novel contest
held in 1941 by the Farrar and Rinehart publishing house.
It placed next to the winning novel, which was Ciro Alegria's
El Mundo es Ancho y Ajeno.

Gil Gilbert's education ended with completion of
secondary school, and even then his political involvement
caused him to change schools. Although he began university
studies, his political activism dominated his life to the
point that he dropped out after a short time. For the

past several decades he has been much more involved in

2#

politics than literature. He occupies important posts in
the Communist party in Ecuador.

Of the three collaborators of L9§,QB§ se van, Demetrio
Aguilera Malta has been the most consistently involved in
literature. He is also the least politically oriented,
although he seems as interested in social reform as any
of his colleagues. He sees the general direction of
Socialism, rather than Marxism, as the course toward that end.

Aguilera Malta was born in Guayaquil on May 2#, 1909,
of a middle class family. He completed primary and secon-
dary education there. Although he began law studies at the
University of Guayaquil, he abandoned them after a short
time, It was not political involvement that caused his
leaving school, but a very restless nature. He is involved
in drama, film, poetry, short story, novel, television,
and anything else that excites him. He has had an active
life with the arts and seems to follow every whim that
possesses him.13

He has published four novels: Dgn Goyo (1933),

gggal_§gng (1935), L5 Isla Virgen (l9h2), and recently
Siete Lunas y Siete Segpientes (1970), In addition, he

has published three volumes in a series of historical
novels: La Caballeresa del Sol (196G), g; Quijote de El
Dorado (196k), and On NuevogMar Para e1 Rex<l965).1“

25

As is the case with the other writers, much of the
material for Aguilera Malta's novels is based on first-
hand information. He has been an adventurer and a traveler
since childhood. He would accompany his father on trips
along primitive sections of the Ecuadorian coast and
through uncharted coves and inlets of the offshore islands.
He became acquainted with and fascinated by the geography
and the cholos who populate the region.15 In later years
his travels carried him to Europe, North America, México
and other parts of Latin America. He has earned his living
at occupations ranging from writing and reporting to
teaching and government work. He participated in the
Spanish Civil War on the Republican side. Even today, in
his sixties, his life moves very rapidly.

Of the six writers, perhaps the most adaptable to
a variety of situations is Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco.

He was born in Guayaquil on October 12, 1908. The origins
of his family are aristocratic, but the erosion of its
economic status over the years has put it into the middle
class. Pareja has successfully undertaken different kinds
of occupations throughout his life.

He had the least formal education of the group but
has gone the farthest academically. Owing to the death
of his father when he was eleven, and the subsequent

financial strain on his family, he was able to complete

26

only primary school. In spite of those early setbacks he
"... without the help of a teacher ... went through the
high school curriculum and enrolled in the university

16

faculty of law and social sciences." It has been said

of Pareja that "La suya es el tipoclésico de la formacion

cultural autodidactica."l7

in later years he has been
a professor of literature, history, and political science,

in Ecuador, other parts of Latin America, and the United

Pareja has also held government positions, political
posts, diplomatic assignments, administrative duties in
education, and has successfully ventured into the business
world.

in spite of his dedication to non-literary work,
Pareja is the most prolific novelist of the group. He
has recently published his thirteenth novel, Las Pegygfias
Estaturas (1970) and is presently working on a fourteenth.lh
in addition, he has published two ”biografias neveladas",
one on the gaugillpquoy Alfaro, and the other on the
colonial painter, Miguel de Santiago: a complete history
of Ecuador: a critical treatment of Thomas Mann: and many
essays on art, painting, and politics. His novels have
been translated to German, French, and Polish. One of

them, Las Tres Ratas, was made into a film in Argentina.

 

Pareja's works are essentially urban, and show the

2?

author's acquaintance with all social classes within that
setting. Having worked for a living since he was thirteen,
Pareja experienced life with its most elemental hardships
and rewards. De la Cuadra points out "... que 61 habia
sido --un tanto-- nifio fracasado. Que su infancia no fué
completamente un alegre suefio. Que la puericia se le

gast5 en una apresurada gesti5n de hombre obligadamente
laborioso ..."19

Pareja Diezcanseco's work has carried him throughout
Europe and the Americas. While his artistic involvement
and travel experience might be compared to Aguilera Malta's,
Pareja's life style is not so hectic as his old friend's.
Pareja gives wholehearted concentration to two Principal
things: his employment and literary art. Essentially,
his days are taken up in work necessary to support his
family, and off-hours are devoted to study and creation
of literature. He has been aloof to direct socio-political
involvement for many years. His sympathies tend mainly
toward Socialism, however.

The youngest writer was not among the original members
of the "Grupo de Guayaquil", but has become firmly established
in their literary family. Adalberto Ortiz was born in the
coastal city of Esmeraldas on February 9, 1914, where he
received his primary education. Later, he went to Quito

where he studied at the Colegio Normal "Juan Montalvo",

28

from which he graduated as a profesor normalista in 1937.
The other members of the group were already publishing
novels while Ortiz was still in school. When he started
teaching in Esmeraldas and in Guayaquil he began publishing.
While in the latter city he became associated with the
other writers.

Adalberto Ortiz is of a middle-class background like
most of his companions, with one essential difference.

He is from a mulatto family, and is the only writer whose
work concentrates on the Blacks from the coastal province

of Esmeraldas. He began his literary career with poetry

and short stories, and continued working with both those
genres as well as the novel. Ortiz is considered an
important figure in Spanish American literature.20 His
fame is due not only to his merit as an artist, but also

to that part of his work that deals with Blacks. He has
been swept along with the contemporary vogue of "black
studies".

Ortiz divides his creativity between literature and
graphic art. His paintings have been exhibited in Ecuador's
art museums, but outside his own country, he is most known
through his literature.

Only two novels can be accredited to Adalberto Ortiz,

Jumgo (1943) and E1 Espejo y _ia Ventana (1967).21 Both

29

won immediate acclaim in Ecuador, and have been re-edited.
However, he owes most of his literary recognition to
Juyungo. It has been edited three times in Spanish and
has been translated into nearly every important European
language. It relates to Ortiz' own experiences in the
hinterlands of his native Esmeraldas during his youth,
insofar as the depiction of native types and atmosphere
is concerned. Angel F. Rojas recognizes that "Estaban
haciendo falta los relates que se refieren a1 hombre y
al paisaje de una zona literal poco conocida literariamente:
... Esmeraldas, ardiente y hfimeda, escasamente poblada y
rica en reviviscencias negras ..."22
Like most of his literary colleagues, Ortiz has
travelled throughout Europe and the Americas. He has
occupied diplomatic posts and has been invited by
public and private organizations for literary discussions.
Although he worked for a time as a journalist, much of his
life has been involved in education, in both teaching and
administrative capacities. While Ortiz has never been
known as a political activist, his sympathies are decidedly
socialistic.
Another writer adding impetus to the prose fiction
from coastal Ecuador is Angel F. Rojas. Although Rojas
is not from Guayaquil, but from Loja23, he has spent nearly

his entire adult life in the port city. While he is a

30

novelist in his own right (Banca, 1940: El Exodo de Yangana,

 

1949), his novels do not pertain to the coastal region. His
contribution to the coastal fiction was more indirect. As
Aguilera Malta has stated about "Rojitas" (as he is still
called by his friends), "era nuestro critico."2u
The writers would meet often and discuss literature
from abroad and their own work until late at night.25
Those discussion sessions tended to become quite heated,
and the writers and their friends often criticized each
other and themselves mercilessly. This atmosphere produced
novels of similar substance. The novelists felt it their
duty to bring the entire microcosm of coastal Ecuador into
the eyes of the world. As affirmed by Aguilera Malta,
"Queriamos proyectar e1 Ecuador al mundo."26
It would be incorrect to assume that the coastal
writers attempted to write about their country basing
themselves solely on the meager literary precedents from
nineteenth and early twentieth century Ecuador. They
were influenced by previous and contemporary literary
and intellectual movements from Europe, North America,
the Soviet Union, and other parts of Spanish America.27
The writers' idealism and messianic trait of envisioning
their novels as guidelines to a brighter future are

essentially Romantic notions from the past century. When

they carefully describe Ecuador's coastal people with

31
attention to customs and traditions, they follow the

footsteps of nineteenth century costumbristas and early

 

twentieth century Regionalists. When these people are
shown living in the most hideous social conditions, often
with emphasis on psyche-sexual abnormalcies, the influ-
ence of fin du siécle Naturalism is in evidence. When
Marxist and Socialist solutions are suggested for these
conditions, the authors show acquaintance with socio-
economic idealists of the past century and idealization
of the Russian Revolution.20 When their subjects are
presented as part of the "great human drama", they are
following the pace set by the nineteenth century school
of Realism.

However, the novel from Ecuador's coast does not
ggmjggtg manifest itself as a follower of anything.
Neither can it be considered a hedge-pedge of earlier
literary and intellectual elements. It is an artistic
blending of ideas that went before it in order to adapt
them to the interpretation of Ecuadorian life in narrative
form. The writer's spirit of discussion and polemic served
to define and solidify major artistic and social goals.

The novelists recognized from the beginning that they
did not possess a great deal of experience with literary.

art. They attempted to learn what they could from foreign

32

artists and create fresh what did not already exist for
them. After he had already been recognized as a novelist
of merit, Demetrio Aguilera Malta made the following
declaration:

”... estames aprendiende a escribir. ... estames

aprendiende la técnica de muestre eficie. ...

empezamos a sentir la respensabilidad de una

realizacien mas permanente. Empieza a darnes

miedo e1 llegar a constituir una esperanza

guillotinada. Que el relate ecuatoriane sole

quede en obras de angustiese mensaje, de denuncia

y de pretesta, pere sin ninguna creacien definitiva

y maestra. Felizmente nos dames cuenta de elle

y queremes superarnes."29

Essentially, the future was a great deal more important
than the past. The authors respected the past for what it
could teach them, but they looked to the future with regard
to artistic development and to literature's playing a role
in social development.30 They were interested as much in
the interpretation of history as in influencing it.

While they were still adolescents, the First World
War jolted their faith in Europe as the keeper of Western
Civilization. When they were reaching manhood, the
United States' economic depression destroyed their
image of the North American country as the young giant
of interminable wealth. Finally, the social and political
rumblings throughout the world that were the preface to

the next great war convinced them that intellectual and

spiritual leadership from abroad was at best a questionable

33
31

preposition. Not content only to imitate foreign patterns
of artistic approach and theme, the young writers wanted

to forge their own art with subject matter that was native
to them. Although they enjoyed relatively little notice
within their own nation, and received greatest recognition
from critics of literaturejz, they wanted to show their
countrymen that Quite was not their only source of cultural
expression. They wanted to show the world that their
tropical homeland was worthy of its attention. It was

an example of a society in need of correction and a place
of beauty populated by worthy examples of humanity. They

wanted to write novels that were not just social documents,

but works of art.

NOTES
CHAPTER 1.

1- Albert 3. Franklin, "Ecuador's Novelists at Work,"
inter-American anrterly, 11., No. 4., p. 30.

2. Part of a speech made to the "Sociedad de Escritores
y Artistas Independientes" in eulogy for José de la Cuadra,
on February 27, 1941.

3. Demetrio Aguilera Malta, "José de la Cuadra: un
intento de evecaci6n," Letras del Ecuador, No. 101 (Marzo
de 1955). pt 34.

4. Aguilera Malta, "José de la Cuadra," p. 30.

5. Anon., "Les Monos Enlequecides,” Letras del_§gg§ggg,

No. 69 (Julie de 1951), p. 6.
This article explains how Les Monos Enlquegidqg was

begun by Jose de la Cuadra in 1931. He had sent the first
part to Spain for publication, when the Spanish Civil War
interrupted further progress. The work then became misplaced
until Joaquin Gallegos Lara found it in 1947, and announced
that he intended to finish it. Then Gallegos Lara died,
and the manuscript was again lost. In 1948 Gallegos Lara's
mother found it, and the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana
published the unfinished novel in 1951. Although incomplete,
the novel is valid for this study.

 

6. Gallegos Lara was recognized as the most politically
oriented member of the group. After his death, Gil Gilbert
filled that position.

7. José de la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," in Obras Completas
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958), p. 811.

 

8. De la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," p. 812.

9. Alejandro Carrion, "A Joaquin Gallegos Lara.»
Letras_del Ecuadqq, Nos. 28-29 (Nev.-Dic. de 1947), p. 12.

 

10. De la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," pp. 811-12.

11. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, "Carta a Joaquin,"
Letras del Ecuador, No. 109 (Julio-Die. de 1957), p. 36,

12. De la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," p. 808.

34

35

13 Ben'amin Carrién, "La Vuelta de Demetrio," Letras
del Ecuador, No. 85 (Julie-Agosto de 1953), p. 1.
Also, de la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," pp. 804-05.

14. Only Don Ge 0, La lsla Virgen, and Siete Lunasgy
Siete Serpientes shall be considered in this study. Canal
Zone does not pertain to Ecuador, and the historical novels
correspond neither in subject matter nor in chronology to
the discussion.

 

 

15. De la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," pp. 799-800.

16. Lilo Linke, "The People's Chronicler,” Americas,
Vol. 8, Ne. 11 (NOV. 1956), p. 8.

17. Quién Q§1QEL§Q en Venezuela, Panama1 Ecuador,
Colombia (Bogota: Oliverio Perry y Cia., 1952), p.3475.

18. Pareja's first three novels, La Casa de los Locos
(1929), La Senorita Ecuador (1930), and Rio Arriba (1931)
have been long out of print and only appeared in limited
editions. The only importance the author gives them is that
they served to let him practice writing novels. They shall
not be considered. Works pertaining to this discussion
are El Muelle (1933). La Beldaca (1935). Baldomera (1938),
Don Ba16n de Baba (19397) Hombres Sin Tiempg (1941), and
Las Tres Ratas (1944). La Advertencia (1956), E1 Aire y los
Recuerdos (1958), Les Poderes Omnimodos (1964) and Lag
Pequenas Estaturas (1970), Will be considered in the final
chapter of this study.

 

 

 

 

 

19. De la Cuadra, "12 Siluetas," p. 817.

 

20. Gunter W. Lorenz Dialog mit Lateinamerika (Tfibingen:
Horst Erdmann Verlag, 1970), pi—463.
Lorenz declares that: "Heute gilt Ortiz allgemein
als der neben dem Cubaner Guillén bedeutendste Reprasentant
der 'Negritud' in Hispanoamerika."

21. Ju un o is the novel to be considered in the major
part of this discussion. El Espejolygla Ventana, however,
will be considered in the final chapter.

 

22. Angel F. Ro'as, La Novela Ecuatoriana (Mexico:
Fendo de Cultura Econ mica, 1948), p. 213.

 

23. Loja is an Andean city near the Peruvian border.

36

It is noted for the purity of the Spanish spoken by its
inhabitants.

24. Personal interview of July 16, 1970, in Guayaquil.
25. Lilo Linke, "The People's Chronicler," p. 8.
26. Personal interview of July 17, 1970, in Guayaquil.

27. Kessel Schwartz, "Some Aspects of the Contemporary
Novel of Ecuador," Hispanig, XXXVIII., pp. 294-95.

Schwartz notes that: "The young novelists admired
Manuel Gonzalez Prada as an anti-catholic defender of the
Indian, saw a reflection of Ecuadorian exploitation in
Jose Eustasio Rivera's work, and were impressed by Alcides
Arguedas and Mariano Azuela for their treatment of the
Indian and revolt. José Vasconcelos stimulated the new
novelists when he visited Ecuador in 1929." Other important
influences cited by Schwartz include the writings defending
the Indian by Jose Carlos Mariategui, as well as the work
of the North Americans Upton Sinclair and Frank Norris
and the Frenchman Emile Zola and Henri Barbusse.

In addition to the writers cited by Schwartz, the
writers themselves most often mention the North Americans
Sindlair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, and John Dos Passes and
the Europeans Romain Rolland, Erich Maria Remarque, and
Thomas Mann as having influenced them.

One should point out, however, that none of these
influences were so active that the writers attempted to
imitate them directly in technique or theme, but did borrow
from them insofar as they could apply their approach to
the material from coastal Ecuador. The combined sources
all added up to one main theme for the writers: the
affirmation of using literature as an effective vehicle
for treating social phenomena.

28. Kessel Schwartz, "Russian Literature in Contemporary
EcuadoriannFiction," Kentucky Foreign Language Quarterly,
III., p. l l.

Schwartz notes here that Marxist and socialist
ideals from the last century were influential on the young
Ecuadorian writers and affirms that in their work: ”Sooner
or later, social revolution, union of the workers of the
world, or Russian Communism are offered as the visions of
a new future.“ However, Schwartz also observes that: ”The
social novel of the Soviet Union, involving communist
propaganda and the struggle of the proletariat, did not
influence them during their formative period or early~

37

writings. Three Russian novelists of a much earlier literary
period influenced the Ecuadorians: Dostoevski, Gorki, and
Andreyev."

The writers were influenced by the socio-pelitical
ideals of the past century and the broad scope of society
afforded in the Russian novels while they were still young
enough to apply what might be termed theirown "raw idealism"
to their native subject matter. ’They were able to do this
before they were old enough to see those ideals transformed
into dogmatic patterns of literary approach. This may be
one of the reasons why even from the beginning these writers
attempted to balance art with thesis in their novels.

29. Orlando Cabrera Layva, "Entrevista a Demetrio
Aguilera Malta," Letras del Ecuador, No. 33. p. 14. Reprint
from "Zig-Zag," Santiago de Chile.

30. Jean-Paul Sartre, What is Literature? (New York:

Harper & Row, 1965), p. 153. Translated by Bernard Frechtman.
Sartre's published opinion of 1947, states that

the function of the prose writer is to become involved
(engage) in his society and do what he can for its people.
It is antedated by a decade and a half by the literary
approach of the Ecuadorian writers of the thirties. Sartre
declares that the writer ”must write for a public which has
the freedom of changing everything: which means, oesides
suppression of classes, abolition of all dictatorship,
constant renewal of frameworks, and the continuous overthrowing
of order once it tends to congeal." However, while the
Ecuadorian writers did hope to be influential in bringing
about social change, they would not have agreed with Sartre
that "literature is ... the subjectivity of a society in
permanent revolution." While they were unhappy with the
social system in their country, they did not wish to over-
throw all systems. They merely sought a better and more
just system.

 

31. Manuel Pedro Gonzalez, "Trends in HiSpanic American
Literature," Books Abroad, XVII. (1943), p. 17.

Writing about Spanish American literature in general,
Gonzalez notes that!

"The World War ... proved to be a bitter disappoint-
ment for the man of letters who for years had looked to
European culture for inspiration and guidance. ... Disillu-
sioned and bewildered, the Spanish American writers lost
their faith in Europe. ... they began to realize the destiny

38

of the American continent and to consider it as something
apart and different from that of Europe. ...

The economic disruption and social ferment which
the war left in its wake were keenly felt all through Latin
America. Centuries of misery and exploitation of the
masses ... had thoroughly prepared the people of Hispanic
America to welcome new ideals of social justice and
reveolution."

32. Emilie Uzcategui, "Novelas y Novelistas del Ecuador,"
Américas, Vol. XVI, no. 6 (June, 1964), p. 30.

CHAPTER II.

LOS QUE SE VAN
THE POINT OF DEPARTURE

 

In the Ecuadorian highlands the first major novel to
appear during the thirties was Jorge Icaza's Huasipungo
(1934). A few years earlier on the coast, however,
Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Enrique Gil Gilbert, and

Joaquin Gallegos Lara published Los que segvgg. (1930).l

 

This collection of short stories initiated the style and
emphasis of modern Ecuadorian prose fiction.

By 1930 the trend toward the new expression of
local themes in the Spanish American novel had begun in
other countries. Mariano Azuela's Los de Abajo appeared
from Mexico in 1916. By 1924 Argentina's Benito Lynch
published El Inglés de_los Gfiesos and in 1926 Ricardo
Guiraldes' Don Segundo Sombra appeared. The Colombian
Jose Eustasio Rivera's La Voréggpg was published in 1924.
R6mulo Gallegos' Dona Barbara came from Venezuela in 1929.
Ecuador, however, had not yet joined the movement. As
the first example of contemporary prose fiction from that
country, L93 que se vap attracted international attention.2
In subject matter and artistic approach it set precedents
for the novels that were to come from the coast. Its
authors formed the nucleus of the group that would write

these novels.

39

40

While Les que se van is a milestone in Ecuadorian
prose fiction, it is not unique in Spanish America for
its literary approach. Luis Leal includes it in his
study under the general heading of "El Cuento Social",
about which he makes the following evaluation:

"Para los autores de cuentos sociales e1 estilo,
la estructura y otros preblemas relacionados a la
técnica no constituyen una preecupaci5n rimordial.
Su interes lo encontramos en la expresi n del
contenido, que es siempre sacado de la realidad.

A elle debide, muchos de estos cuentos no llegan

a ser buenos ejemplos del génere, ya que el autor

se interesa en presentar una experiencia vital,

muchas veces sin haber llegado a dominar 1a forma.

Sin embargo, algunos cuentistas de esta escuela

son excelentes narradores, y entonces sus obras 3

tienen un doble valor: e1 social y el estético."

Les gpe se van fits into that category of "doble
valor". Although literature of this period in Ecuador
is most renowned for its social emphasis, in this book
treatment of social phenomena is only present, not
prevalent. The authors wish to tell good stories, and
they attempt to tell them well.

However, were it not for the writers' names appearing
under the stories' titles“, the reader would hardly be
aware that the volume was written by three different men.

. . . . . 5
There 13 no apprec1able stylistic difference between them.’

All the stories center on the lower class inhabitant

of the tropical coast. Attention is focused on him mainly

through three channels: his relationships to his environ-

41

ment, as both a physical and a "spiritual“ entityé:

to his fellows, or other members of his social group:
and to the whole of society. The predominant force
throughout the stories is a sympathetic and intense
treatment of the people in the tropical coast and
the general milieu of the region. Ostensibly, the book
is an attempt to capture the flavor of a virile way of
life that is becoming obliterated by modern society.
The point is illustrated in the following poem by
Joaquin Gallegos Lara, which precedes the stories:
"Porque se va e1 montuvio. Les hombres ya
no son los mismos. Ha cambiado e1 viejo corazon
de la raza morena enemiga del blanco.
La victrela en el monte apaga e1 amorfine.

Tal un aguaje largo los arrastra el destino

Les montuvios se van p'abajo der barranco.“

The authors think the montuvio is in danger of
disappearing as a distinct ethnic type, and attempt
to preserve him in prose. While they do not declare
it in the above poem, they are similarly motivated
when they write about the ghglg and the Black. Con-
sequently, the volume impresses most through its atten-
tion to telluric elements.

In order to accomplish their purpose artistically,
the writers avoid long descriptive passages. They rely

on short and direct statements that suggest more than

describe, and carefully chosen dialogue that is simple

42

and also direct. Ecuador's coastal man is not a sophis-
ticated individual. His thoughts correspond to his actions:
direct, spontaneous, and often violent. The language

used to describe him corresponds to his psychology.8

Most of the characters are masculine. They are
nearly primitive, superstitious and with a highly personal
relationship with their environment. Their emotions are
intense and volatile. They are poor but hard-working.
Finally, they are intelligent and introspective, with a
strong, natural sense of justice.

The settings for the stories are rural. The reader
meets the characters in the same situations in which one
would meet the real people they represent, usually at work
along the river, near the seashore, or in the forest: in
the ggptipg: in their homes: or'en their way to or from
one of these activities or places. However, in the
costumbrista sense what they do or where they do it is
not important. The main issue is their portrayal as they
cope with the environment, their fellows, or society at
large.

The characters reflect the generations of confluence
of races and cultures, and hybrid combinations of tradi-
tions that developed during the four centuries since the
Spanish conquest. The part of them that is Indian expresses

itself in folk-beliefs and an intimate relationship with

43

nature. The part that is African adds yet other beliefs
and superstitions and expands the sense of harmony with
Nature. Finally, the Hispanic veneer shows in religious
beliefs that are adhered to with fervor more pagan than
Christian.

Their relationship with animals is more one of "equals"
than "master-pet". They think of themselves as parts of
Nature, rather than something apart from and superior
to it. When in Joaquin Gallegos Lara's "E1 Guaraguao'
the vulture defends the body of the man who had raised him
from a chick he does so as much out of friendship as
gratitude. As the man lays dying and awakens to find
the vulture perched on his chest he murmurs: "No...
me comas... un... hijo no... muesde... ar padre..."9.
which indicates his feeling of closeness with the animal.

At times the relationship with Nature becomes inter—
twined with elements of superstition, as in Aguilera Malta's

”El cholo del tiburén."10

An old man is obsessed by a crime
he committed years before, when he murdered a rival in the
water, letting people think a shark had done the killing.
His obsession is so great that he himself believes the lie.
However, he thinks he still must bear the guilt and
punishment for the crime. Finally he disappears into the

11

sea to be killed by a shark. He feels his punishment

must come from a source of Nature.

44

However, justice is usually rendered by other charac-
ters. Even when from their own socie-ethnic group, judgments
are often quick, harsh, based on ignorance, and erroneous.
Such is the case in Enrique Gil Gilbert's "El Male". where
the author shows how they live surrounded by superstition.
Because a small boy had not been baptized while still a baby
the local populace refers to him with disdain as "El More" or
"E1 Male". The stature of the boy's evil is amplified by
his neighbors' imaginations and the pronouncements of the
local curandera until it is believed that he is the devil's
offspring or the devil himself. One day while caring for his
baby brother his father's machete accidentally falls from the
wall, killing the infant. The local people think the mis-
fortune was brought about by the boy's supposed evil:

"Leopoldo llorande imploraba:

--;Si yo no qu2 Jué er diablo.

--;Er diablo eres vos!

--;Yo soy Leepordo!

--Tu taita ej er diablo, no don Juan.

--Mentira--grit5 1a madre ofendida.

Y la vieja Victoria, bruja y curandera,
arguy5 con su voz cascada:

--3Nuasido otro quer Leepordo, poreue 5r ej 13
er male. Y naiden mas quer tiene que haber sido."

Here is social determinism that has nothing to do
with "exploiting landholders" or the "evils of capitalism".

Superstition is a part of the characters' life from infancy,

45

and is coupled to a blind obedience of local traditions.
When their volatile nature and intelligence are considered
with their ignorance and superstition the reader begins to
understand their complexity.

Most stories deal with the characters' relationship
with their fellows or the environment. The authors
are moreinterested in exposing the intrinsic characteristics
of mgntgvigs, cholos, and Blacks than they are in categoriz-
ing them as "exploited masses" and decrying their fate.

The characters relate to each other primarily through
themes of love. While the story lines involve standard
topics of unrequited love, infidelity, jealousy, lust, and
revenge, the manner in which they react to these emotive
catalysts, and the way the authors present their reactions
is of interest.

They often use violent and dramatic means of giving
vent to emotion. The most emphatic example borders on
the Bizarre, in Aguilera Malta's ”El cholo que se castr5".
A ghglg with a long record of manly deeds and conquests in
love meets "La Peralta", a mannish gflglg who is not
frightened into yielding to his wishes. Instead, she
proposes they fight with machetes. If he beats her, she
promises to let him make love to her. The ghglg wins
the battle, but finds himself impotent. Unable to

understand the psychological cause of his impotenoy,

46
he commits a final violent act:

"Un cholo en la playa. Y un machete en la
mano del cholo...

De pronto hay un relampago. Hiles rejes
tejen enredaderas de angustia en el inmenso
vientre de la orilla...

El cholo cerre con su trefeo infitil en la
mano...

Hasta que vacila y cae...

La Peralta ha encontrado el cadaver mutilado ...

Y no cemprende--ni podra comprender anEI4-la

tragedia del pobre cholo que se castro.

Accustemed to dealing with women who are submissive
to him, "La Peralta's" fearlessnes presents an obstacle
he has never encountered. He does not contemplate his
problem, but acts decisively.

The characters primitively violent expression of
emotion does not imply lack of intelligence. "E1 cholo
que se veng6", by Aguilera Malta, demonstrates their
"native intelligence”. It also shows their reaction
to frustrated love is not always violent. This story
consists of a man's monologue to the girl who had left
him for his rival. As he explains:

"Senti pena y coraje. Hubiera querido matarlo

a er. Pero después vi que lo mejor era vengarme:

yo conecia a Andres. Sabia que con ér s510 te

esperaban er pale y la miseria. Asi que ér seria
mejor quien me vengaria...

ITei hallao cambiada asabés vos? Estas fea: 15
estas flaca: andas sucia. Ya no vales pa nada. ..." -

He has resorted to psychological, rather than physical

47

means of satisfying his desire for revenge. Though he
may be primitive in many respects, some aspects of
civilization have touched him.

One suspects the authors' motive in devoting so
much of their book to love themes is to underscore their
subject's basic human sensitivity. If the reader becomes
acquainted with individual representatives of coastal
society who can love, hate, and be hurt psychologically,
he is able to identify with and understand them. In this
way he tends to think of himself in coastal society more
as a participant than an observer.

Cholos, montuvios, and Blacks who kill themselves or
each other, motivated by jealousy, hate, vengeance, or crime,
are in essence tragic characters. The instances are impor-
tant for the dimensions of human sensitivity and the depth
of psychology they portray. The reader knows the charac-
ters' most intimate thoughts. He understands that violent
acts are a natural part of their world. When the princi-
pal character in Gallegos Lara's "Er SI, Ella No" learns
that one of his friends has been having an affair with his
wife, he confronts him directly: "--Baja der caballo:
Quiero peliar con vos, Jalarme al pufiete, ar machete,

16 After fighting with and

quiero bebeste la sangre!"
killing the man, he returns home, where he makes love

to his unfaithful wife:

#8

"le hablé él sordamente. Estando afin enlazadas
sus carnes desnudas.

Oye Chabela... Voj eres una puta. Pior quiuna
perra. Pero te quiero. te quiero muchisimo. Por
vos mei esgraciao. Por vos hei matao a Juan... Ar
que me robaba esto...

...-~1a psrviosa mano 1e apretaba entre las
piernas ..."

The violence and rough eroticism are beautiful, compar-
able to the way one wild beast might fight another to defend
its territory, or take a mate by force then battle all other
creatures to protect his conquest. Within their own ambiance,
‘ghglg, montuvio, or Black characters are relatively free to
fulfill the needs of their spirit.

18 however,

In the context of society at large,
the characters lose much of their primitive and natural beauty.
They become like animals in cages, alive, but impotent.

They do not understand the confines, the rules and the regula-
tions, of the more ”sophisticated" world. Like the bars of the
cage, society's laws encircle them, hold them back, work to
break their spirit. If they leap against them, they are
repelled, hurt and bloodied. If they manage to bend or break
the bars and escape, their freedom is only momentary, for they
are hunted down, to be confined even more severely or perhaps
killed. Their natural sense of justice tells them the social
system is not suited to them, that it is wrong, yet they are

powerless to correct its injustices. In Gil Gilbert's "Por Guardar

49

el Secreto" the man who kills his patrén because he finds
him making love to his mother is sentenced to prison.
However, as the author explains: "Pero e1 Juez no

habia visto lo que él vi5. Vi6 a su madre i a don
Pablo... Ella tendida sobre la cama... I 51... El.”19
Similarly, in the same author's "Montafia Adentro". a

man pursued for killing the white man who abused his "negra"
declares: ”Yo hei matao ... tPero estoi contento! 3N0:
No soi asesino... Hei matao por que a 51 1e lleg6 la
hora. zNada mas!... :Yo soi un desgraciao!"20 The
characters suffer whenever they leave their sub-culture,
even if to correct injustice.

When correction of injustice does not lead to
bloodshed, the poor ghglg, montuvio, or Black still fares
badly against the whole of society. In Aguilera Malta's
"El Cholo que Odi6 la Plats", an old ghglg commits a
serious crime by setting fire to the possessions of a
local wealthy man. Although by society's standards his
act was criminal, it was based on his intuitive sense
of justice. The wealthy man had been his friend since
boyhood, but by accumulating wealth through the years
he had become "desgraciado”21. What society viewed as
arson the old ghglg saw as an attempt to save his friend
from further decay, by making him poor again. As the

author explains. "... cuando en Guayaquil-~ante an poco

50

de gente que le hablaba de cosas que no entendIa--le
pidieron que explicara balbucefi: --La plata esgracia

a los hombres..."22

Since he merely followed his
instincts, he has no comprehension of why his act should
be questioned.

A similar example of the poor coastal inhabitant's
perplexity at the rendering of justice in society at
large is found in Joaquin Gallegos Lara's "Era la mama",
Here, a Black is hunted down, beaten and killed by the
policia rural because of a minor altercation with the
captain of the force. The dead man's family knows the
police should not be exempt from punishment for the
killing, but they are powerless. Their instinctive sense
of justice does not fail them, but the benefit of ”con-
ventional" justice is out of their grasp.23 The characters
are not integral parts of society. They pay allegiance
to its laws and suffer its injustices, but receive no
benefit from it.

When confronted with an aspect of society that is
mechanical, they are completely bewildered. When the
cholos of Gil Gilbert's "Tren" build the railroad for the
foreigners and local entrepreneurs, they are fascinated and
excited by the new addition to their landscape. However.
when on its first day of operation the train kills a small

they are shocked and confused.2u They can kill an abusive

51

patron, or fight to the death against the rurales, but
they have little hope against a locomotive. When modern
civilization invades their sub-culture, they begin to
become incorporated into society at large. Within this
perspective, they are social misfits.

The authors' artistic attitude toward the coast and
its inhabitants is quite different than that of earlier
works, such as Martinez' A la Costa, which had essentially
a gggtumbrista approach. Detailed descriptions of local
dress, regional music, geography, plants, and animals are
absent in L93 que se van. The predominant emphasis is on
the characters. What they wear, what they do, or where
they do it is never as important as why they do it.

In some costumbrista works, a scene of a native girl
washing clothes might include a description of her "native

costume". However, in Les que se van the clothes are in-

 

cidental to the human being, as in the following example
from Gallegos Lara's "El Tabacazo“:
"Distraida acabo de lavar y quiso bafiarse.
Con una bata sucia por todo traje, habiéndose
desvestido sin miedo, ... entr6 a1 estero frIo.
La bata se le Bego a1 cuerpo. Era casi
transparente. ..." 5
In earlier works authors sometimes interpolated the
lyrics of regional songs to portray "local color”. In the
present work a song is important primarily for the emotions

it arouses in the people who sing it, hear it, or even think

52

of it. The following illustration is again from Gallegos
Lara's "El Tabacazo". It is late at night, and the
chicheria26 is just closing:

"Ya se habIan ido los filtimos borrachos.
En la calle del pueblo que cerraba los ojos de
sombra se apag6 un amorfino. Un amorfino de
un dejo hondo i largo. Un amorfino aguardentoso.
Mafiana me voi pa Quito
a comprar paper sellao
para escribisle una cartita
a la hembrita que mi ha orvidao...
No eran nada las palabras. Lo que en las almas
sacudia cosas viejas era esa voz estremecida de
temblores d3 puro que se arrastraba con ganas
de llorar." 7

In previous works, a river was usually the picturesque
setting along which the native types lived and from which
they earned a livelihood. Here, however, a river's impor-
tance might be as a means of travel and communication.

In Gil Gilbert's "Juan del diablo" it is the means by which
montuvio reaches the woman he intends to murder. The river
seems to harmonize with the man's frame of mind:
"... El rio --en su corriente-- era una
culebra enorme que avanzaba.
Chis-Chas, chis-chas...
El secreteo de la canoa violando el agua.

Lo unico que hace bulla en la noche. I e1

salto de algfin pescagg. 0 el rayado veloz de

un tiburon pequeno.”

While in costumbrista works authors often described

 

trees, plants, and animals for their uniqueness to the
locale, in Los que se van a forest might be a setting for

a love scene, or a fight. In Gallegos Lara's "Er sf, ella

53

no" the author inserts only a minimal description of
the setting before the beginning of a fight: "La tarde
habia cerrado. Las masas negras de la huerta envolean
todos lados. La vuelta de la manga solitaria era propicia."29
Sometimes the flora and fauna have special folkloric
significance. In the same author's "La salvaje" a cholo
believes a beautiful woman lives in the mangrove
swamp. His obsession drives him mad. He plunges into
the swamp, where the very mangles become his lover:
~ "Se not5 echado de espaldas. Apoyados los
rinones en una raIz de higuer n.
Ese vientre en movimiento.
I la sensacion chupante i ruda del centre
de esos muslos que lo envolvian con avideces
de culebra. I vino e1 mareo de amor.
Pero entre esas caricias cada instante mas
multiplicadas i feroces que en el extremo
vibratil de su ser le dolIan 1 las gozaba,
aqué sentIa?
sAh! aPorqué?
Los brazos agantes 1e apretaban el cuello.
Se ahogaba. ..." °
The authors never portray the coastal man as "quaint"
or "picturesque". They are not interested simply in
observing him. Through their portraits of the more
dramatic aspects of his existence, they live his life with
him. They tell his stories as he himself might tell them.
In every case they attempt to portray him from the perspec-
tive of his peers.
In order to create the illusion that the characters

are telling their own stories, the authors use colloquial

5“

language and accentuate action. In both dialogue and
description, they use the same vocabulary and syntax
that one would hear being used by the real people the
characters represent. There is a feeling of rhythm
and movement in the narrative. The reader becomes
pulled into the stories, much as would be the case if
he were watching a play.

In the final scene of Enrique Gil Gilbert's “La
blanca de los ojos color de luna", for example, the
author portrays an intense drama taking place within
the mind of a ghglg infatuated with a rich white girl.
Capable of articulating neither his love for her nor
his frustration over the hopelessness of that love, in
desperation the ghglg seizes a knife and tears out his
eyes. His final statement is a simple "Ya vido....

"31 A long soliloquy-

me saqué los ojos pa no verla mas.
like statement would be inappropriate. The emphasis

is on action. The sense of action is heightened by the
avoidance of lengthy description, the employment of

a minimum of adjectives, and the break.in generally
accepted norms of structure: "Sobre 1a cara una baba.
Una baba sanguinolenta que le salIa de los ojos. Un
liquido viscose brotando a torrentes. De adonde habian

«32

estado los ojos. In its brevity and liberties with

structure, this descriptive passage is similar to what

55

one might expect in dialogue. It is as though one of the
character's friends were telling the story.

Dialogue is rarely used for "small talk". In most
instances, every word is charged with emotion. The
conveyance of human drama between the characters is
accomplished as much by their words as their actions.

In Gil Gilbert's “Juan del diablo" a man insults his
girlfriend's mother for dousing him with sewage. The
result is a confrontation between him and the girl's

brother:

"La ducha de orines iba a caer otra vez,
sobre él.

--Arza, la gran flauta... Vieja bruta paria
a brincos.

Teodoro, hermano de Eudosia --valiente y
machetero-- se imagin6 insultado. ...

--Oite... éA quien insurtas vos?

--A tu mam i a vos tamién.

Ya estaba abajo. Casi junto a 61.

Sus ojos blancos resaltaban tal que garzas
en la poza de la cara.

--jQuerés jalarte ar jierro?

--A naiden l‘hei tenio miedo...

--Entonce... Guarda alla...

El poncho casi no envolvio a1 brazo. La noche33
oy6 cantar, gemir, llorar, gritar a los machetes.”

These characters waste little time in debate. Their
sentences are as quick and intense as their machete blows.

In matters of love as well as "war", the sentences
contain very few words. Every word has explosive impact.
Witness the following illustration from Gallegos Lara's

”Al subir el aguaje”:

56.

"--Te quiero, Zoila, te quiero...
' --;Vos? Vos no eres hombre pami... Y0 me
rio e vos...

La voz de Cuchucho tom6 vibraciones duras i
dolorosas:

--Te quiero i nuai mas... 34

--1 yo me rio e vos... gNuentiendes?"

The cholo's direct, simple declaration of his love,
and the woman's equally simple and direct rejection of it,
are in keeping with the nature of the people the characters
represent. While the characters may be inarticulate
they are not insensitive. Only a thin layer of words
covenstheir emotions.

In Demetrio Aguilera Malta's "El cholo de la Atacosa"
dialogue is used to show how the unhappy relationship
between a cholo and his unfaithful lover drives him to
suicide:

" --So... erra... Sé gue te revorcas con todo

er mundo. S que no val 3 pa que te quiera naide.

aMés que perra! Quédate con tus carnes que
queman. Me largo pa no vorver mas...

--aI que? gCres vos que me hacés fiero? Si
asi es mejor. Si asi debiéramo ser toditas las
mujeres... Largate pues... Nunca me ha hecho
farta naide."3

The ghglg expresses in an uncomplicated way dis-
pleasure over his lover's infidelity, and his longing
for her. When the ghgla makes light of his threat to
leave her, the author explains: "Se dijera que el viento
lo pateaba. ... I como estaba al agua tan cerca... Que

salt5 de la borde i se tir6 al mar... Tar que canci6n..."36

57

The stories are told consistently with vocabulary and
syntax used by poor cholos and montuvios.

The artistic technique in Los que se van impresses
for its sense of natural easiness. The authors never abuse
the simile or the metaphor. They use expressions that
might be within the capacity of the coastal man, such as'
the "carnes que queman” or the ”viento que patea” of
the above examples. A woman pleased with her boyfriend's
lovemaking says: ”Paece que me baieras como a un
molinillo.."37 After a man rips out his eyes the author
speaks of: "... la sangre saliendo i desbordandose como
una catarata.”38 The blade of the machete that killed a
man "... se bafio desnuda en el rio de la noche roja de la
sangre."39 With the coming of darkness "E1 dia se estran-

“0 While

gulaba en la marafia verdinegra de los mangles."
it is unlikely one would hear cholos or montuvios using
metaphors like these, the expressions are in keeping with
the character, or the spirit. of the tropical coast and
its inhabitants. The vocabulary refers to native material.
In any case, similes and metaphors are used sparingly and
congruously.

The authors of Lgs que se van are more interested
in telling the world about the human beings who populate

their native region than in denunciation of the social

system. They do not campaign expressly for political or

58

social ideology. The reader knows the social situation

in coastal Ecuador is unpleasant for the poor, but he knows
it through suggestion rather than proclamation. The
authors employs low-key form of "denuncia y protesta".
Rather than great verbal murals of the suffering "hombre-
masa”, they make small but powerful sketches from the lives
of individual people. One sympathizes with a Juan, or

a Guayamabe, rather than a formless and faceless social
class.

Los gue_§e_ygfl must be considered a landmark for the
narrative from coastal Ecuador. The socio-ethnic types will
be the basis for the characters in the novels that will be
written later by these authors and their contemporaries
as the "Grupo de Guayaquil". The artistic technique will
be the point of departure for more ambitious works. As
is the case in this book, the writers will never ignore
art for thesis. Moreover, a "team-effort" approach to their
material will continue as long as the writers function as
a group, although the novelists' individual artistic
techniques will vary. As they did later when they became
the “Grupo de Guayaquil", the authors of Los_que se gap
considered their work a unified effort with a single purpose:

"Este libro no es un haz de egoismos. Tiene
tres autores: no tiene tres partes. Es una
sola cosa.

Pretende que unida sea la obra como fue
unido el ensueno. que la cre5. Ha nacido de la

marcha fratirna de nuestros tres espfritus.
Nada mas."4

NOTES
CHAPTER II.

1. Other than those in Los que se van, no other short
stories shall be discussed, as the main concern is with the
novel. Los que se van justifies discussion owing to its
position as the trendsetter for the narrative from Ecuador's
coast.

 

2. Benjamin Carrion, El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958}, pp. 85-87.

Carrion states that when he first came into contact
with Los que se van he was in Paris. Literary discussions
centered on authors and works from other parts of Latin
America. After reading this collection of short stories,
however, he declares that:

”For fin, me dije, entusiasmado. Por fin podré
también yo ... hablar de la nueva literatura de mi Ecuador
... hablar de esta rsnacida esperanza sobre el mensaje
espiritual, hablar de la vocaci6n de la cultura de mi pequefia
tierra. ,

Also:

Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, "De Literatura Ecuatoriana
Congzmporanea," Revista Nacional de Cultura, XVIII., CXVI.,
P. o

Pareja sa 8 of Los qge se van that "La critica
continental se ocupo de él. Luis Alberto Sanchez le puso
atencion y de alli hab15 de la literatura feista. Benjamin
Carrion se puso a mover campanas de jfibilo, porque, pcr fin,
se encontraba en nuestra literatura un paiseje, un ambito
certero, hombre y geo afia juntos. ... Resultaba increible
... que autores tan j venes pudiesen con técnica tan dificil
y apretada como la del cuento. ...

... después del cansancio de una literatura de
idealizaciones horras ... una presentacion del dolor humano
hecho con tanta reciedumbre, conmovi5 a lost mejores espiritus.

Se trataba ... de la primera presencia del dolor humano
y de una geografia que nos rozaba las ufias todos los dias:
de un batallar entre e1 caracter y la naturaleza, entre lo
primario y los sentimientos de rechazo a terribles condiciones
de vida.“

3. Luis Leal, Historia del CueptgvHispanoamericano

----

(México: Ediciones de Andrea, 1953), p. 99.
59

 

60

4. Each writer has eight stories in Los_que se van.
Enrique Gil Gilbert wrote: "El malo", "Por guardar el
secrete", "La blanca de los ojos color de luna", “3L0
que son las cosas!”, "Juan der Diablo“, "Montana adentro",
"El tren“, and ":Mardecido 'Llanto'2". Joaquin Gallegos
Lara contributed "E1 guaraguao“, “Er si, ello no", “iEra
la mamal", ”Cuando pari5 la zamba", "El tabacazo". ”Los
madereros", ”Al subir el aguaje”, and "La salvaje". Demetrio
Aguilera Malta added: "El cholo que odi5 la plata”, "El
cholo de la Atacosa", "El cholo del cuerito a venao", "El
cholo del tibron”, “El cholo que se vengo", "El cholo que
se fue pa Guayaquil”, "El cholo de las pata e mulas“, and
"El cholo que se castro".

 

5. There is a slight tendency on the part of Aguilera

Malta to rely on dialogue in his stories more than do his
colleagues. However, the manner in which dialogue is used,
with the orthography, vocabulary, and structure approximating
the Speech of the coastal people, is the same for all the
writers. One has the impression that the three might have
edited each other's stories to insure their stylistic simi-
larity.

Even the themes of the stories are similar. Again,
it is Aguilera Malta who shows a minor deviation, in that
his stories deal exclusively with the cholo. The other two
authors divide their attention fairly equally between the
socio-ethnic types.

6. The "spiritual" environment refers to the religious
elements, folk-beliefs, superstitions, etc. that surround
the coastal man.

7. Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Los QB§-§§ van (Guayaquil:
Editorial "Claridad", 1970), p. 9.

8. Giuseppe Bellini, La Narrative de Migyel Anggl

Asturias (Buenos Aires: Losada, 1969), pp. 11-12.

Bellini quotes Asturias from the unedited text of
a series of lectures he gave at Italian universities in
1963. Asturias' attitude toward the correlation between
the language and the subject matter in the Spanish American
novel supports the approach used by the authors of Les
que se van, and subsequently by the "Grupo de Guayaquil".

Asturias says: "Cada novela nuestra es ... una
hazafia verbal. ... Palabras. ... Pero, gusarlas c6mo? aDe
acuerdo con qué leyes? aCon que reglas? Generalmente no
obedecen a ninguna. Han sido puestas como la pulsacion
de mundos que se estan formando. ... En la aventura de
nuestro lenguaje lo primero que debe rastrearse es la

 

61
onamatopeya. :Cuantos ecos compuestos o descompuestos de
nuestro paisaje, de nuestra naturaleza, hay en vocablos,
en nuestras frases."
9. Gallegos Lara, Los gye se van, p. 24.

10. 'Tibr5n" is a mispronunciation of “tibur6n.”

ll. Aguilera Malta, Los que se van, p. 74.

 

12. When the child is referred to as "El Malo" or "E1
Moro", the implication is that he is pagan, or “moorish”,
because he has not been baptized into Christianity. By
extension, he is therefore evil.

13. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. 18.

14. Aguilera Malta, Losjgue se van, p. 176.

15. Aguilera Malta, Lgs que se van, p. 112.

16. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 3“.

 

l7. Gallegos Lara, Los gue §§_z§g. p. 37.

18. Demetrio Aguilera Malta's "El cholo que odi5 la
plats", Joaquin Gallegos Lara's "Era la mama", and Gil
Gilbert's "Por guardar el secrete", "Montana adentro",
and "El tren" are the only stories whose main theme is
the coastal man's relationship with the whole of society.

19. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. #9.
20. Gil Gilbert,_Los que se van, p. 133.
21. In Ecuador, the term "Desgraciado" is often used
to mean "to have committed a crime". Similarly, "desgraciarse"

means "to Commit a crime”.

22. Aguilera Malta, Los que se van, p. 30.

 

23. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 69.
There is a note of'the macabre in this story. The
police come unknowingly to the dead man's house to Spend
the night, where the captain makes love to the victim's
sister. In the morning, after the police have left, the
family discovers the body in their pigpen, partially
devoured by their hog:

62

“Fue un grito corto el de Petita:

--;Ay mama! Si es Rmaulfo: mi nafio...

La vieja no dijo nada. Su cara negra --arrugada
como el tronco lefioso de un nispero-- se hizo ceniza,
ceniza. ,

A Petita 1e dolian los besos del rural --los besos
de la noche oscura-- como si hubieran sido bofetadas..."

The poor blacks here are completely helpless
against the injustices done to them.

24. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. 150.

25. Gallegos Lara, Lps que se van, p. 103.

26. "Chicha" is a popular fermented beverage, usually
made from maize, that is often consumed by the poor in the
Andean countries. A "chicheria" is a type of local tavern
that specializes in selling "chicha".

27. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 101.

 

28. Gil Gilbert, Los gue g3 van, p. 48.
29. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 35.
30. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 182.

31. Gil Gilbert, Les que se van, p. 62.

32. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. 62.
33. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, pp. 94-95.
34. Gallegos Lara, Los gue s9 van, p. 142.

35. Aguilera Malta, Los que se van, p. 43,

 

36. Aguilera Malta, Los que se van, p. 43.

37. Aguilera Malta, Los que se van, p. 54,

 

38. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. 62.

39. Gallegos Lara, Los que se van, p. 35.
40. Gil Gilbert, Los que se van, p. 58.

41. Aguilera Malta, Gallegos Lara, and Gil Gilbert,
Los que se van, Preface, p. 7.

CHAPTJR IiI

THE NUVMLISTIC TREATMENT OF SOCIETY

hos que se van could be evaluated both stylistic-
ally and thematically as if it were written by one author
instead of three. In the thirteen novels that treat
coastal Ecuadorian society and were written by the "Grupo
de Guayaquil" during the thirties and the forties, indi-
vidual artistic styles have sufficient variance to warrant
separate consideration. Nonetheless, the six authors show
enough similarity in their interpretation of coastal
society that one may evaluate that phase of their work by
concentrating on the patterns and themes generally present
throughout the novels.

While the novelists appreciate and conscientiously
develop the aesthetic aSpects of their literary art, they
also feel that their work should have social importance.1
They use their novels to point out both positive and
negative aspects of society.2 They follow three main
channels. First, they present the human elements. They
picture in detail the socio-ethnic types that form the
lower classes, pay little attention to the middle class,
scrutinize the upper class, and occasionally introduce the
foreigner. Their concern with these social components is

to show how they inter—relate and eSpecially to champion

63

64

the lower.class. The second channel is the portrayal of
life and the environment in both rural and urban settings.3
They deal with the daily lives of the people in the physical
and the ”spiritual" environment that surrounds them. On

the one hand they show the coastal man in his relationship
with the physical environment and how much of that relation-
ship is determined by or interacts with the social structure.
On the other hand they show the elements of religion, super-
stition, and folk-beliefs that are also part of the coastal
man's environment. They arouse the reader's sympathy for

the characters by showing them living in difficult situations.
At the same time interest in them is heightened by depiction
of exotic aspects of their relationship with the environ-
ment. The authors' third channel is the use of historical

references to prove or affirm their ideas regarding the

nature and composition of society.

The Qggpogente of’Societz

The authors view the society as made up of the conflu-
ence of races and cultures. Probably reflecting Vasconcelos'
influence, they see the amalgamation of races in the coastal
man as something worthy of pride. As Joaquin Gallegos Lara
expresses through one of his lower class characters: ”...

E1 era pobre y era americano. con el indio en los ojos y
el mulato en los labios. ... sQué orgullo ... haber nacido en

Guayaquil! aPero que fuerza saber que nuestro destinc es

65

nuestro mundo ... 3"“ The majority of the characters are

shown as products of racial fusion, even when they represent
the upper levels of coastal society. In José de la Cuadra's
Lg§_Sangpimg§ the patriarchal latifundista montuyig, Nicasio
Sangurima, is the offspring of a zamba and a white foreigner,
and in his LQ§_Monos Enloquecidos the powerful Hernandez
family of Guayaquil has in its background African, Indian
and European components.5 Class differences are not.
important than racial distinctions. Adalberto Ortiz'

Juygngo is the only novel that makes race an issue. Even
there the author stresses the predominance of class over
racial differences when a secondary character tells the pro-
tagonist: ”--Ten siempre presents estas palabras, amigo

mic: mas que la raza, 1a clase."6 However, when the authors
treat the various social classes, they emphasize distinctions

between them.

The Lower Class:

A superficial description of characters who represent
the lower classes would picture them as ”worker heros". They
labor long and hard in the shops, the fields, the forests, and
along the waterways. They struggle against the climate, the
geography, and the social system. Although they never succeed
in permanently removing or conquering these obstructions, they
never stop trying. It would appear that they are not very

different from lower class characters in other socially oriented

()

(f

(fl

It)

66

novels from almost anywhere, such as the laborers in the
California wheat fields of Frank Norris' The Octopus (1901),
or the Chicago factory workers of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
(1906).

However, these similarities are true only so far as
they concern the characters' functional relationship with
their environment and the rest of society. The manner in
which they perform this function, the way that they live
their own lives, gives them dimensions of singularity and
authenticity. They value personal dignity above physical
well-being. Whether they function as workers in the
industries of Guayaquil, as fishermen or sailors, or as
toilers in the fields and forests, what is at stake is
their worth as individual human beings in combat with
the vicissitudes of life. Although physical necessities often
are important, these relatively concrete exigencies are not
as important as the abstract ones. The lower class charac-
ters in the "Grupo de Guayaquil's" novels are unique because
of the attention given to them that concentrates on their
spirit. Because they are portrayed as complete human
beings, they are genuine.

As was the case in Los ue se van, the lower ranges
of society are represented by the ghglg, montuvio, and
Black.7 The characteristics attributed to them are much

the same, except they are silhouetted against a larger

6?

backdrop. The environment is pictured in greater depth

and against a broader panorama, sometimes including elements
from outside the native region. Struggles against social
injustice are put in global as well as national and local
perspective.

The socio-ethnic types share several traits. They are
presented as the true representatives of their environment,
often as its personification. They have boldness and aggres-
siveness that may lead them to accept an adventuresome challenge
regardless of the possible consequences. Their innate sense
of justice is so strong it may drive them to direct action.
In addition, the montuvio is independent and hard-working,
the ghglg and the Black are introspective, and the Black is
somewhat at odds with himself over his relationship with his
fellow countrymen, because of his color.

The first trait is demonstrated to some extent in all
the novels. The urban cholos in Pareja Diezcanseco's and
Gallegos Lara's novels, the rural ones in those of Aguilera
Malta, the montuvios in de la Cuadra's and Gil Gilbert's work,
and the Blacks in Ortiz' novel represent the ethnic elements
other than European, or white, that form the majority of the
coastal population. Moreover, they are the manpower that
produces the goods, loads and unloads the ships, plants and
harvests the crops, cuts the timber, catches the fish, and

in general perfdrms tasks necessary to the life of the area.

It.)

(I'-

’3'

68

Most importantly, there is intimacy between the characters
and their work. Through their work, they are in physical
contact with the environment; with the water, the forests,
the land, and the raw materials in the factories. Sometimes
the contact becomes spiritual as well as physical. Then
lower class characters not only represent the environment,
but personify it.

The most emphatic example is in Aguilera Malta's Don
Goyg.8 The patriarch of a tribe of cholos, Don Goyo Quimi,
has conversations with the mangle trees that grow in the
swampy coastal lowlands as though he were one of them. When
he dies he submerges himself in water where he becomes
entangled with the trees in total and final synthesis with
the evironment:

"Estaba sumergido en el agua, totalmente

desnudo, prendido de las ramas vigorosas del

mangle caido. Tenia los ojos abiertos y la

boca iluminada per una extrana risa, que imponia.

Los mfisculos se habian esponjado. El cuerpo

daba una impresifin rotunda de fuerza y lozania.

Prieto, rugoso, formidable, parecia confundirse 9

con la carne del colosal habitante de las islas."

Don Goyo not only communicates with the flora of
the coastal islands, the man les, but he is the man le,
'uue symbol of his region. He is also an arch-type of his
race. The cholos earn their livelihood by cutting and
selling the timber, but in a spiritual sense they are part

Of'the trees. In effect, when they cut and 3911 the EEQELEE:

they sacrifice themselves .

69

The symbolic fusion of man and the environment can
be collective as well as individual. In Gil Gilbert's
Nuestro Pan the montuvios labor in the rice fields, ”De
sus manos torcidas, duras como suelas, enrojecidas y
lascadas de tanto sobar las eSpigas, comienza a brotar

sangre.”10

They mix their blood with the crop and the
earth. They love the land in spite of the pain it may
cause them. They suffer with it when there is a drought.
They are happy with it when the crop is abundant. Like their
predecessors in Losgue se van, they are not separate from
their natural environment, but an intrinsic part of it.

In Ortiz' Juyungo the black protagonist personifies
the region around Esmeraldas, in spite of his psychological

conflicts about his relationship with the white worldll,

and his feelings of alienation from the local Indians.12
As he struggles for a living in the tropical forest and
comes into contact with the plants and animals, he is

as much another native creature as he would be if he were

a ghglg or a montuvio.

Even in novels whose action takes place in the city
the writers use characters from the lower classes, specifi-
cally the urban ghglg, to personify the environment. In
Pareja Diezcanseco's novels examples such as the dockworker

of El Muelle, Juan Hidrovo, or Baldomera, who sells prepared

food from a cart in the novel of the same name, represent

70

the city. Gallegos Lara's panaderos have a similar function
in his work. They represent the majority of the city's
population. What happens to them happens to the city.

There is harmony between the characters, the environ-
ment, and their work. Although they must at times combat
the environment to survive, their battle is similar to that
of wild creatures for which struggle is one of life's most
natural characteristics. Work is the most constant manifes-
tation of this struggle. Although they may be unhappy with
the social system that controls and limits the benefits they
receive from their labor, they never complain about having
to work, or about the nature of the work.

The second characteristic common to the ghglg, montuvio,
and Black is boldness and aggressiveness in the face of life's
challenges and conflicts. This trait is depicted as part
of their everyday existence, from day to day confrontation
with the environment to the occasional dramatic and poten-
tially dangerous situation. It is more characteristic of
the lower classes in the ”Grupo de Guayaquil's" work than
of those in novels from other parts of Ecuador. The indians
and mestizos in the novels from the Ecuadorian highlands are
typically pictured as more passive and phlegmatic than their
tropical counterparts. Their life consists of attempting to
satisfy only basic physical and psychological needs, such

.as hunger and animal—like comfort in their mate's proximity.

71

While the highland mestizos, like the protagonist of

Enrique Teran's El Cojo Navarrete (1940), are not

cowardly, they do not seem to seek out challenges, as do the
coastal socio-ethnic types. The indians from the sierra
only face danger when there is no alternative, as in the
work of Jorge Icaza.13 In contrast, lower class characters
in the coastal novels have many psychological as well as
physical needs. These psychological needs usually relate

to their concept of themselves as men, to their personal
dignity. Just the comfort of his woman nearby is not

enough for the coastal man. She must mean something to

his self-pride. The cholos, montuvios, and Blacks often
take an aggressive approach to satisfy their needs. A

man for whom a certain woman has special meaning may first
take her by force then defend her with his life, like the
character in Don Goyo who is in love with one of the protagon-
ist's daughters. Although making love to her may also
satisfy a physical need, he conceives of her as something
that belongs to him, that is part of him. The basic
motivation for his action is the satisfaction of his psycho-
logical needs. Moreover, coastal characters seem ready to
place themselves in the path of potential danger, whether it
involves a confrontation with wild animals, other people,

or social injustice. They remind one more of the Mexican

‘revolutionaries in Mariano Azuela's Los de Abajo or the

72

Venezuelan plainsmen in R5mulo Gallegos' Dona Barbara than
the lower class characters in the highland novels.1u

Individual examples of this aggressive approach to
life are found in many of Pareja Diezcanseco's characters,

like the protagonist of La Beldaca, who struggles to gain

 

independence for himself. He strives to have a boat, and
his own mater. His desire is demonstated in the following
segment:

"A Jesus Parrales le gusta su mar y su playa,

su pesca y su chola ... Pero ... 1e ha nacido otro

amor: el amor adoracién por la balandra. ...

Cuando pasea por la playa y esta solo, se queda

largos ratos inm6vil mirando las balandras ...

Los domingos que va de pesca en su balsilla,

reposa un tanto su anhelo. Y, sin embargo, 15

entristecido. piensa: 'si fuera balandra...'"

When he finally succeeds in getting a balandra, he
satisfies his psychological need for self-dignity more than
the physical need of improvement in living standard the boat
will help him get.

Similarly, the black protagonist of Ortiz' novel fights
to satisfy his needs in a virile and self-assertive way. At
one point he has a fight with a white man who had insulted
him, and another time he wins a fight with another Blackwho
is known for his toughness. In other instances he avenges
the death of his infant son and enters a Peruvian army camp

naked and armed only with a machete.16

In every case, his
personal dignity motivates his action.

This bold aggressiveness also can be collective.

73

Gallegos Lara's Las Cruces Sobre el Agua shows the aggressive
Spirit of the masses of urban cholos when they strike to den
mand better wages and working conditions:

”... Las huelgas habian oomenzado reclamando
mejores salarios y menos horas de trabajo. ...

Alfredo creIa que lo urgente era combatir e1
hambre ya. Adivinaba que la fuerza del pueblo
podia y tenia que aspirar a mas.'1
Although hunger is a physical need, it is only the
final catalyst leading to the workers' strike. The first
and most basic cause for dissatisfaction is the threat to
their pride. When actions of international economics and
employers lead to a worsening of working conditions or
loss of work, their dignity is wounded before they become hungry,
They do not merely accept what life offers them, but strive
'h)wrestfrom it what they believe is rightfully theirs.

This boldness attributed to the socio-ethnic types
is often displayed in dramatic scenes, as when the tough
old mayordomo of Aguilera Malta's La Isla Virgen has a fight
with a tigre:

"El tigre salta. Le cae a1 Mayordomo. Se
confunden por un momento los cuerpos de los
contendedores, agitandose. El tigre ya no
brama. Se escucha su jadeo rabioso. Se 1e
adivina haciendo desesperados esfuerzos por

despedazar ese hombre de acero. ... La lucha
es a muerte. Y e1 tigre y el hombre lo saben.

Se oye, de pronto, $3 bramido feroz, seguido
de una risa demoniaca.”

Since the battle is fought out of other people's sight,

74

it is clear that the man is not motivated by a desire to
impress onlookers. To him, confrontation with danger is part
of being a man. He shows no hesitation or reluctance, but
actually enjoys the challenge. Meeting and overcoming ob-
stacles is necessary to his psychological well-being.

The readiness to undertake a dangerous task is an
everyday matter for these characters. While the confronta-
tion itself may not merit attention, the manner in which a
challenge is confronted often does. The fact that the

mayorgomo battles a tir e is not so impressive as the bold

 

style with which he does it. The young protagonist in
Gallegos Lara's novel conducts himself bravely in battle.
When other soldiers express their admiration of him, they
do so more because of his youth than his bravery:

"A 103 cambates entr6 como Sin hacer nada.
Nada conseguia hacerlo ni fruncir el cefio.
... Peleando, los negros lo veian ir cara a
cara hacia los fogonazos, entre los zumbidos
silbantes de las dum-dum de los pupos. El
capitan le palmeaba e1 hombro:

--Eres valiente, zambo, pa ser muchacho! ...

--;Yo valiente? Qué va!

--Te hemos visto.

--Dice el dicho que no mata la bala sino cl
destino."l

This individual soldier's fierce and almost fatalistic
courage is not unique to him. It is characteristic of
the entire troop. Boldness in the face of danger is as
typical of lower class socio-ethnic types en masse as indi—

vidually. The authors present scenes in which the people

75

collectively challenge formidable powers, which may range

20 In

from violent natural phenomena to an armed force.
scenes depicting a fire in Pareja Diezcanseco's La Beldaca,
or an earthquake in Ortiz' Ju ungo, the people endure
suffering and privation. When they go against the rifles

and machine guns of the military in Gallegos Lara's Las

cruces sobre el agua and in Pareja Diezcanseco's Baldomera,

 

 

many of them are killed or wounded. They are now cowed by
natural disasters. Without bewailing their fate, they
salvage what they can and go on living. Although they are
not suicidal and do retreat, the superior firepower of the
military succeeds in intimidating them only temporarily.
Their revolt is suppressed, but they are not conquered:
their spirit is not broken.

The writers never imply lower class characters are
fearless. Cholos, montuvios, and Blacks in these novels
are people with ordinary human strengths and weaknesses.
Their readiness to confront aggressively the conflicts,
challenges, and potentially dangerous obstacles is the
principal means of maintaining a favorable concept of
themselves, or of preserving their basic human dignity.

If they lose homes and possessions through natural disaster,
friends or relatives are killed during civil insurrection,
work is backbreaking, or jobs are in jeopardy, they accept

courageously the tragedies and move aggressively to meet

76

challenges. Consistently, they place personal dignity
before physical well-being.

The third characteristic that the authors depict as
common to socio-ethnic types also reflects the essential
dignity attributed to them. Their strong and instinctive
sense of justice often drives them to direct action.

They know whether they are being treated fairly by other
individuals or by the whole of society, and they are not
likely to accept injustice passively. Moreover, they show
this trait with respect to global as well as local situations.

Nonetheless, like the characters in Los que se van,
those in the novels' feeling for justice is rooted in the
values of their sub-culture. As is the case with their
aggressiveness and boldness, their sense of justice is related
to their attitude toward themselves, to their self-pride and
dignity. They are not concerned as much with what others
think of them as they are with what they think of themselves.
Their honor code is personal. When an injustice occurs that
affects their Sphere, they react quickly and often violently.

The characters include friends and family in their
self-concept. When the protagonist in Pareja Diezcanseco's
Baldgmera joins the fighting that is a result of a worker's
strike, it is because her family is suffering economic pri-
vation. When the same historical event appears in Gallegos

Lara's Las Cruces Sobre el A a, the characters participating

77

in the insurrection are motivated primarily by the desire

to correct what they consider injustice done to them per-
sonally. or to members of their family or to their friends.21
They do not think of themselves as part of a "downtrodden
mass", but as individual human beings to whom suffering a cut

in pay or a worsening of working conditions is equal to a

loss of dignity. Although it would appear their protest

:r—u-‘1-~_-I ‘A A1

and fighting are actions of a unified group, they really
take to the streets as indignant individuals.

The writers suggest this sense of justice as evident
from childhood, as in Gallegos Lara's novel when some boys
are playing at war games:

"--;Aleman o francés?

--Siempre francés, carajo: ...

-- ... vos y Cortés, apor que estan por
los franceses que pierden siempre?

--Hay quS defender lo que es justo, aunque

uno se joda!" 2

The willingness here expressed by children at play
to defend what is right is followed through in many novels
by real-life actions of adults. In Ortiz' Juyungo a
foreigner and an accomplice set fire to some dwellings on
an island inhabited by Blacks in order to frighten them into
leaving, so the island's resources may be exploited. The
protagonist's infant son dies in the holocaust. It is
learned that two days later "han encontrado hecho picadillo

a mister Hans y a Tolentino Matamba"23. In contrast to the

indian characters in the highland novels who suffer seemingly

78

interminable abuse before taking action, this coastal char-
acter reacts unhesitatingly and violently. For the boy
pretending he is a French soldier and for the Black from
Esmeraldas, justice is a personal thing, a question of
honor. It must be protected and defended.

Their forerunners in Los que se van reacted swiftly
and violently to defend their honor in matters of love.
These characters do the same in matters of broader social
implication. Also like them, they are able to accomplish
very little against the power structure of the whole of
society. Gallegos Lara's and Pareja Diezcanseco's urban
cholos fight and even die, but nothing changes for them in
the social structure. Ortiz' Black kills oppressive indivi-
duals, but the social system they represent is unaltered.
Gil Gilbert's and de la Cuadra's montuvios and Aguilera
Malta's rural cholgs occasionally strike out against an
abusive pgtrfin or businessman, but there is no change in
society. Although lower class characters never succeed in
bringing about social justice, they never lose sight of what
is just, and continue to defend it actively. They are never
beaten in spirit. They emerge with their honor intact.

In addition to the three characteristics depicted as
common to socio-ethnic types, those writers dealing with
the montuvio emphasize two more traits. He is industrious

and independent of other parts of society.

___-‘—._‘_- __‘n_

79

For montuvio characters, work is not merelya means
for physical survival. It is a source of pride. They

approach it wholeheartedly. Even montuvios latifundistas,

 

such as the Sangurimas in de la Cuadra's novel of the same

name, or some of the characters in Gil Gilbert's Nuestro Pan,

-"' n—

are not typical of upper class representatives. They accumu-
late property with the same personal involvement that lower

class montuvios show when they work the land. They have no

 

qualms about getting dirty and give no indication that to
them work is demeaning. Captain Sandoval in Gil Gilbert's
novel is praised with: ”... Vd. es montubio en verdad. Lo
he visto trabajar en lo que ha dado la mano. ... es de los

hombres que sabe amarrarse los pantalones."2u

Although
this character might be socially and economically in the
upper classes, he is Spiritually a montuvio. In the same
novel, the workers in the rice fields are delighted when
their labors are rewarded with a good crop, and they look
forward to using their earnings to buy the few material
items that might make life more comfortable for themselves
and their families, as the following conversation illus-
trates:

"--Ha de ser buena la cosecha.

--Tendremos harta plata.

--Haremos fiesta del bautizo.

--Le compraremos panales de hilo.

--Y bata grands y gorro rojo. 25
--y chup6n para que no llore."

80

This montuvio couple is not satisfied with earning merely
enough to survive. They want some simple luxuries for
They do not go to the fields

They

the child they are expecting.

like automatons and hope that the crop will rise.

work hard, demanding the land's cooperation.

The montuvio's sense of independence is shown by
the characters desire to make a living from the land, pre-
ferring neither aid nor interference from other people.

Essentially a self-reliant, almost anarchistic person,

he lives happily when left to his own resources. It does

not concern him that the land he works might belong to a

mem. unless a demand is made on him that might

effect his personal modus vivendi. He is not interested

in the whole of society, with its laws and systems that tend

to compromise him. If he is a simple laborer, he resents

that his labors should benefit anyone outside his own sphere.
De la Cuadra's Nicasio Sangurima may be considered an arch-

1:pr of his race. As the patriarch of a tribe of montuvios

he l"leads a vast latifundio. He explains that when the legali-
ty 01‘ his holdings was challenged by the government:

”A Qada concejal le aflojé un rollo de billetes ... Hicieron
“ha sesion en que me reconocieron como duefio y todo."26
«1 though this character's wealth would indicate a higher
% Q(35.211 position than most of his fellows, his aggressive

i b
dependence is characteristic of all M. Similarly:

¥

   

H:

‘3’”:

‘r*“ ‘4 9-...“- .nl'

81

rnontuvios in the lower segments of society allow landholders
‘to receive much of the benefit from their labors, because
fist is a way of "buying them off", so that they may live
crtherwise with enough independence to satisfy their pride.

The authors dealing with the cholo and the Black pre-

M m"—

sent them as having a tendency toward introspection, a trait
that is not so evident in the montuvio. These characters

are sensitive people who examine critically what goes on

around them. They do not accept what happens to them as

IEL;;§§_accomplis.

determine what they mean and their attitude toward them.

They think about their experiences to

331GB 'urban cholgs in Pareja Diezcanseco's Don Balon de

igélafig are apprehensive of the protagonist's inflammatory
wol‘ds designed to unite them under his leadership. They

let him talk for a while, then they challenge his assumed

auth ority:

compafieros, 81. Yo os lo aseguro.

u__Si
3Y0, el lider! ... xEl intelectual en acci6n!
3E1 cerebro que organiza y manda! iSeguidme

amlooo
Los trabajadores comenzaron a protestar.

--;Abajo los intelectuales! '
Fue la voz inicial. La protesta se levanto

unanime y las exclamaciones subieron de punto.
--;Abajo:
--;Traidor:
--;Mentiroso!

--;Farsante2
--;Traidor a la clase obrera!

“'3Mueran los intelectuales:"2

 

82

Although the protagonist's words sound inspirational,

'the ghglgg think about their meaning and dismiss them as
indappropriate to their situation. Similarly, Gallegos Lara's
etiolos are aware of the world economic crisis and how it
zifffects their day-to-day living. However, they do not accept
iftES effect without question, but contemplate it and determine
"Por quinta vez se discutia el asunto ...

a course of action:
... la multitud era un cielo tempestuoso

en asamhlea popular.
"28 In a final example, Ortiz' black protagonist is in

cowisstant turmoil over his relationship with white people.
‘He cietetes this problem over and over, never quite sure of

I115; alttitude, as when he participates in a battle in which

he fights alongside both whites and Blacks:

'... habia sacado de la refriega ... una duda
. Aquel Chico blanco. el haber estado

combatiendo junto o cerca de otros,
blancos y mulatos: el jfibilo colectivo de la
Victoria, eranzgosas que hacian tambalear su

odio de raza."
This character does not simply love or hate white

peeIDJLe, but constantly reexamines his attitude on the

basifi . . , . '
\3 of h1s experience. Even if the characters contem-

FD - . . . . .
J‘Ei'tcLons lead to 1nd1v1dual or collect1ve action, they

W:
“]L3L have considered a matter extensively beforehand.
kl}1 -
iLian they are pictured as volatile in the expression of
t:}j; -
€3~14r emotions, they are also depicted as sensitive human

bQ -
‘ J
‘tho

 

‘

 

Mm—

83

The authors emphasize the role of lower class char-
acters in opposition to the rest of society. When compared

with the machine-like hombre-masa that is often present in

 

socially conscious novels, these characters are vibrant ?
people with strong individual characteristics. Nonetheless,
by accentuating their good features the novelists demonstrate

bias against other parts of society.

:qu‘”..l ...u

The Middle Class:

Bias is further demonstrated by the paucity of char-
acters from the middle class. The writers tend to interpret
coastal Ecuadorian society as though it were composed entirely
of a bottom and a top extreme. When they do appear, middle
class characters are people who in economic condition are
not a great deal superior to the lower classes, but in educa-
tion and intellect approach the upper classes. However,
there is almost no suggestion that becoming a small business-
man or a teacher, for example, is a particularly worthy
goal. Nor is there any attempt to deal with the middle
class characters as living in the status-seeking anguish
that is often the case in North American literature.30
The only time a character's membership in the middle class
is alluded to as a desirable station is in Gil Gilbert's
Nuestro Pan, when the heir to a rice-growing dynasty
realizes that true security is ultimately not what he in-

herits, but what he earns for himself:

8M

"--Hildebrando Eusebio Sandoval: gtragasapos!
... aQué puedes con tu sola riqueza de cholo?
gQué puedes con la plata cosechada indefinida-
mente por tu padre ... ? ... necesitas de ese
titulo alifiado de premios y de situaciones de
buen, de estupendo estudiante. De joven talentoso.
De muchacho de porvenir. Uncid a la trenza
profesional de tus profesores."

Other than this isolated example, middle class char-
acters appear primarily as superficially treated "background"

types, like storekeepers or other small businessmen, or as

members of professions, who serve as instruments for exposing
the ills of other segments of society. The rural school-
teacher in Ortiz' Juyungo is incidental to the plot of the
novel, but through her the author points out inadequacies

in the educational system. In Pareja Diezcanseco's Hombres

Sin Tiempo the protagonist is a schoolteacher. Since he is

 

also a prisoner, he functions mainly as a tool for the author
to examine the stories behind the lives of other prisoners
in order to bring to light Ecuadorian social problems.
Middle class characters are never pictured with distinguish-
ing characteristics. Nonetheless, it would be unfair to
single out the "Grupo de Guayaquil" as negligent in the
treatment of the middle class. Uriel Ospina believes
that on the whole this part of Spanish American society is
unworthy of novelistic attention:

" ... La burguesia latinoamericana no ha sido

... para despertar el interes ... Es que no
hay nada que ver en ella intelectualmente ...

85

Ms la ausoncia de todo, de frialdad, dc calor,
de vida. No son buenos ni malos, odiosos o
justificables. No son, simplemente, ...

... en consecuencia ... por estc aspecto
la novela hispanoamericana sufre de anemia
aguda. ... el buroues latinoamericano ... es
apenas un mediocre personaje literario cuyo 2
interes no atrae la atencion del novelista."3

ants-91. m

The Upper Class:
Characters representing the upper extreme of society

are abundant. In contrast to lower class characters, they

(Hm-H '

are not presented as unique to the region. They are much

the same as upper class characters in contemporary socially
oriented novels throughout Spanish America. While in the
"Grupo de Guayaquil's" work there is a tendency to avoid
stereotyping them through their development as individuals,33
the relationship with lower class characters is essentially
the same as in such prototypical examples as Alcides Arguedas'
haza de Bronce (1919) and Giro Alegria's El Mundo es Ancho y
Ajggg (19u1). In these and in novels from both highland and
coastal Ecuador the authors show little communication or
understanding between characters representing the two social
extremes, although they do show contact. This contact, how-
ever, is consistently that of dominator and dominated.

Those at the top have the means to insure their security,
usually at the expense of those at the bottom. This treatment
of the upper class characters in Spanish American novels

with social message is common enough to be considered typical.

86

Even when an upper class character from coastal Ecuador
happens to be a socio-ethnic type, like de la Cuadra's
Nicasio Sangurima, he owes his uniqueness to his race.
The ruling classes may be divided into five princi- F
pal categories: the "forces of order", including both t
the military and the police: the landholders; the merchants

(not the small storekeepers, but those in relatively "big"

115nm- .‘J ...-3. 90”.: i

businesses): the government: and the clergy.

The "forces of order" are presented as a tough and
brutal lot, who enjoy the power of their positions and
often exercise it in ways that are abusive to lower class
characters. They are either members of the power structure
or are directly subservient to people who are. The power
structure is supported by the military and the police. In
turn, the manpower that supplies these institutions comes
from the lower classes. Common soldiers and policemen
become a part of the system that is oppressive to those
most like them. They lose the ennobling traits of their
original sub-culture. In Pareja Diezcanseco's Baldomerg
the rural police, in pursuit of thieves, invade a small
store. After the shooting stops the author points out that:

"... el Jefe ... se qued6 con Agustina, a

quien habia tumbado en el suelo. Le subi6 las

faldas hasta arriba. Le tenia puesto los brazos

en el pecho sosteniendo los de elgfl. Y allI,

en presencia de todos, la violo."

The police officer here, like the coronel in de la

8?

Cuadra's Los Sangurimas, uses the power of his position
to commit outrageous acts on lower class characters.
Sometimes the acts result in death, as when the officers
command soliders and policemen to fire into crowds,

in Gallegos Lara's Las Cruces Sobre el Agua or Pareja

 

Diezcanseco's Baldomera, In every instance the members
of the "forces of order" are supported by ghglg, mggtuvig,
and Bla K soldiers and policemen and are paid by the power
structure. Pareja Diezcanseco underscores the impor-
tance of money in Las Tres Ratas. One of his feminine
protagonists vengefully had stolen some jewels from a char-
acter whose usury had brought ruin to her family. Upon
being brought to jail she declares: "La ley... La ley
para don Horacio y para mi la policia. gPor que?
Porque don Horacio es un cinico y tiene bastante plata."35
The law benefits only upper class characters, and the law
is enforced by the police and the military.

Landholders represent another group that wields
power against the lower class. Their most obvious show
of strength is in the extent of their property, as in

this example from de la Cuadra's Los Sangurimas:

 

"La hacienda de los Sangurimas era uno de
los mas grandes latifundios del agro montuvio.
Ni su propietario conocfa su verdadera extension.

--5Por que no la ha hecho medir, no Nicasio? ...

--;Y pa que! Yo en eso, amigo, soy como el
samborondefio 'como bollo-maduro' ... Lo que se 36
mide, se muere 0 se acaba. Es presagio pa terminarse."-

88
Other than mention of a few essential possessions,
the authors never describe a lower class character's
holdings. Small property owners are not noticeable.
Clearly, the intent is to emphasize class differences.
The characters who are landholders exploit and abuse
those who are workers by giving them difficult tasks at
pay so low they must go to the patron for loans. Once
in debt, they are virtual slave laborers. Witness the
following illustration from Gil Gilbert's Nuestro Pan,
where a migrant indian laborer from the highlands wishes
to leave his job:
"--5Cu5nto dinero tienes en efectivo?
--1Qu§ he de tener? Si eso mismo es que
vengo a ver. Mi alcance...
--Entonces, mi querido amigo, no se puede

ir...

--;Qu§ es, pues, patroncito?

--Que no te puedes ir, hijo. gue me debes
plata y tienes que descontarmela."3
A poor worker can not leave until his debt is paid.
If he should die before fulfilling his obligation, the
debt is passed on to his children. In OrtiZ' Juyungo
there is a typical example:

"Recordaba que cuando muri5 su padre, concierto
de la hacienda ... , fue obligado a hacerse cargo
de una supuesta deuda del viejo.

Tuvo que tragajar mucho, como peon, en los
dcsmontes ... "3
Lower class characters do not have the security of

a permanent residence, for those who are landholders have

89

the power to uproot and relocate them wherever and whenever
they wish. In Ortiz‘ Juyungo, a latifundista sells an
entire island, regardless of the fact that for generations
it has been the home of many people:
”--Trato hecho. Pero hay el inconveniente
de la gente que vive alli.
-- ... 830 no significa nada; le digo, nada
absolutamente. Me basta con mandarlos a notificar
de palabra, y salen. ...
--gY si no quieren salir?
--Peor para ellos, los sacaré a la fuerza.
... Y, lo que es mas, la ley me favorece."39
flowever, there is an occasional hint that some land-
holders, especially youthful ones, possess social conscience.
One example is found in the protagonist of do la Cuadra's
Los Monos Enloquecidos:
"Gustavo Hernandez se mofaba de los prejuicios

do 108 suyos. ...Juraba que le habria gustado
los mismo ser hijo de montuvios ... 0 de cholos ...

Afiadia, generalmentex
~7Verdad es que en el Ecuador vivimos, en
muchos reSpetos, en plena fidad Media. En lo
soc1al, pongo por case..." 0
This case is an exception. As a group. characters
who are landholders do not share these social opinions.
Merchants are another group of characters who
exercise control over the working classes. They pay little
for what they buy from characters in the lower classes.
often far below fair market value. In Gil Gilbert's

Nuestro Pan a poor montuvio sells his rice to the only

available buyer:

90

"~- ... Te 10 compro todo. Con la plata a

la mano... Por todo te doy cien sucres...

--No, blanco. allI hay como diez quintales...

-—Bueno, eso es cosa tuya; si quieres, alli
tienes...

Sacaba giez billetes de a diez. ... Adquiri6

el arrOZ..."

In Aguilera Malta's Don Goyo a merchant buys wood
from some cholos at half its fair value, and in Pareja
Diezcanseco's L5 Beldaga a businessman buys some gold coins
from a cholo at less than half their worth.)+2 Merchants
are the only market outlet for lower class characters'
goods. They also loan money, at interest rates so high
there is small possibility of liquidation. In the following
illustration from Pareja Diezcanseco's ggs Tres Ratas the
terms of a loan are described:

”Se estipulfi e1 préstamo a seis meses de

plazo, con una posible renovacion a seis meses

mas, siempre que se abonase el cincuenta por

ciento de la deuda, mas los intereses. Don

Horacio ... pidi6 e1 diez por ciento mensggl,

pero accedi5 a rebajar hasta el ocho ..."

Unquestionably, an annual interest rate of ninety-
six percent is exorbitant. Like other groups in the upper
class, merchants are able to exploit freely characters in
the lower class.

Characters who work in government are also presented
as oppressive to the lower classes. No level or agency
of government is represented by characters who appear in a

favorable light. Prison wardens use their institutions for

91

repression rather than rehabilitation. They allow politi-
cal imprisonments and assassinations, as in the following
illustration from Pareja Diezcanseco's Hombres Sin Tiempo:
“... frios, helados, ... fusilaron en su propia

celda a un coronel retirado. ... Luego ... disi-

mulaban ... Bna fuga para justificar con ella el

asesinato.“+

High officials are controlled by influential minori-
ties. In the same author's Las Tres Ratas a governor
declares: "Somos esclavos de la situacion politics. ...
Y todos los diputados y personas influyentes quieren ser
complacidos en el acto."l+5 On the whole, characters in
government are as corrupt as would be this character from
another of Pareja's novels, who muses over what it would
be like if he became the jgfe politico of his town:

"... Yo de Jefe Politico, aquién me ronca? Cog

la plata y el prestigio que tengo, seré el dueno

de todo. Vendo primero que nadie mi cacao y mi

cafe ... No pago pasaje en las lanchas ni las #6

cuentas de la cantina ... Y as! por el estilo."

Like those in the "forces of order", characters in
government serve only themselves and the obligarchies.
Lower class characters receive no benefit from the govern-
ment, but they must support it.

The only other national group of characters the
authors picture at the upper extreme of society is the

clergy. Like other representatives of the ruling classes,

they are not presented in a favorable light. A nun working

92

in a hospital is perversely delighted when patients suffer
or bleed from her injections.u7 A priest threatens that
a child will endure "eternal damnation" unless he is paid

“8 Another is suggested to be more

very well to baptise it.
than a "spiritual" father to some members of his parish:

"... el padre Terencio tenia casa propia ...

habitada por una muchacha muy hermosa ... y

por un demonic de chico.

Estos muchachos figuraban como sobrinos ... 3

lo cual resultaba extraordinario, pues ninguno

de los hermanos del cura los reconocIa como

hijos. En ocasiones se decIa que eran ahijados

del clérigo.

Cuando éste visitaba la hacienda ... lo

recibian con grandes zalemas. “9

Frecuentemente lo trataban de papa."

Characters who are clergymen serve primarily their
own interests and those of other upper class groups. They
have little time for people in the lower class, unless it
is to exploit them.

In most cases, upper class characters have unattrac-
tive attributes. While there are exceptions, like the olym-
pian Captain Sandoval of Gil Gilbert's Nuestro Pan or the
patriarch of the Sangurima family in de la Cuadra's novel,
they generally represent social elements that are abusive
and repressive to people at the bottom. While those in the
working classes are ennobled with characteristics that are
pleasing aesthetically, they have neither social nor poli-
tical power. Upper class characters control most of the

land, money, and work.

93

Dissimilarities between characters who represent
extremes of coastal society are further underscored by the
authors' showing very little understanding or communica-
tion between them. They have no common interests. When
Gallegos Lara treats a popular revolt he states: "Nunca
se habfa lanzado tanta gente ... a las calles. ... era

"50 There is never as

todo Guayaquil, menos los ricos.
instance when the two classes are united in joint effort.
Mutual mistrust and a tendency to maintain both physical
and ideological distance is demonstrated repeatedly. The
protagonist in Pareja Diezcanseco's Don Balon de Baba

is a character whose messianic drive caused him to renounce
his upper class identity and harangue for social justice.
When a worker offers him his hand, however, his reaction
is instinctive. Because the hand is "algo sucia“, he takes
it "no muy de su agrado."51 The distance between this
well-meaning character and the lower class is more than
physical, as was seen (note 27) when he addressed a trade

52

union meeting. There is no real communication between
him and the people he idealistically wishes to champion.
For the most part, however, upper class characters
do not attempt to communicate with or understand those in
the lower classes. The only time contact is not repulsive

is when it is sexual. Even then the authors sometimes

take a cynical view, as when the factory owner in Pareja

9h

Diezcanseco's Baldomera begins his seduction of a ggglg
by telling her, "No te alarmes, chica. Son impulses
dem6cratas."53
Although the authors' intent is to dramatize injus-
tices in society through its literary depiction, their
interpretation is biased against those at the top.
Characters who are cholos, montuvios, and Blacks seem so

uniformly good that they must be considered idealizations of

reality.

The Foreggneggi

The writers are concerned most with native members
of society. At their worst, characters who are gaingos are
pictured as allies of the native upper class and oppressors
of the lower class, like the highway engineers who in
Pareja Diezcanseco's ngBeldaca force a young ghglg to
become drunk then abuse her sexually, until: "Ya hastiados,
los gringos se marchan en el autom5vil, dejando botada en
la tierra a Juanita que ha quedado inconsciente."51+
Nonetheless, most foreigners are pictured as "asocial".
They involve themselves in local society only to the extent
ncessary to earn a living. Sometimes they are objective
observers, like the German storekeeper in Gallegos Lara's

Las Cruces Sobre g; Agua, who advises the young protagonist

to take his ailing father to a hospital:

95

”Toda noche, tu padre: cerveza, cerveza2.
en mi tierra igual: trabajador no sabe vivir
sino emborracha!
Alfredo no temia sus bigotazos ni su calva:
--Mi padre no es borracho, es que esta enfermo.
--Si el panadera esta bub5nico.... d! a tu
mama ella no sea bruta ... Mandenlo pronto a
curar al hospital bub6nico....
--;Al lazareto? aPara que lo maten?
--Ve, tfi, Baldeon: ... Piensa con la cabeza,

no con el trasero. En casa, el hombre muere ...

En el hospital ... también, ... Pero hay medicinas,

injeccion, giebrometro... ... muere, pero no tan

seguro..."

Other foreigners are the principal element in a humor-
ous situation, like the Italian who the protagonist of Pareja
Diezcanseco's an Balon de Baba thinks is an agent of
Mussolini and challenges to a duel.56 Some foreigners,

57

through marriage, become assimilated into Ecuadorian society.
The foreigner is not presented as either a postive or negative

element in coastal Ecuador.

Life and the Environment
The novelists' second main channel toward the in-
terpretation of society is the depiction of coastal life
as it relates to both the physical and the "spiritual"
environment.
In novels with urban settings the city is the physi-

cal environment. It is a struggle merely to survive for

96

characters in the lower classes. Work is scarce, and

there is little or no job security. host of the them live a
"hand to mouth" existence. They are like animals in an
area with little food. For them, the city is a jungle
through which they must prowl, constantly seeking any
possible means to satisfy basic needs and always in danger
of being attacked by predators from the upper classes.
Although they are tough and aggressive, they do not have
the power of their attackers. Sometimes animalistic
behavior is genuine, as during the chaotic period following
civil disorder in Gallegos Lara's novel:

"Al anochecer ... estallaba la lucha por
la basura recién volcada ... . Los chanchos
... peleaban a mordiscos con los perros. Un
anciano de cara de santo ... roia un hueso,
buscando con torva ojeada de bestia, quien se
lo disputaba. ...

--Barajo, que haya esto en Guayaquil y que
la gente duerma tan fresca en el centro:

Ratas de dientes de espina dc pescado, tiraban,
arrancandose a trozos. e1 cadaver de un gate de
angora. Los muchachos rebuscaban en pandilla:
separarse hubiera significado ser victima de
los perros y chanchos feroces, 0 d8 los mendigos
adultos, no menos bestializados."5
Only the rich are Spared suffering and degradation.

Even during disasters that affect all people, such as fires
and epidemics, they alone have the means to make things

easier for themselves.59

97

Life in the country is no less difficult than life
in the city. However, here the struggle is principally
one of domesticating the land: of coaxing the crops from
the earth and of ekeing out a living from the forest and
the waterways. Like their urban counterparts, poor rural
characters have little power against either characters from
the upper classes or the physical environment. The rich
characters own most of the land and decide who will work
and how much he will earn. Nature controls the success
or failure of the crop. There is always the threat of

natural catastrophe:

"La langosta es un gusano negro, chiquito,
baboso. Aparece de pronto. Subido en las
hojas. Comiendose las matas. El rato menos
pensado uno va a su desmonte y ve negrear las
hojas verdes. Las matas tronchadas. Dobladas
contra el suelo. Y al acercarse, las manchas
son gusanos negros que se hinchan y se adelgazan,

se estiran y se engogen. ...
aLa langosta!" 0

Sickness and disease are also problems in the
countryside. Although rich as well as poor characters
are susceptible to tropical illnesses, the rich ones
are better equipped to combat them. While the EDQLQR
jprotagonist of Pareja Diezcanseco's La Beldaca has only
'the primitive curandero when his son gets dysentery, the
leindholder in de la Cuadra's Les Monos Enloquecidos can

af‘ford capable medical aid when his daughter contracts

61

malaria.

98

However, there are elements in the depiction of rural
life that transcend social differences between the charac-
ters. The relationship between man and nature very personal,
a one-to-one communication. In Aguilera Malta's La Isla
Virgen the gh2l2_foreman enters into combat with a ti re,
and the landholder believes he is fighting a duel with the
62

island itself. In de la Cuadra's Los Monos Enlgguecidos
not only do man and nature battle, but it is suggested that
nature possesses the essentially human desire for vengeance:
"Se vengaba la jungla de la presencia de los
hombres que habian ido a turbar su austera
soledad hieratica y su calma perenne.
Disponia de infinitas armas que utilizar
contra la mezquindad humana, y desplegaba
calladamente el tremendo aparato de su fuerza

para salir triunfadora en la seriida lugha
empenada. TenIa sus fiebres v sus alimanas,

U

y tenia, también, sus leyendas y su misterio.""

The declaration that vengeance would be taken not
only by means of illness and beasts, but also through
legends and mystery indicates a "spiritual" dimension
to the relationship between man and the environment.6
Endurance of harsh social conditions and intimate contact
with nature are manifestations of the rural characters'
relationship with only the physical environment. Their
constant awareness of and adherence to traditional folk
beliefs and superstitions are manifestations of their
relationship with the "spiritual" environment.

Some of the folk beliefs are portrayed in conVen-

99

O 0 C 6
tional forms, such as an owl appearing as an eVil omen 5,
o . O ' 66
or the sign of the cross to frighten away eVll. Others

are conventional in their origin, but show local modifica-
tion, as in the followina illustration from de la Cuadra's
Los Monos Enloquecidos:

"--Vamos a acostarnos. Es casi media noche.

En tono burlesco, glosaba:

--La hora mala...

De estar cerca, el peon que habia narrado
la historia refutaba a su patron:

—-Dispense, blanco: pero maSNDior es de
madrugada. Lag cuatro de la manana es l'hora
mas pesada..." 7

Of most interest are beliefs that spring only from
the Ecuadorian coast, such as the cholos' conviction

in Aguilera Malta's Don Goyo that the mangles make love

to the islands:

"-- ... loj mangle se tiran a las islaj.

--;No micnta, don Leit5n!

-—No miento. Ejto ej verda. Lo hey vijto
muchas noches. .. Primero parece que loj
manalej se ponieran a bailar. Dende lejoj se
les puede aguaitar meneando las ramazones. ...
A las islas les entra un temblequeo que hace
brincar las aguas.

0..

--De renente, empezaban los mangleg a claverse

intearos, como un millon de sexes..." 8

Also of local origin are legends that form another
part of the characters' "spiritual" environment. The

following example from de la Cuadra's Los Sangurimas

 

Concerns the sound made by the Mameyes river:

100

"Los montuvios relatan una leyenda muy
pintoresca acerca de esa cancion del agua.

En tal leyenda figura una princesa india,
enamorada de un blanco. probablemente de un
conquistador eSpanol. A 10 QJe se entiende,
la princes a se entrego a su amante el cual
la abandono. La pobrg9 india llora todavia
aus encias del dueno.

The relationship between the characters and the
ritual" environment is an exotic element.. Moreover,
characte.s who represent the lower classes are deeply
and obviously involved in both the "spiritual" and the
physical environment. Characters who represent the upper
classes are senorally drab by comparison. Clearly, the
author:;' intent is to make the poor cholo, montuvio, and

Black characters the most interes tine. Again, there is an

evident bias against the upper levels of society.

The Role of History

The third principal channel followed by the authors
in their interpretation of society is the very course of
hlst tory. The action in most of the novels takes place
durin" periods ransins from the latter decades of the
nineteenth century through the time contemporary with the
writers. Althourh reference to historical events is a
Common literary technique for indicating chronology in
novels, in'muework of the "Grupo de Guayaquil" events and
dates are in themselves unimportant, in the sense of
recording or cataloguing them. The role of the historical

(“NEnt in the formation of the social structure, or its

101

implication to that structure, is important. The novelists
select key events in history to substantiate their conten-
tions about society.

Sonatina. references to world events serve to give
areater perspective to local history. The following segment

from Gallcsos Lara's Las Cruces Sobre el Agua sets the tone

 

for an impendinq popular revolt in Guayaquil:
"... Comenzaba una era en ue todos los pueblos
se unian para la gran liberaci n. La guerra
habfa iniciado el derrumbe. Europa entera ardia
al concluier ese ano 21, desde Rusia hasta ESpana.
Las chispas caian en.kmérica ue tenIa e1 1° de,
Mayo de Chicago en su tradici n, y donde las
huelgas de Brasil y la Semana Sangrienta78e
Buenos Aires, eran las primeras raehas."
Nonetheless, the characters in the novels are affected
primarily by events of national importance. The writers
place considerable emphasis on showins them as products of
those events. Jose de la Cuadra alludes to the Spanish
Conquest and its role in the formation of the Ecuadorian

man in Los Monos Enloguecidos:

 

"... la conquista ... Nunca fue plena ni completa,

ni absoluta, ni total ... Hubo entonces. como siaue
habiendo, selvas inexploradaa... Y ahi se refugiaba
e1 alma indigena, reacia y tenaz ... El le6n ibero
no conse.ui5 desflorar irremediablemente a la don-
cella Am rica... De esta falta de compenetracion
intima, pluscuamperfecta, el divorcio ... se plante5,
como consecuencia ... no llegandose a un entendimien-
to cordl‘l que hubiera dado como fruto ... una
extraordinaria fusion de razas, con viftas al esta-
blecimiento definitive de una nueva."

In de la Cuadra's estimation, incomplete mestizaje

 

102

is at least partly responsible for disparities in the
social structure. However, the authors' depiction of the
cholos and montuvios in a generally favorable light suggests
that the best human elements in coastal society are the
products of fusion rather than isolation of races. Ortiz
suggests in Juyungo that even Blacks share the process of
mestizaje, when his protagonist is flattered by being
called a "negro montuvio".72

One of the most common historical references is to
Eloy Alfaro and his Liberal revolution of 1895. This
caudillo was already a legendary figure while the authors
were young men. Many of the ideals of his campaign73
were the historical antecedents for their own socialistic
goals. Ending the Church's influence on the government,
education for all the people, more equal distribution of
wealth and property, and similar revolutionary aims were
still very-attractive to the writers in the "Grupo de
Guayaquil". They generally picture Alfaro in a nostalgic
and heroic aura, as in the following example from Pareja
Diezcanseco's La Beldaca:

"... Alfaro da la vuelta por el cerro del

Carmen. Desciende con todo el Impetu de su

caudillismo, con toda su fuerza combativa que

se hace incontenible. ... Se pelea con furia,

con salvajismo. Don Eloy, a1 frente, ... ccntempla

impasible e1 ataque. Antes de entrar en accifin ha

tomado sobre el caballo una taza de cafe puro.

Fuma cigarrgn Sus ordenes son precisas, justas,
decisivas."

103

The major theme of the historial process is violence.75
The authors suggest that when the social situation has be-

come intolerable, the working class Blacks, montuvios, and

 

cholos have been capable of taking direct and violent
action in an attempt to correct it. When their action is
large they forge history for themselves. Joaquin Gallegos
Lara builds his novel around a popular revolt that actually
did take place. He points out the self-genocidal violence
of Ecuadorian history when he has one of his characters
implore during the fighting: "--Ecuatorianos, no tiremos

76

contra ecuatorianos!" Part of Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's
Baldomera takes place during this same historical event.
Heahova an underlying strength in the working classes once
they are moved to violent action, although he also shows
considerable loss of life from within their ranks.77

There are some references to historical events where
Ecuadorians are not killing Ecuadorians, such as segments
from Ortiz' Juyungo78 that deal with the war with Perfi.79
In this case, Ecuadorians and Peruvians are killing each
other. The writers suggest that violence is either direct-
ly the result of class conflicts, or that members of the
lower classes suffer most from the violence, regardless
of its origin.

The novelists' conclusion is that coastal Ecuadorian

society is not and has never been fair to its poor members.

10h

The manner in which they deal with its various components
suggests that poor socio-ethnic types are the most interest-
ing, possess the strongest basic human qualities, and best
represent the region. They further suggest that social
injustice endured by representatives of the bottom of
society is reaching the point of intolerability. Their por-
trayal in the historical perspective indicates that they
have been becoming steadily more willing to sacrifice the
anarchistic part of their nature for the sake of the common
good, from the time of Alfaro up t0‘uhe present.

Finally. the ”Grupo de Guayaquil's" treatment of
society is uncallon in the socially oriented novel. It
relies more on emphasizing positive elements in people at
the bottom than it does negative ones in those at the
top. Essentially. it is an optimistic approach. In spite
of the suffering endured and even the blood shed by the
characters who represent the majority of the population,

they alsrge as vibrant human beings.

NOTES
CHAPTER TII.

l. Sidney Finkelstein, Existencialismo y Alienacion
en la Literatura Americana (MexiCo: Ed. Grijalbo,l§37ffg.
ppo 163-6ho

Although Finkelstein's study is directed specifi-
cally at North American literature, the following statement
could just as well be tailored to the Guayaquil writers:

"El arte. por su misma naturaleza, es una actividad
social. ... porque su lenguaje y demas medios de expresion son
una herencia creada socialmente, y porque el artista, lo mismo
que el hombre de ciencia ... es siempre motivado por alguna
forma de conciencia social. Los problemas basicos que trata
en su arte son aquellos suscitados ante él por la sociedad,

y su obra. una vez acabada, pasa a ser una posesion social.
... Los grandee artistas han sido siempre grandee educadores
del pueblo. en el sentido de abrir sus ojos. desarrollar sus
percepciones, alterar sus respuestas al mundo que les rodea

de modo que este les parezca ser un lugar mas humano para
vivir en el.”

2. Jean Franco. The Modern Culture of Latin America
(London: Pall Mall Press, 1967), p. l.
Franco's opening lines deal with the messianic role

of writers in Latin American society:

"An intense social concern has been the character-
istic of Latin-American art for the last hundred and fifty
years. Literature--and even painting and music--have played
a social role, with the artist acting as guide, teacher and
conscience of his country. ...

In countries ... where social and political pro-
blems are both huge and inescapable, the artist's sense of
responsibility towards society needs no justification. Thus
any evaluation of Latin-American movements must also be
concerned with the social and political preoccupations out
of which they sprang.“

. There is no question that the coastal novelists
follow this trend.

3. Gilberto Gonzalez y Contreras, "Aclaraciones a la

Novela Social Americana," Letras del Ecuador, No. 8 (NOV.
d8 19,45). pa 13.

In the opinion of Gonzalez y Contreras the novels
produced by the Guayaquil group during this period exemplify
what he calls ”e1 culto telfirico" in the Spanish American
novel, about which he says the following:

”Es la hora en que empieza ... e1 culto apasionado
de'las cosas en desequilibrio. el culto telfirico a las cosas
teuricas y a los hombres que sangran.

 

105

106

' Telurica y mas telfirica es la perspectiva. La misma
oposicion de valores entre el hombre y el medic, entre humani-
dad y sociedad, entre latifundismo y agrarismo, entre burguesia
y proletariado, es conducida, por medio enérgico, y bajo la
preocupacion por la realidad presente y el destinc humano, a1
anchuroso campo de la novela ...”

a. Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua
(Guayaquil: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, l9h6), p. 135.

5. José de la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, in Obras Completas
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958), pp. “SB-Sh.
6 u Also L95 Mgnos Enloquecidos, in Obras Completas,
p. 23'2 o

 

6. Adalberto Ortiz, Juyungo_(Guayaquil: Libreria
Cervantes, 1968), p. 88.

7. While the Indian appears sporadically in these novels,
he is not presented as an intrinsic part of coastal society.
Some of the indians are migrant laborers from the highlands,
and others are members of the semi-nomadic and primitive
coastal tribes, such as the Cayapas and the Colorados. These
tribes are most noticed by Ortiz in Ju un 0, but mainly from
a costumbrista point of View, as when he describes their
burial customs (p. 27). Even these coastal indians can not
be considered an integral part of society, for they live out-
side the normal social pattern. They are essentially indepen-
dent from the whole of society.

8. Luis Alberto Sanchez, Proceso y_Contenido de la
Novela Hispano-Americana (Madrid: Ed. Gredos, 19537, pp. 321-
22.

Commenting on Don Go 0, Sanchez declares that:

"Aguilera Malta ... penetra hacha en mano entre los manglares
del Guayas y el Daule, y exhibe cuadros tan duros, tan
descarnados, en que el ser humano y la naturaleza se compene-
tEan de tal manera, que separarlos seria destruir la obra en
8 .u

9. Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Don Goyo (Madrid: Cenit,
1933): p- 200-

lO. Enrique Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan (Guayaquil:
Libreria Cervantes, 1968), p. 83.

107

ll. Nelson Estupifian Bass, "El Hombre Negro del Ecuador",

Letras gel Ecuador, No. 121 (Marzo-Abri] dc 1961), p. 11.

This author treats the special relationship of the
Ecuadorian Black with his coastal fellows as follows:

"En Esmeraldas, el hombre de color ... pas6 de foraneo
a autoctono, a dueno y senor de todas las comarcas, hasta
tal punto que, mientras la poblacién indigena sobreviviente
... va ... camino de su extinci5n, la densidad negra es cada
vez mas alta.

... el hombre de color fue infiltrandose en la
ecuatorianidad, y produjo un nuevo tipo humano, e1 moreno,
que, teniendo de negro y no gropiamente de blanco, sino de
mestizo, es ellos, y, simult neamente, es otro."

In Ortiz' novel the protagonist reflects Estupifian
Bass' final statement. He is ever sure of his relationship
with people of other races. His feelings range from hatred
(of the whites in the ruling classes) to love (for his white
wife) to curiosity (toward the local indians).

12. Adalberto Ortiz, Ju un o, p. 7.
Ortiz delcares in the opening lines of his novel
that in Esmeraldas "Hasta los cayapas precribieron: 'donde
entierra juyungo no entierra cayapa'".

13. Jorge Icaza, Huasipungo, in Obras Escogidas (Mexico:

Aguilar, 1961), p. 155.

Throughout his novel Icaza depicts the highland
indians as a wretched lot who rebel to defend their little
huts and plots of ground only after long enduring abuse.
The following illustration shows an early mornin sunrise
scene that is distant from resembling such clich s as a
"new awakening" or a "rebirth of life":

“En la misma forma perezosa y triste que se estir5
el amanecer sobre los cerros se movilizaron los mingueros,
se arrastr5 un vaho blancuzco de voluptuosas formas a ras
de la tierra empapada, se inici5 e1 parloteo de los muchachos,
los chismes quejosos de las cholas, las maldiciones y los
carajos del machismo impotente de los hombres, el tiritar
de los palfidicos, la tos de los tuberculosos, e1 llanto
de los nifios tiernos por la teta de la madre."

1h. Although the subject matter is quite different
between Los de Abajo, Dofia Barbara, and the novels from coastal
Ecuador, the lower class characters in all of them show similar
attitudes toward facing danger. Azuela's mestizo and indian
revolutionaries confront the dangers of battle with such
spirit that they often seem to enjoy it. Gallegos' mestizo

 

108
plainsmen make great sport of dangerous pastimes like the
taming of wild horses.

15. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca (Santiago
de Chile: Ercille, 1935), p. 80.

16. Adalberto Ortiz, Juyungo, p. 69: 92; 28k.

17. Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Las_§ruces Sobre el Agua,
p. 202.

18. Demetrio A ilera Malta, La Isla Virgen (Guaya-
quil: Vera y Cia., 19 2), p. 112.

19. Gallegos Lara, Lgs Cruces Sobre el.ggua, p. 54.

20. Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, pr. 139-u8.
Ortiz, Juygngo, p. 33.
Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera, pp. 103-09: 216-17.
Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces gpbre el Agua, pp. 199-

 

254.

21. Pareja Diezcanseco, Historia del Ecuador (G uiio:

Ed. Colon, 1962), pp. 348-49.
Pareja Diezcanseco notes that more than one thousand

lives were lost, Many of the bodies were simply thrown into
the river. Friends and relatives of the missing later floated
wooden crosses in the water to mark the graves. The incident
was precipitated by a general strike for higher wages and better
working conditions. Gallegos Lara and Pareja Diezcanseco both
dramatize the incident in, respectively, Lgs.C;uces Sobre

el Aggg and Baldomega.
22. Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobggge;_ggyg, p.ul.
23. Ortiz, Juygngo. p. 291.
24. Enrique Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 116.
25. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 58.
26. José de la Cuadra, L29 Sangurimas, p. 475.

27. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Ba16n de Baba (Buenos
Aires: Club del Libro, 1939), p. 297.

28. Gallegos Lara, Qgs Cruces Sobre el Agya. p. 202.
29. Ortiz, Ju .o. p. 555.

109

30. Probably the most classic example would be Sinclair
Lewis' Babbit.

31. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 175.

 

32. Uriel OSpina, Problemas y Perspectivas de la
Novela Americana (Bogota: Ed. Tercer Mundo, 1964), p. 172.

 

33. This aspect of the novelists' work will be con-
sidered in the next chapter, as part of the evaluation of the
individual author's artistic techniques.

34. Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera (Santiago de Chile,
Ercilla, 1938), p. 63.

35. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Tres Ratas (Buenos Aires:
Losada, 1944), pp. 48-49,

 

36. De la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, p. 466.
37. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, pp. 257-58.
38. Ortiz, Ju un o, p. 98.
39. Ortiz, Ju o, p. 214.

40. De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enloquecidos, p.626.

 

41. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pap, p. 218.

42. Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, pp. 190-91.
Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, pp. 182-83.

43. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Tres Ratas, p. 38.

44. Pareja Diezcanseco, Hombres Sin Tiempg (Buenos
Aires: Losada, 1941). p. 57.

45. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Tres Ratgg, p. 157.
46. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Bglén de Baba, p. 252.
47. Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera, p. 120.

48. Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, pp. 47-48.

49. De la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, p. 482.

50. Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 206.

51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.

110

Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Bal6n de Baba, p. 176.

 

Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Bal6n de Baba, p. 297.

 

Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera, p. 230.

 

Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, p. 213.

 

Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 30.

Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Ba16n de Baba, p. 63.

 

In de la Cuadra"s Los Monos Enloquecidos the

protagonist marries the offspring of an Italian mother
and a North American father. Their daughter is of course
one hundred percent Ecuadorian.

58-
59.

Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 193.

Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, p. 144.
In this reference the author describes one of the

 

great fires for which Guayaquil is infamous. Although
the fire spares neither the rich nor the poor, survival is
somewhat less difficult for the rich.

6o.
61.

62.

63.
64.

Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 73.

De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enloquecidos, p. 672.
Pareja Diezcanseco, La Beldaca, p. 177.

Aguilera Malta, La Isla Virgen, p. 66.
De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enlpquecidos, p. 671.

The relationship between the inhabitant of coastal

Ecuador and both his physical and his "spiritual" environ-
ment was explored in Chapter II., in the discussion’of Los

que SQ van.

65.
66.
67.
68.
69.

Ortiz, Ju un o, p. 211.

Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 267.

De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enloquecidos, p. 677.
Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0. p. 103.

De la Cuadra, Les Sangurimas, p. 468.

111
70. Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobrc el Agua, p. 183.
71. De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enloquecidos, p. 681.

72. Ortiz, Juyungo, p. 49.

73. Pareja Diezcanseco, Historia del Ecuador, pp. 313-
23.

74. Pareja Diezcanseco, Ea Beldaca, pp. 119-15.

75. Ariel Dorfman, Imaginaci6n y Violencia en America
(Santiago de Chile: Ed. UhiVersitaria, 1970), pp. 9-10.

Dorfman would consider the theme of violence in
these novels part of a general trend in the Americas:

"... a partir del naturalismo e1 problema de la
Violencia pasa a ser e1 eje de nuestra narrativa, ya que
a1 descubrir la esencia social de América ... se descubri6
... que nuestra realidad era ... esencialmente violenta.

Las novelas ... se dedicaron a documentar la Violencia ...,
a fotografiar sus dimensiones sociales, a denunciar ...

las condiciones brutales e inhumanas en que se debatian los
pobladores de estas tierras."

He also discusses an historial process of violence,
and its manifestation in the novel (9. 11):

"America es fruto de una Violencia prolongada,
de un saqueo continue, de la guerra civil y fratricida en
toda su geografia. ... Cuando encontramos a1 gersonaje por
primera vez ... ya hay un mundo concreto rode ndolo, lleno
de sombras y pufios y rifles ..."

He further notes that (p. 17):

"Los personajes, a1 darse cuenta de que son victi-
mas, se rebelan contra 1a sociedad que ha creado su situaci6n,
usando la Violencia como una forma de liberaci6n colectiva.
... El hombre siente que, a1 hacerse hist6rica, su Violencia
cobra sentido: Por ser vertical, dirigida contra 'los de
arriba', como respuesta a la opresi6n, se piensa que se podra
controlar este tipo de agresividad."

76. Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 210.
77. Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera, pp. 106-07.

78. Ortiz, Ju n 0, pp. 269-87.

112

79. Pareja Diezcanseco, Historin dcl Ecuador, pp. 366-
71.

The author points out that Perfi invaded Ecuador on
July 5, 1941, with a force of 20,000 against 3,000 defenders,
and won a relatively easy victory. As a result of the deci-
sion of the Pan American Chancellor'. Conference in Rio de
Janeiro cs January 29, 1942, Ecuador was obligated to cede

some 200,000 square kilometers to Peru. Ecuador still dis-
putes that decision.

CHAPTER IV.
THE WRITERS AS ARTISTS

The writers in the "Grupo de Guayaquil" have earned
critical attention based on their interpretation of coastal
Ecuador's society. However, the artistic process with
which they present their material largely has been either

ignored or dismissed as having little value.1

That judg-
ment was inaccurate owing to the general nature of some
studies, and seems to have been based on novels from the
highlands rather than the coast.2

One critic has said of the novel that: "3610 existe
una buena escuela: la de los escritores que encuentran la
fbrma apropiada para su material y para su prop6sito como
artistas."3 While the Guayaquil writers recognized social
problems in coastal Ecuador may have been similar in other
places, they felt the area and its people were not to be
duplicated elsewhere. Consequently, they tailored their
technique to match the material. Collectively and indivi-
dually, they demonstrate originality in novelistic artistry.
As a group they concentrate on the characters' interaction
with each other and the environment, in order to portray
the human drama, psychology, and telluric elements that make
them unique. They often achieve a robust lyricism in the
portrayal of this interation. As separate artists each

finds a process with which he meets artistic goals. While

113

114

one writer may be more experimental with technique than
another, none imitates either his companions or writers
from elsewhere.

During the thirties and forties critics tended to
denounce the writers' realistic description of Ecuadorian
life as sordid, and the use of language that faithfully
represented the speech of common people as carelessness with
grammar and syntax. It is unlikely that they would do so
today. The works of the critically accalimed novelists
Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez often contain
descriptions of life and use of language similar in its
graphic resemblance to reality4 to those used by the "Grupo
de Guayaquil”. Critics like Anderson Imbert and Torres
Rioseco failed to point out that the writers from coastal
Ecuador were concerned with revolution as much in novelistic
art as society. They were in the vanguard of a literary
revolution that has only recently taken hold in the Spanish
American nove1.5 Their work is legitimately precursive to

6

contemporary artistic trends.
José de la Cuadra

It is obvious that José de la Cuadra was fascinated

by the people, animals, plants, and geography of his native

115

region. He is the member of the "Grupo de Guayaquil" most
interested in artistic interpretation of the coastal atmo-
sphere. Demonstration and denounciation of social ills are
only secondary concerns.

Although this study's purpose is to deal specifically
with the nove1,it would seem unfair to de la Cuadra not
to mention that most of his narrative is dedicated to the
short story. It is necessary to read both his novels
and short stories to appreciate fully his talent. Through
them the Feuadorian coast is represented in a thorough
and stirring panorama. He concentrates on everyday people
and events, with intensity that projects the feeling of
"being there". There are tales about people: country
schoolteachers, sailors in love, old maids, men who train

fighting roosters, savagely primitive montuvios latifundistas.

 

Others are about places: a small hotel in Guayaquil, or a
small town chicheriaL Some concentrate on flggg or gaggg.
Regardless of the topic, the dramatic interaction between
the elements of coastal Ecuador is transcendent. De la
Cuadra's aim is not to portray his native region as an
observer, but as a participant in its most vibrant moments.
One of de la Cuadra's better known short stories

should serve to exemplify his work with that genre.

"Guasinton" is the story of an enormous alligator, or caiman,

"a quien alguno ... bautiz6 con el nobre amontuviado del genera].

116

norteamericano"7 (Washington). He is thought of more as
another person than a beast. His image imposes itself over
the whole region. A "sefior feudal de las aguas montuvias"8,
he is spoken about with awe, respect, and fear. People
discuss his deeds in the chicheria. Travelers who pass
through the area hear of him. Farmers pay him tribute

with cattle. Like a great warrior, his body shows the marks
of battles:

"... como uno de esos legendarios piratas que,

en los abordajes, perdian las manos bajo el

hacha de los defensores era bizarramente manco.

... se habia quedado asi en un lance heroico,

y ... su garra perdida era por ello como un

b1as6n hazanoso."9

In addition to physical characteristics that call to
mind human attributes, Isl-inton has definite personality
traits. The author explains that:

"... Guasinton volvia a sus placidos modos de

siempre. Tornaba a gustar de la melanc6lica

musica montuvia: ... parece ser que ... hasta

encontraba en ello un especial encanto.

Dizque en las noches, cuando los pescadores
tocaban sus guitarras, ... seguia a las canoas:

y si alguno daba un traspiés y venia a1 agua,

Guas inton se alejaba a todo nado, sin dud?0

para evitarse 1a tentaci6n de comerselo.

When this animal meets his death, it is more violent
confrontation on a field of honor than hunting down a wild
beast. The men who kill Guasinton are in effect rebellious
vassals, who unite to overthrow a tyrannical overlord.

They fear and respect him to the end. He represents courage

117

and boldness that can be overcome only with collective
effort. He is the spiritual essence en grande of what they
are en pequefio: strong, independent, and anarchistic.
Through his story, the Ecuadorian coast is a place where
people and natural elements are different in physical
form more than vital substance.11
Rural settings predominate throughout de la Cuadra's
narrative. The world of the montuvio most interests him.
He portrays it as he sees it: vigorous, combative, and
passionate. In spite of its violence, it is beautiful.
His artistic representation of that world reaches its peak
in his novels.
José de la Cuadra's novels are a series of brief and
intense scenes that relate to a central theme. The technique
could almoSt as well be considered dramatic as narrative, so

keen is the impact of what is portrayed.12

Reading de la
Cuadra after an author from an earlier period, such as Luis
A. Martinez, is like leaving a philosophical'disoourse about
war to enter the battlefield. Everything that seemed dis-
tant and abstract becomes near and real. The author fills
his pages with compact tableaux. Each strikes a mark in

the construction of the novel. Most portray human drama.
Dialogue is relied upon heavily to accomplish this pur-

pose. The characters speak as would the people they repre-

sent.13 De la Cuadra has them use few and carefully selected

118

words, that relay precise and vivid description.

For example, in the first pages of Los Sangurimas
de la Cuadra captures in a single paragraph the violent
tradition of a montuvio family. Here the protagonist
tells what happened after his father, a gringo, seduced his
mother:

”--... Mi tio Sangurima se calent6. Busc6

a1 gringo y lo mat6. Mi mama no dijo esta boca

es mia. Naci yo. Cuando naci, mi mama me atendi6

como pudo. Pero, en cuanto se alz6 de la cama

fue a ver a mi tic. Lo top6 solor. Se acomod6

bien. Le tir6 un machetazo por la Mespikda y le

abri6 la cabeza como coco. NadaM

This character accepts violence as his birthright.
His casual "Nada mas" indicates occurrences like fratricide
are not unusual. The author has him tell the tale in the
language of the montuvio: short sentences, nearly free of
descriptive similes, metaphors, and adjectives. The emphasis
is on action.

As similar tableaux appear, it becomes clear that de
la Cuadra is creating a symbol of the mgntuvio. The Sangurima
family is that symbol. The matapalo tree is used to represent
the family and its history. Nicasio and his antecedents
are "e1 tronco afioso“, his sons are "las ramas robustas",
the family feud is called "torbellino en las hojas", and the
disintegration of the family is termed "pale abajo". The
‘patriarch and his sons are the upper level of ggntuvig

society, and his cousins, nieces, nephews, grandchildren,

119

and other relatives from the rest. There are savage and
bizarre acts in the history of this family: killings, rapes,
incest.15 The Sangurima family is the essence, the primitive
origin, of coastal Ecuadorian society. The author explains
that after a bitter family feud:

"... los peri6dicos ... trataron la cuesti6n
en extenso.

...

Se historiaba a las gentes Sangurimas. Se
daba ... la lista de sus actos de horror. Se
mostraba su geneblogia encharcada de sangre,
como la de una dinastia de salvajes sefiores.

... eran tratados como una familia,de locos,
de vesanicos, de anormales temibles.

... estaban a la altura siniestra de los
barones feudales ... 'En el agro montuvio
--decian-- hay ... gamonales de raigambre
campesina auténtica, ... explotadores ... del
montuvio proletario ... Aristocracia rural paisana,
que pesa mas todavia quelga ... importada, a la
cual gana en barbarie.'"

While the principal characters are symbolic for their
roles in the upper levels of society, they are not portrayed
as "types", but created with individual characteristics.17
The author's principal tools are their actions and words,
as in the following illustration where Father Terencio
Sangurima explains the manner in which he teaches the gospel
to his fellow montuvios:

~ “e-Yo 1es digo, mas o menos: 'Iba Nuestro

Senor con esa cruz grandota que le habian

car ado los verdugos, cuando en eso sale e1

judio malamansado de Malco y le suelta una

bofetada... aSaben lo que hizo e1 santo var6n?

En vez de haberle ra'ado e1 alma, que era'lo
que provocaba, come 1 era tan buen corazon

120

apenas se content6 con decirle gl judio: 'Anda

a golpear a tu madre.’ Asi.'"1

This village priest has no duplicate in any other
novel. His brother Eufrasio, a coronel, is also unique.
Although he engages in what might be termed "typical"
activities of leading the montonera or pillaging the
countryside, he claims: "--Yo estoy con los de abajo ...
Todo el que esta mandando es enemigo del pueblo honrado."l9
Although he is a gggggllq, he is first a montuvio. His
spirit of independence borders on anarchy, putting him
against all authority.

Ultimately, it is authority that triumphs over the
Sangurimas. A family feud develops when Nicasio's favorite
grandsons rape and murder one of their cousins, because
her father would not consent to a marriage between them
and her sisters. The police and half the family defeat
Nicasio, the coronel, and the other half protecting the
boys. It is the symbolic loss of montuvio independence
to the authority of conventional society. De la Cuadra
portrays the impact of this loss in the following scene
between Nicasio and Father Terencio:

"Se deshizo en llanto don Nicasio. Era la
primera vez que ... alguien lo veia llorar.

Acaso no habria llorado nunca. ...

--;Papas! zPapas! 3Acom6dese, papas:

Era un llanto tgemendo. 3e mordia el hombre
las manos hechas puno. Se desgarraba las ropas.

I

121

--;Papas! ,Hay que tener valor! iHay que
ser macho, pap s!
Reacciono don Nicasio. '
--Yo soy mas macho que vos, mujerona: mas
macho que todosé scarajo!... Pero es que me
duele, pues..." 0
Nicasio's dramatic actions and strong, direct language
do more to relay the destruction of his ego than could a
lengthy commentary from the author. De la Cuadra is a master
at portraying the psychology of his characters with a minimum
of words. He never depicts the details of their day to day

lives in the costumbrista sense. While there are scenes in

 

which people tel] each other stories about heroic exploits,
ghosts, mysteries, experiences at work, episodes from local
history, and other aspects of montuvio existence, these are
aimed at depicting what goes on in the minds of the characters:
matters a montuvig thinks about that are important to him.

It can not be claimed de la Cuadra teaches a great
.deal about the particulars of montuvig life. He does not
even deal with the "standard" types of class conflict
generally found in the work of the "Grupo de Guayaquil".
Instead, he takes an incident that represents one of the
more dramatic elements of montuvio existence, or a thought
that conveys forceful or violent aspects of his psychology,
and explodes it with such energy that understanding the char-
acters and action is brought about through impression and

suggestion more than description. Repeatedly, he pummels

122

one with those powerful tableaux, chipping away at him

until he is no longer simply a reader, but a participant

in the action, much as could occur in a drama. By sharing
the most memorable incidents of his life and his most
intimate thoughts, it is impossible not to become something
of a montuvio, perhaps another member of the Sangurima
family. One may not be able to describe the local geography,
or typical dress of the people, but he does have an idea

of what it is to be a montuvio.

It is lamentable that de la Cuadra did not live to
complete Los Monos Enloguecidos.21 It follows essentially
the same stylistic pattern of clipped tableaux of Los San-
eurimas, but it promised to be a more ambitious work. The
author seemed intent on depicting more than coastal Ecuador,
although that is the main scenario. He was attempting a
greater perspective in this story of an adventurer who has
a fantastic scheme to use trained and almost human monkeys
to aid him in a quest for treasure where there are ”taboos"
against the presence of human beings.

Los Monos Enloguecidos is a more ”conventional” novel
stylistically when compared with Los Sangurimas. The tableaux
are less staccato, dialogue is not as prominent, and there
is some description of customs and environment. Nonetheless,
social issues are not conspicuous. The protagonist is a

member of the upper class, but he functions as a man in

123

restless search of adventure, not an exploiter of the
lower classes. Socio-ethnic types appear, but their
struggle is primarily against the physical environment.
Social matters are presented indirectly, through the
characters' talking about present or past occurrences,
as in the following illustration where a worker tells
the protagonist's daughter about the hacienda's prison
”--Vea, blanquita: aqui jué donde sus papas
encerraban a los presos. Ahi estaba la barra
y er cepo: ahi, las ar ollas; de ese gancho der
techo. cargaban al var n ue latiguiaban a narga
pelada, blanquita..., ;qu horror! Izque se
morian de tanto que maltirizaban, mismamente
como a Nuestro Senor Jesfis Cristo... digo yo...

Alicia abria unos ojos enormes, entre de
asombro y de incomprension.

--;Cu€ntame! ;Cuéntame tfi a mi!

Y eran historias absurdas, acaloradas, con
humedad de sueno, con olor de fabula: pero, se
adivinaba que,,en elzgondo, alentaba un poco
de dolorosa verdad."

The worker tells the story in his way, using his
own accent and images. The horror he expresses at the
memory of his ancestors' suffering is also his own. The
girl's surprised reaction adds to the drama of both the
story and the storytelling scene. The author's presence
is subtle: a slight amplification of the subject, a hint
of interpretation of the dialogue, never a harangue for

social justice. He does not have his characters make

speeches about social abuse, but relays awareness of the

124

situation. In similar scenes he exposes more contemporary
social phenomena.

Social commentary pg; s3 is not the main goal in de
la Cuadra's novels. It is incidental to creation of the
contradictory world of the coastal man, with its violence
and bloodshed, fantasies and mysteries, and even romance
and tenderness. The fatal clashes between members of the
Sangurima family, the cultured protagonist's solicitation
of aid from a Witch Doctor and from semi-human monkeys in
Los Monos Enloquecidos, and the same character's love for
his daughter or Nicasio Sangurima's affection for his
grandsons are examples of the components of that world.

As de la Cuadra himself has written: "Sin afan
propagandista, la simple exposicifin de la verdad campesina
cntrafia 1a denuncia y llama a la protesta."23 However,
his statement is too modest. His technique is simple in
form, not function. More than any of his colleagues, José
de la Cuadra succeeds in relaying the psychology of the
people who live along the Ecuadorian coast, both as indi-
viduals and members of Specific grOUps. If the reader
feels the social situation is in need of correction, he
does so because he has experienced and become a part of

the world of the montuvio.

125

Joaquin Gallegos Lara

Joaquin Gallegos Lara's main goal in Las Cruces Sobgg
el Agua is to portray the urban proletariat, the ghglg of
Guayaquil, in his life's struggles. Some of these battles
would be expected in socially oriented novels, as with disease,
poor working conditions, degrading living situations, and lack
of employment. Others include the more abstract kind, which
may be translated into the fight to satisfy universal human
needs: recognition as a person, companionship, peace of mind,
security, and love. By delineating carefully the lives of
individual people, this author succeeds in presenting an
ardently human picture of the working class inhabitants of
the city. He examines their everyday pains and pleasures.
He sees them both as distinct human beings and a collective
body. Sometimes he shows children at play in the streets,
lovers strolling along the river, or people chatting in the
park. Other times he shows workers massed at a strike meet-
ing, or the population swarming into the streets in protest.
He balances portrayal of the urban gh2l2.as a whole with
artistic development of unique representatives of him. More
than any of his colleagues, Gallegos Lara is the novelist of
Guayaquil.

Gallegos Lara begins many episodes with a "panning"

of the scene. He pauses to focus on details that lend visual,

126

audible, or olfactory stimulation. Then he focuses on the
characters, to capture their speech and their actions. He
may fade out one scene and switch to another, then return
to the first, to show simultaneous action. During descrip-
tions that involve masses of characters, he highlights
individuals within the group, to make the scene less im-
personal.

As a result of this technique the view is limited
to what is visible through the author's verbal camera. Since
Gallegos Lara is attempting to portray society in a way that
will arouse sympathy for the characters who represent
its lower extremes, they are the principal subjects of his
lens.

He concentrates on material that gives a warmly'human
view of the city. In the following illustration one of the
protagonists is walking along the river with his sweetheart.
The author's "camera“ strays away from the pair and pans the
street scene:

"Las cholas vendedoras, vestidas de blanco
percal, en el aura lunar y a los aletazos de

sus faroles, semejaban tinajas. La brisa del

rio disolvia aromas de mujer, el olor a flores

y almibar de las chirimoyas, vaho de marea.

--Las mas dulces, caserita, las mas dulces!

--Estas son verdaderas de Puna!

--A tres por dos las sin pepas.

... Las familias iban adelante. En grupos,
conversaban y escupian las menudas semillas.

Zarpaba una balandra en la luz de la ria: las

velas audaces y El casco se perfilaban en
manch6n agudo."2

127

The dress of the cholas, people hawking their goods,
families strolling and talking, the boats in the river, and
sensuality attributed to odors stimulate the senses. Gallegos
Lara focuses on small details that are usually taken for
granted. They are the sights, sounds, and smells basic to
the world of the people the characters represent. Without
them, there would be only a general picture of life in
Guayaquil. With them, it is possible to experience vicarious-
ly its texture. It is an artistic technique that is subjec-
tive, one that does much to "humanize" what might be other-
wise an objective description of the setting for social
conflict. As one critic has observed: "... es algo mas
que una ardida y plastica vision de la ciudad portefia: es
la vida del pueblo, del pueblo auténtico ... ."25 éy
making it possible in effect to participate in that life,
Gallegos Lara makes one compassionate to the characters
who live it.

The author applies similar technique to the descrip-
tion of troops preparing to march against the populace:

"Del empedrado del patio subia un vaho hfimedo,

a basura y orines ge caballo. Guitarreaba miriadas

de moscas en la boniga de los rincones. ... la

tropa se precipitaba a formar. ...
--Pero no habra orden de fuego averdad, general?

No era matar lo que podia desagradarle. ...
Matar inermes era lo que rechazaba. ...

128

Desde chico, ... sofiaba en la guerra. El clarin,
los gatillazos de los cierres de los rifles, la
bandera, todo ... 1e encrespaba la sangre ... 26
contra el remordimiento de ametrallar civiles. ..."
Again, there is appeal to the senses and attention

to individual human components of the whole. Even soldiers,
who often represent a malignant element in thesis novels,
are people separate and unique from each other, with their
own thoughts and conflicts.
Dialogue is an important tool for Gallegos Lara in
the construction of characters. The words and sentences
they utter are faithful representations of what is heard
on the streets of Guayaquil. Their vocabulary and syntax
are in keeping with their education and social class. How-
ever, dialogue is not used as the principal means for por-
trayins their psychology, but as a way of "setting the stage"
for the author's descriptive interpretation of their thoughts.
For example, here is a scene in which one of the protagonists,
while still a boy, talks with an older woman with whom is
is infatuated:
"--gG6mo te llamas?
--Afredo Baldeon-- contesté sin alzar 103
0 jog; .

Ella indico, vagamente, como si hablara sola:

--Somos vecinos, o vivo alla.

Alfredo se encogi : la voz de la blanca 1e
daba calor. Aparentando mirar hacia donde
senalaba ... pudo verla, En sus ojos se quebraba

la,mafiana cegadora. Sus cabellos le semejaron
suave,y peinada estopa de coco. ...

129

A partir de ese dia, nunca falt6 a atisbarla,
pero sin dejarse ver. Nadie se percat5 de su
raro acecho ... . Cuando no lograba avizorarla,
also le entristecia los juegos toda la jornada. ...
Alfredo se acordaba dezla blanca a todas horas.
Se dormia pensindola. ...”

Gallegos Lara's portrayal of psychology is essentially
the depiction of thoughts through actions. Because the
boy is unable to look at the woman directly, it is clear
he feels awkward; because he spies on her and thinks of
her while falling asleep, one knows he is preoccupied. This
technique is in keeping with the psychology of a young boy,
who does not understand fully what he feels and acts more
out of instinct than plan.

When dealing with more mature characters, the author
relies as much on words as actions to portray thoughts,
although he may add more detail to description. In the
following example one of the protagonists learns his father
has lost the family business:

"--Vea, viejo, esta ocasi6n quiero trabajar

a su lado en La Cosmopolita. Todo Balde5n es

panaderos la sangre chuta!

Las cejas grises de Juan se reunieron dolorsas.
--Ya no hay Cosmopolita. Ahora se llama La

Flor del Guayas. Me la quit6 e1 viejo Rivera!

Estaba atrasado en los pagos...

Alfredo no contestox en el pecho 1e hervian

las maldiciones. Era una perrada abusar asI con

un hombre como en padre. aCémo ... pudo imaginarse

que un desgraciado, podrido en plata, haga nada

bueno? El que no daba la patada a la entrada, la
daba a la salida!”28

130

Words and gestures precede and complement the author's
descriptive interpretation of thoughts, In this way Gallegos
Lara reinforces the ideas and opinions he wishes to project,
lending them plausibility. The characters think and act as
might the real people they represent. He avoids lumping them
together as the "hombre-mesa", but deals with each one as
a separate creation.

One can only speculate why Gallegos Lara created two
protagonists for Las Cruces Sobre el Agga. He may have done
so because of a desire to express his own personality through
them. Alfredo Baldeon, the ggmpg breadseller, is from near
the bottom of Guayaquil society. He represents a class with
which the author could only sympathize. Alfonso Cortes, from
a slightly higher social level and an intellectual artist,
has facets in his personality that might parallel the author's
own. Baldeén's thoughts and actions are direct and uncompli-
cated, as would be appropriate for his position in society.
His goals are mainly the fulfillment of physical needs for
food and shelter and basic emotional ones of loving and being
loved. Cortes is a more complex character. His interest in
music and culture put! him on a higher plane. His goals
include fulfillment of needs similar to Baldeon's, but admit
the aesthetic ones of being a creator and interpreter of
music. Although both protagonists represent positive elements

from their part of society, neither can be considered a

131

sztereotype. They are distinct, but complementary, individuals.
'Both are portrayed from their early childhood through adult-
liood, with sufficient details of their personal conflicts
andd triumphs to make them unique. However, Baldeon is the
rnore memorable. He represents the majority of the population.
Cristobal Garcés Larrea has remarked that he is: "un personaje
inolvidable, ... dotado de una vitalidad tan asombrosa que
perdurara, porque tiene sangre y alma de una realidad."29
After reading Las Cruces Sobre el Agua one has the
feeling he has just seen a movie. He has known characters
VW10 are individuals, but whose lives follow and are shaped
by'events leading to a violent milestone in modern Ecuadorian
liistory. Since everything he has seen has been sympathetic
to the lower levels of society, he has undergone a lesson
in the Ecuadorian social process.
Nonetheless, even in this novel written by perhaps
the most socio-politically oriented member of the "Grupo
de Guayaquil", artistic conscience tends to "tone down”
social commentary. Gallegos Lara may present a scene that
relays an example of social injustice, but he tends to
avoid interpreting it in moral terms. He lets the action
speak for itself.30 When he does interject his own thoughts
and ideas, it is from an analytical rather than declaratory
perspective, as in the following example. The scene is

a workers' strike meeting:

132

"... tanto en sus rostros de imprecise barro
humano, contraidos por el esfuerzo que ponian

en la tarea desacostumbrada de pensar, como en

los demas apifiados llenando e1 salon, descubria
borrados el miedo y la apatia de los ojos. Eran
los mismos hombres a quienes el exceso de trabajo
cmbrutecia, cuyo horizonte terminaba incendiado

an un vaso de aguardiente, . pero con el chispazo
de otra llama en la mirada."3i

The author idealizes the working class, but he does not

hide their imperfections. His technique is to give one

an understanding of the social situation, and arm- his
compassion for the human beings the characters represent.
Gallegos Lara's selective, cinematographic approach concen-
trates on the lower levels of society, but includes both
pleasant and unpleasant aspects of the characters} lives.

They may be alienated from other parts of society, but they

are not alienated from each other.32

They may suffer economic
privation: but they enjoy intangible pleasures. Las Crgggg

Siobre elmggya survives both” for its artistic value and

 

its social considerations.

133

En r few: (‘1 11 Gilbert

 

 

finrique Gil Gilbert reaches for grandeur when he
writes about the areas of the Ecuadorian coast where rice

is grown, and the people who live there. Tn Nuestro Pan

 

(1041), he strives to tell the story of the montuvio

and the land from the perspective of one who witnesses

and relates an epic battle. The struggle is both between
man and nature and men. The prize is rice. Rice is the
basic sustenance for life. It must he won from the land
through hard effort. Once in the hands of men, it becomes
treasure. Some men fight others to possess it, thus
acquiring wealth. Other men are satisfied with enough to
maintain a respectable level of existence. The contest

is an heroic one. There is nobility in man and nature as
they combat each other in the production and possession

of rice. Gil Gilbert's work brings to mind comparison with
films. Rice as the means for human survival was dramatized
in Bitter Rice, the classic Italian film of the post-war
period. However, the cinema version of Pearl Buck's Th2

Good Earth was more in keeping with the epic quality in

 

Nuestro Pap. The Chinese peasants in that film love the

 

earth, and Spill their sweat, blood, and lives into it, as
do the montuvi9§_in the Ecuadorian novel. Time has little
relevance. The struggle to survive is eternal. These rural

characters in China and Ecuador suffer and combat nature's

13“

hostile elements and sometimes receive its benefits. They
are superstitious, and faithfully adhere to local traditions.
They live under the authority of a social system biased
against them. However, Gil Gilbert tells a story about
people who have no exact duplicates elsewhere. He does

it with an artistic technique unique to him.

Reading Gil Gilbert's novel is like visiting a gallery
of impressionistic paintings. In one scene montuvios are
laboring in the fields. They may be bent over the soil, work-
ing with tools, or returning from work, walking and chatting
in small groups. Perhaps they would be frozen with anxiety,
watching a horde of locusts approach the crop. In another
scene, tough, military men are crashing through the forest.
It may he a valiant firefight against a superior force, a
leader shouting a command, or a dying soldier receiving

the coup de grace. Other scenes pieture the countryside,

 

and still others depict violent confrontations between indi-
viduals. In every case a mental portrait remains, permanent
and vivid.

The author creates these verbal paintings with broad
strokes. Relatively few words are used, and most are selected
to convey an action and often rhythm. Characters are
portrayed primarily on the basis of their words and deeds.
Even scenes that deal with elements in nature usually con-

sidered inanimate hum with sound and throb with movement.

135

Interaction between man and nature is relayed through images
that suggest dialogue and motion. Descriptions of the
physical environment are brought about through evocation
of natural sounds and odors. There is little interdepen-
dence from one scene to another. The scenes add up to an
intense representation of life, but each seems larger than
life.

When Gil Gilbert creates a character, he leaves a

visual image of him. He does not need a large "canvas",

for he wastes very little space when he paints his pictures.33

Certain elements impress more than others. Witness the
following description of Captain Sandoval leading the remnants
of his defeated Liberal force through the jungle:

"... Caminar. Dessajados los vestidos. Rotos
los pies. Seca la garganta. Con polvo en las
hendiduras de la piel. Ya los machetes amellados.
Teniendo que cortar los bejucos con las manos.
Y las manos rasgadas. ... Dias Dias. Dias. Hay
hojas erizadas de espina filosisima, bellas,
blancas y verdes, que al pasar aserruchan. El
Capitan Sandoval iba adelante, con la frente
razgufiada por las espinas, con la cara raspada
y desollada por las hojas. Hojas como de acero.
que despellejan al rozar. El Capitan Sandoval
es como bejuco. Alto, delgadc, nervudo y ojos
de gavilan. Camina firme, como si estuviera
siempre marchando y jamas se cansa. Manda con
frases cortas. Su voz es gritona.

--;Epa! ;Carajo! 3Aqui hay que hacer lo
que digo! El que quiere hacerlo, se queda, el
que no, que cargue con su aparejo. Ya lo saben.

Y a narchar. Con los pies chorreando sangre. ...

136

Se guiaha oliendo e1 camino y no viéndolo.

Abriéndose paso con las manos. Oyendo sin

atendar e1 grito de las catarnicas. ... El

Capitan Sandoval parecia ser como el viento.

lba. Iba. lba. Quiza no se cansara, Caminaba

mas rapido."34

This picture is not likely to be forgotten easily.
The background of the tropical jungle and the exhausted
troops are secondary only to the imposing figure of the
captain. The feeling of wearisome struggle is relayed
through the repetition of key words (Dias. Dias. Dias.:
Tba. Iba. Iba.). Although the individual sentences
relay action, there is constancy in their total. an im-
pression of timelessness. much as one might receive from
a painting.

In other instances the author wishes to give insights
into the psychology of the characters. To accomplish this
purpose, he relies on a combination of quick and realistic
dialogues and short descriptive sentences that emphasize
movement. Even secondary characters display deeper psycho-
logical penetration than would be apparent from the brevity
of the description. In the following scene a laboring
montuvio learns his wife is pregnant:

"--No, Pedro, no me estropees. aQue no te
he dicho?
Se acerc5 a 51. abandonandose sobre su pecho

de piedra. '

--Este... ya... creo... este... estoy... Vas

a tener un hijo...
Bajo la lluvia abierta sobre la tierra en

137

espera, Pedro Sanchez abri6 su boca grande y

gruesa en una risa que llenaba toda la cara.

Tomo las manos de su mujer. Acaricifi el vientre

de ella. La trajo hacia si, deseoso, no de

sentirla, sino de hacerla sentir su cuerpo lleno

do vetas musculosas, para decirle:

--;Que sea macho, mismamente, como el tayta:

iAhi! 3Donde pongo e1 ojo pongo la bala!"35

In a few sentences the reader learns much about
how montuvios think and matters important to them. The
man thinks fathering a child is significant to his manhood.
The child is a simple affirmation of it. The woman wishes
to give the man pleasure, and feel protected. The child
will give him pleasure, and her pregnancy will make him
more protective. The author does not give lengthy inter-
pretive descriptions, but makes it possible to participate
in the couple's pleasure as would another montuvio. These
people's thoughts are directed toward basic concerns. In
that light, they may be considered representative of most
montuvios. Nonetheless, the‘way'the man.reacts. with
his boastful exclamation, and the woman's hesitancy to tell
her husband about her pregnancy, are not characteristic
necessarily of all members of their socio-cthnic group.
Even these secondary characters are dealt with as unique
human beings. By selecting individuals, regardless of
their social positions, Gil Gilbert avoids stereotyping

36

his characters. By concentrating on their words and

actions, he adds drama to his verbal painting.

138

This sense of drama is extended to descriptions of
paisaje. In the absence of people, Gil Gilbert replaces
dialogue with visual and olfactory evocations that
complement and balance the feeling of movement, as in
this river scene:

”E1 rio tiene color de hombre y de mate.
Camina con fantasmas de vcces entre sus aguas.
Navegan por él barcos y canoas que no se ven
y que dejan la estela y nada mas. La luna anda
sobre aristas espejeantes y escurridizas. Una
hoja de platano esta guindada sobre la corriente
ondulandose comc una sabana celeste. El viento
anda a gatas bajo las ramazones, removiendc
quedamente las ramas fragiles. Nadie podria
decir quién va silbando por el rio. A veces
un lagartc enorme, enverdecido por la luna,
navega con su cabeza a1 aire, tranquilo, parsi-
monioso. clvidado de su fiereza. Abre estrias
en el dorso de las aguas. El rio va... En la
madrugada estara de regreso desde los cacaotales.
trayendo olor de chocolate y también de naranjas
y de ciruelas. Desde aqui lleva olor de raiz
desnuda, de tierra brava de lagartc. Hasta
de tiburon y tintorera."57

Gil Gilbert refers to colors and odors found naturally
in the setting portrayed. There is an earthy aura about his
description. The movements in the river are caused by
plants and animals native to the environment. Their motion
is described with comparison to other natural movements.

He relays perception of an ebbing and flowing of natural
elements in a way so unaffected it must be described as
poetic.38

In some scenes the author depicts identification

139

between man and nature, as though they were equals:
"Desde el desmonte comenzaban a oirse gritos.

Vcia a la gente avanzar despacio. Los brazos so

alargaban y encogian rapido. Los golpes de los

que decapitaban se oian sordos. El susurro de

los que sobaban era como una hamaca s1n argolla,

dc soga pura, rozando contra el gancho de fierro.

Venia el murmullo de las gentes. El murmullo do

las plantas de arroz, restrcgandose unas en otras,

hablando con el viento, Beleando con los hombres,

agonizando tronchadas."3

The author conveys relationship between man and nature
as between two people, through action and dialogue. Verbs
like "decapitaban," "peleando," and "agonizando," relay
struggle. However, the dialogue is not of words, but
sounds. The murmuring of harvesters blends with wind through
the rice plants to form a natural symphony. Waving arms are
complemented by swaying plants. It seems more like a ballet
than a scene of labor. There is smoothness and harmony,
in Gil Gilbert's depiction of man and nature's interrelation-
ship , even as they engage in combat. He interprets their
interdependence as not only physical, but aesthetic.

After the reader wanders through the gallery of verbal
paintings that is Nuestro Pan, he realizes the sum is not so
great as the parts. 0n the surface there is the history of
a rice-growing dynasty's rise, flourishing, and decadence.
There is also the underlying story of the montuvios who work

in the rice fields, with the social message that rewards are

not commensurate with their labors. However, none of these

140

stories is as impressive as scenes depicting the Olympian
Captain Sandoval, laboring montuvios, the countryside, or
human drama. Because of its fragmentary construction,
there is no single, overpowering message in this novel.
There is no great, imposing symbol. Many fragments are
masterful interpretations of elements from coastal Ecuador,
but the total collection does not comprise the interpretation
of the region. In spite of its obvious importance, even
the rice does not have an overbearing significance compared
with human or other natural elements.

Til Gilbert's triumph as an artist is the painting
o? unpertettabls pictures. Collectively, they are a rich
and emotive gallery that portrays life's cycle in coastal

Ecuador.

lUl

Demetrio Aguilera Malta

Demetrio Aguilera Malta's primary aim is to recreate
the world of the rural cholo. This world is the strangest
and most exotic in the work of the "Grupo de Guayaquil".
Tts ohysical location is among the mangrove swamps of
Ecuador's coastal lowlands and islands. The people who
live there, as interpreted by this author, have telluric
roots so strong they must he considered more than elements
that live in harmony with other parts of nature. Their
beliefs, traditions, and way of life are so intertwined
with the natural environment they combine with it to form
a single entity. Aguilera Malta is the member of the
"Grupo de Guayaquil" whose characters are most memorable
for their symbolic value. Don Coyo, from the novel of the
some name (1933), and Guayamabe and Nestor, from La Tsla
Virqen (lQQZ), are remembered after the details of plot
are forgotten. The author's strength in characterization
is his ability to Combine human with natural elements,
making his characters representative of not only the people,
but the region.

Don Goyo and Guayamabe have virtually the same
function in their respective novels. While they are
individuals in relation to other characters, they both
show the intimate relationship with the environment that

makes the gnglg_the true representative of coastal Ecuador

142

in the novels in which he appears. Guayamabe's strongest

connection is with the fauna,41

while Don Goyo's is with
to flora, as in the following illustration:
"--;No podemoj cortar maj manele!
OI.
--;Loj manglej son como nosotroé mejmoj!
... Los pobres mangles veian, 0 an, hablaban
y sentian. Cada hachazo les hacia palidecer
de dolor como a cualquier hombre. Se ouejaban.
Protestaban. ..." 2
fiven Nestor, a character from the upper class, becomes
intimately linked with the environment:
"... El barniz de las ciudades se me ha
evaporado. Me siento primitivo y salvaje, casi
como un tigre. ... A ratos me parece que hubiera
nacido en estos sitios. Me ita el ancestro
en una forma vegetal y extrana! No sera que
antes tenia raices adventicias, como las de los
mangles? No sera que alguna fuerza anti- #3
bumana se separ6 de las ramas y los troncos?"
Aguilera Malta blends these telluric qualities
with social significance. Don Goyo is the personification
of the natural environment, and be is the anarchistic cholo
fighting against the invasion of "civilized" white men,
whose materialism he knows will virtually enslave his
people to corruptive modern society. Cuayamabe, the mayor-
domo, is a link between the cholo's primitive society and
the white man's civilization. He is also a cholo and his
telluric ties are nearly as strong as Don Coyo's. At the
same time, however, he is obedient to his white employer.

Nestor represents white civilization that is finally over-

lhj

come by the natural and primitive forces of a coastal
island. He is also the upper class exploiter of the

working cholos. His defeat signifies the triumph of

social justice.

Aguilera Malta divides his novels into small sec-
tions. Each section is like a scene in a drama.uu How-
ever, his scenes are not so independent of each other
as those in de la Cuadra's work, for example. While
each has dramatic impact, it is dependent upon the next
for the complete creation of a character, or to tell one
of the secondary stories.

The author constructs a character like he might in
a play. A person might be seen first as part of a scene
involving other characters, in which he is not predominant.
Then other scenes focus on him specifically, to tell about
his past life, his influence on other people, and other
people who influence him. Other scenes might deal with him
as he interacts with the physical and spiritual environment.
Each scene is a thread, interwoven with others to form the
fabric of the novel. Don Goyo is typical of Aguilera Malta's
technique in the construction of his characters. When he
first appears, he only passes by:

"De pronto, oyeron el chapotear de una canoa.

Algo so agit6 en la sombra. Se oy5 un canaletazo.

Al rato otro. Después, una voz ronca, pesada,

Vigorosa:

--;G§enas noches de Dios!
--;Guenas, don Goyo!

141;

Pesadamente. Lentamente. Casi a1 lado de
ellos, paso. El golpe del canalete--tardo,
pero firme--se hizo mas confuso. La noche--
tal que enorme boa de ébano--lo atornillé en
su vientre. ”5

Hubo silencio."

The background is of shadow, sound, and mystery.
Although Don Goyo only passes through, he seems to fill
it. As he appears in other scenes, he becomes the dominant
figure. Finally, he remains as the symbol of the cholo.
Symbols are transcendent and eternal. Gon Goyo is not an
exception:

"Don Goyo Quimi ... tendria unos ciento

cuarenta o ciento cincuenta anos, como él

mismo decia. Sus hijos y sus nietos parecian

hermanos suyos. Su piel, arrugada y curtida,

semejaba a la de una fruta seca. Medic encor-

vado, andaba con lentitud y dificultad. Pero

en el agua era otra cosa. Parecia un pez.

Manejaba 1a canoa como cualquiera de sus bis-

nietos. Lanzaba e1 arp5n y la fija. Tiraba

la atarraya. Tendia las redes. Se burlaba

de los tiburones y los cggtanudos. 'Son mis

amigos', decia siempre."

Don Goyo is more than the patriarch of a tribe of cholos.
He is primitive coastal Ecuador in human form. His stature
grows with every scene in which he appears. He does not
actually die, but becomes part of the surroundings. In con-
trast to novels that portray civilized man overcome by nature,
as in the final pages of José Eustasio Rivera's La Voragine,
Don Goyo is not devoured by the forest, but blends into it.

The destiny he fulfills is a continuation of life, in a more

lus

primeval state. His entrance into the mangrove swamp
is not a journey into the unknown, but a homecoming:

"Su paso era saludado con rcverencias. Un
cuchicheo de admiracion y de afecto hervia dc
les rincones mas ocultos, en los recovecos dcl
tango. Y parecIa que una enorme multitud de
mangles empezaban a seguir a los que llevaban
en sus ramas a1 viejo chglo.

Don Goyo era feliz." 7

Not only the people, but the trees, fishes, animals,
and other parts of nature are actors in Aguilera Malta's
drama. There is dialogue between them. The stage on which
they perform is the Ecuadorian coast. The final scene in
which Don “oyo appears is a curtain call, where he takes
his final how. He is a godlike figure, who seems to be
just beginning his existence.

"--'Ve!...

Alia, en el centro del rio, estaba don Goyo.
Parecia abofetear la negrura de la noche. Se
deslizaba sobre el agua como sobre tierra firme.
Tonia un aspecto de fortaleza que nunca se le
viera. Iba rodeado de tiburones y catanudos,
que parecian rodearlo sumisamente, hilvanando
elfombras de espuma a su paso. Estaha completa-
mente desnudo. Reia con una extrana risa triunfal.

Los qued5 mirando breves instantes. Levant5
la mano derecha Les hizo un breve signo de
adios. Y empezg a nadar. Iba pausadamente.
Con una majestad que imponia. Tras é1--en
cardumen--los cuerpos ascuros de les monstruos
marinos.

Cusumbo tartamudeox

--5Taremoj agfiando?

--Tarv€...” ,

Don Goyo is the most impressive character in Aguilera
Malta's novels of this period. Not even Guayamabc of La Isla

Virgen interacts so thoroughly with other characters and

1116

elements in nature. Although none of the author's other
characters achieve the stature of the patriarchal cholo,
they are constructed with essentially the same formula.

As is characteristic of the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
writers, this author uses dialogue to relay the psychology
of his characters and to portray drama between them. How-
ever, Asuilera Malta surrounds his dialogues with short
descriptive passases whose vocabulary and syntax are similar
to the dialogue. Witness the followinr "lover' s quarrel"

cnex
"Se tire cuan largo era sohre la canoa. Dej6

que la corriente los arrastrara. Una rahia
extrana empe7aba a dominarlo. La Gertru entonces

hahlS;
--5me hahis dormio, Cusumbo?
--No
--¢Y quéj lo que te pasa?

--;Y por que vaj tan callo?

--;No 10 hey notao!

La Gertru se levanto. Se acerc6 a 61. Lo
miro f'ijamerte. Largamente. Y le escupi6 encima
sus palehres:

--Io que pasa ej is due tey dicho siempre:
Hjtedr no d<ben prohar, porque dejpu6..

Cusumbo se incorporo.

-—No, gsabej hoj? No ej eso. lo que pas a
ej que a laj mujere hay ue tratarlaj a pale.
Como si fueran mulaj. S lo asi tan contentaj. ...

--Fso ej farso...

--. P119 SGI‘!

Se levanto Si dirisio 3.1?9 pope. Y otra
vez bozo. Bogs con furia.

Tn both description and dialogue vocabulary and syntax

imitate the speech of the coastal cholo. The imprecision in

147

the characters' expression,50 the paucity of adjectives
and adverbs in the description, and the breaking of normal
sentence structure suggest action and urgency. The woman's
apprehension that the man will want her in only a physical
way and his frustration over her lack of cooperation are
expressed with verbs that relay motion, and dialogue that
goes directly to the point. In this way Aguilera Malta
succeeds in portraying the cholo's brooding, introspective
psychology and capacity for strong emotion. By use of
colloquial language he removes himself somewhat from the
stance of "omniscient author". He becomes almost another
actor in the drama.

While he is concerned mainly with the creation of
characters, Aguilera Malta does not ignore the background
to the action. He gives careful attention to the effects
of sound and lighting, as in the following illustration
from La Isla Virgen, where some cholos are laboring in
the forest:

"Do rate en rato, dan un machctazo. El sol

les cae a plomo. Trahajan sobre la loma encendida.

Sudan a mares. Tiencn due agarrarse sobre los

hrusqueros intrincados para no reshalar y caer

cerro abajo. Hay mementos en que parece que

la tierra humeara. Un silencio terrible cae

sobre sus espaldas. No corre el menor soplo

de viento. ~No se ve 1a menor sefial de vida 5,
en la montana. Todo esta quieto, tibio, taciturno." '

148

One hears only the backing of machetes. He sees the
sun glistening on the workers backs. He could be watching
a play, except the sights and sounds are suggested only
indirectly by verbal description.

However, Aguilera Malta's attention to background is
no more than complementary to depiction of human elements
in his work. Neither sound and lighting effects nor paisaje
are important in themselves. He applies his narrative de-
vices with equal effectiveness to the building of secondary
characters. Here a cholo worker is experiencing feelings
toward a woman that are new to him:

"Cada vez 1e gusta mas la Margara. Cada vez,
le gusts mas.
Y es raro. Le parece que le empieza a gustar

de otra manera. No solamente para acostarse

con ella. También, para verla, para tenerla

eerca, para que le haga el arroz con verde y

las lisas asadas, para que le cargue el agua,

para que le d5 muchos hijos, para que le espulgue

la cabeza en los domingos do tarde. Y claro!,

también para que le cuelsue el toldo y le tienda

el cuerito 0 el petate."

This character is treated as an individual. It is
possible to see what in life is important to him. Aguilera
Malta never treats his characters as a collective and anony-
mous mass. Whenever the scene focuses on even a secondary
one, there is some indication he is a unique person.

Don Goyo and La Isla Virgen form a complete cycle.

The first novel concentrates on presenting the cholo

in a pure and unspoiled situation where he lives peace-

Jug

fully and harmoniously with nature, independent from out-

side influence. Then he becomes ensulfed by modern society.

:1
1L

O

is deceived, exploited, and corrupted. Wis idyl begins
to crumble. In the second novel he is no longer indepen-
dent from the whole of society, but lives in a sub-culture,
where he performs social functions ranging from small
businessman to professional thief. Finally, he becomes

di

U)

illusioned with his new role. Nestor's loss of his
woman to a cholo bandit and his disappearance into the
island's jungle symbolizes the cholo's rebellion against
the whole of society and his return to anarchistic self-
sufficience. The author suggests a re-definition of
coastal Society, with a fresh emphasis on the telluric
background of the population.

However, one is only passively aware of the social
message as he becomes submerged into this strange world
where oeople and trees talk to each other. He knows the
cholo as more than the representative of the lower class,
he knows him as a cholo. He knows how he lives, and the
work he does to maintain himself. Most importantly, he
knows what is essential to him, and how he thinks and feels.
By understanding his collective psycholory, and through
acquaintance with individual representatives of him, it is
not necessary to be harangued with revolutionary cliches

and rhetoric to become sympathetic to his social problems.

150

Alfredg_fiareig Diezcanseco

 

In the novels he wrote durine the thirties and
forties, Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's major interest is
the portrayal of life among the working class in Guayaquil.
The settings are primarily urban, a distinction that he
shares with Gallegos Lara. Benjamin Carrion comments
that:

"Pareja encuentra sus gentes en el asfalto

de la ciudad caliente. Tirados en los portales

del Maleeon porteno, eSperanzando un poco de

oan, y, aeaso, enrabiados ya de justieia y de

odio. Gentes que caminan sus pesos do siempre,

que trabajan, que comen mal y aman."5

Pareja Diezcanseco attempts to create characters
who are symbols in Ecuadorian society. The cholo couple
in El Muelle (1933) are hardworking people whose labors
are scarcely rewarded and who must suffer ill-treatment

from both domestic and foreign employers. Jesus Parrales

of La Beldaca (1935) is an enterprising cholo whose

 

effort: to be the master of his own boat are rendered futile
by an unprincipaled money-lender. The three sisters of

Las Tres Ratas (lQHU) show society is so unscrupulous that
when people slip from its upper levels it is almost
impossible for them to return. One of the most memorable

characters 's the protagonist of Don Balon de Baba (1939).

 

He symbolizes the idealistic and misguided intellectual

whosehopes to lead the poor in the achievement of social

151

justice are dashed tragically. This character is a
home-frown version of Cervantes' Don Quijote. Even his
friend, lnocente Cruz, serves .s his Sancho Panza. How-
ever, rather than noble ladies and gentlemen, Don Salon
wishes to champion the poor:
”--;Cuanto dolor! iCuanta miseria! Yo van

a la gente morirse de hambre. Y he visto a

padres que no tienen con giranterrar a los

hijos Que murieron por falta de alimrntos.

Los ninos, ojerosos, raquiticos, pidiendo una

limosna, parados frente a las vitrinas de los

jupuetes, llorando, llorande... 3Qu5 horror!

... :Ah! Inocente, lnocente, zque crueles son

los capitalistas! Y todavia creen que haciendo

caridades se remedia todo! gFarsantesll Me

muero ... de pena, no puedo mas ya..."5+

Don Balon is a more serious creation than might
appear ostensibly. The parallels with Cervantes' charac-
ter only seem light-hearted. While Don Quijote pursued
ideals that were important to him in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, regardless of the pain and
hardships itcost him, Don Balon pursues his ideals in the twan-
tieth century, also at the expense of personal sacrifice,
Don Balon's ideals are contemporary, having to do with
social justice, but he wishes to achieve them under a
set oP suidelines that are understood only by him, that
have the stamp of his large ego. Like the Cervantine
personage, the Ecuadorian one is paranoic. He believes

there are evildoers everywhere who would thwart his noble

coals:

152

"...'Trabajan tanto mis nervios, que ya no

puedo mas, no puedo mas. iInocente! 3Tengo

tantos enemifios! gTantos! Todos me persiguen.

Todos me acosan. gAyfidame, Inocente, ayfidame!

Mira, en veces mi cerebro esta a punto de estallar.

3Pienso tanto! aTengo tantas teorias! Es tan

grave e1 asunto, tan grave, Inocente, que me

hundo en un misterio insondable. ;Y es mi destino

descifrarloi zQuiero tanto a la humanidad! T6

no sabes, tu no me entiendes. 3Cu§nto sufro!"55

This character's suffering originates as much from
people he wishes to help as those he imagines are his
enemies. In the end he is rejected pitilessly by the very
workers he wishes to lead.56 Without declaring it openly,
Pareja Diezcanseco suggests through Don Halon that intel-
lectuals who would guide the poor to a better life are
deceiving themselves. They will never communicate with
the poor on their own level. Possibly, they have substituted
the pursuit of material wealth for another Kind of greed:
the rapacity to be idolized, glorified, and powerful. This
quixotic personality is a symbol of the egocentric intellec-
tual who would reform society.

Nonetheless, most of this writer's outstanding
characters are poor socio-ethnio types. Salient among
these is Baldomera, the imposing urban zamba from the
novel of the same name (1938). She can be remembered

even by her physical stature:

"... si Baldomera se levanta, hay que ver.
Parece tener mis de un metro ochenta de estatura ...

153

El traje ... no dibuja ninguna forma. Porque
Baldomera ... Es cuadrada. Sencillamente cuadrada.
Sobre 1o barriga, casi 1e cuelgan los pechos. Los
pechos ... son largos y, al mismo tiempo, gordos:
dos masas de carne embutida. ... Por la espalda,

le pende el pelo en desorden, pelo negro, negrisimo,
que hace mas fuerte su cara ... chata que mantiene
constantemente una expresion de furia. Los ojos
son poquefiitos: casi no tienen pcstafias. ...
Viendola un poco de lejos, y en sombras, se
apostaria que no tiene barba. Pero, no. Es
inconfundible: sus pelos. ... aPero que pelos!
Eargos, duros, gruesos. Y cuando Baldomera esta
con rabia, su gesto revelador y caracteristico es
tirarse algunos y luego sobarse 1a barbs nerviosa-
mente con la palma de la mano para calmarse la
picazon."57

Baldomera embodies the vigor and pugnacity of her
class. She works hard, fights for her personal dignity
and her family, and participates actively in a workers'
strike. Although other interesting and well-constructed
characters appear around her, she looms over all of them.
Whether she is selling food from a cart, making love, or
brawiieg in a bar, she is the novel's one overpowering
element.

in two of his novels Pareja Diezcanseco concentrates
on inanimate objects for the creation of symbols. The
dock in El Muclle means work and life itself for the cholos

-.

in Guayaquil, and the sloop in La Beldaca represents the

 

maritime cholo's most cherished ambitions. Nonetheless,
most important in this author's work are the people. He
TlVQS such careful attention to the psychological maKOUp

of individual characters they lose significance as social

15h

representatives. He builds each separately, with a unique
psychology. Other than the fact that both are poor, there
is little similarity between Jesfis Parrales and Baldomera.
One knows Don Balon so intimately he thinks of him as
another human being more than a symbol. Even characters
who represent the upper classes are treated as individuals,
like the businessman from El Muelle, Angel Marifio.58 The
author carries him from childhood through middle age, point-
ing out his individual quirks. In the following illustra-
tion he is described as a boy on his father's hacienda:

"... e1 nifio Angel se aburria en la hacienda

y'odiaba e1 cacao y el sol. Entreteniase, eso

Si, riendose de los peones, y palmoteaba con

entusiasmo cuando su padre derriba a alguno de

un punetazo o hacia flagelar a otro 0 meter a

la barra a1 fulano que habfase descuidado en

la vigilancia de los tendales de cacao o resultaba

complice del hurto de un quintal de la preciosa

pepa."59

Because the author builds his upper class characters
as thoroughly as those from society's lower levels, he
maintains an artistic balance that lends credibility to
his portrayal of Ecuadorian social reality. As each of
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco's novels appears in order
of publication, there are progressively fewer similarities
with those written by other members of the "Grupo de

Guayaquil". His approach is the most cerebral. He constantly

re-examines both content and style. always seeking subject

155

matter of more lasting importance, and improvement in
his technique for treating it. While every member of
the group has admitted to the need to correct artistic
deficiencies, Pareja Diezcanseco works at it the hardest.
in his first three novels, E; Muelle, La Beldaca,
and galdomera, his style can be compared to Gallegos
Lara's, because he also has a camera-like way of panning
a scene, pausing to focus on details. However, Pareja
is most interested in appealing to visual impressions.
He pays little attention to audible or olfactory stimu-
lation, as in the following scene:
"Las ocho de la noche. En el cielo no se
ve nada. Ni siquiera una estrella de parpadeo
debil. Y cl negro tan prieto $610 es roto, de
vez en vez, por alguna nube blanquecina que flota
como globo. Mas que blanca, la nube es gris.
Parece de alas enormes. O toma forma de sabanas
sucias, de cuyas puntas tirasen y tirasen hasta
arrancarlas. Entonces, entre jirones, vuelve a
asomar e1 ne 0. Perro, en el cerre de la izquierda
... algo es brillando. El reflejo de los tanques
del agua potable, merced a un poste de luz, cae
sobre un trozo de la cfispide. Y se ve un circulo
plateado, como agua de noche lunada. Todo el que

acierta a caminar por esos lugares, instintiva-
mente alza las miradas a1 reflejo. Como si imantara."

60
dhilefPareja Diezcanseco's technique shares brevity

of phrases with other members of the group, his use of adjec-

tives that reinforce colors and similes that lend grandeur

puts his style on a more contemplative plane. His descrip-

tions seem like reflections on where he has been, rather than

products of an effort to relay a palpable sense of ”being

156

there right now".

Nhile the author often describes the urban environment
with appreciation for its aesthetic beauty, it interests hi-
primarily because here people most interact. There is
still beauty in his description from this perspective.
Witness the following example from Las Tres Ratas (l94u):

"Guayaquil, en las horas tempranas, tiene

la apariencia de un juguete. Casitas de todos

colores, mal pintadas por la mano torpe de un

nino, pequenos tranvias, poca gente por las

esquinas, e1 brillo de un asfalto nuevito, y

aquel negro de alta cabeza que retorna a su

albergue empujando la carreta vacia de tortillas

calientes.

Ha comenzado el chisme en la cocina. La

candela y el cuento abrasan las mejillas. Y

por un zaguan entreabierto, la joven sirvienta

de la casa grande platica, muy coqueta, con el

panadero. Adosado a un estante, un chiquillg

periodiquero aprende lecciones de amor. ..." l

The emphasis is on human presence. The colors of
the houses are not important for themselves, but because they
were put on by a child's hand. The black vendor is as
intrinsic to the scenery as the newly paved street. Pareja
Diezcanseco seems fascinated by the manner in which masses
of humanity are able to congregate in one area and remain
individuals, that each can think about and pursue goals
important only to him. A simple flirtation, as in the above

example is important to only the-people involved. In

'[13

Muelle: "... comienzan a escucharse las campanas que llaman

a misa. ... van saliendo viejitas ... que caminan despacio

"62

y mueven los labios secos.... He notices beauty in

157

everyday things.

in the author's earlier novels much of the interaction
between characters is to show how those representing the
lower classes are abused by those from the upper classes,
like the businessman who uses the poor ghgla in El Muelle
to satisfy his sexual appetites, or the priest in La Beldaca
who refuses to baptize a child until he is guaranteed pay-
ment.63 However, beginning in Don Balon de Baba, and con-

tinuing in Hombres Sin Tiempo and Las Tres Ratas there is

 

a steady shift in emphasis away from use of characters to
demonstrate social ills toward creation of complex charac-
ters, and examination of psychology. Consequently, Pareja
Diezcanseco's technique is less characterized by dialogue
and action than his colleagues', especially in these later
novels. sing the third person, he interprets the charac-
ters' psychology, as in the following illustration from Las
Tres Ratas:

"Eugenia no lloraba ya. Mordiase los labios
; ajustaba las manos sudorosas. ... Pesabale
extraordinariamente la cabeza. Miraba a todos
lados como esperando un golpe. Se contemp15 en
el espejo, desencajada ... Trat6 de pensar algo
concreto: no pudo. ... Cerr6 los ojos, vi6 manos
rojas amenazantes que se tendian hacia su garganta...
Temblorosa, los abrio ... y los fij5 en el espejo.
... 3Qu§ hielo en la piel! gY cuanto ardor en
los ojos! Dese6 gritar ... Si pudiera pensar,
si pudiera concretar alguna cosa... Densas nubes
pasaron por sus miradas bobas. De repente, las
fiio en la re isa... Un frasco estaba alJI. Decia
'lrudano' y m s abajo 'veneno'. Se levant5 ... de

158

ur solo golpe. Lo tomoxxniambas manos, trooé

los labios en ugi mueca y trago lo que restaba

del contenido.”

Between E1 Muelle and Las Tres Ratas there is
an evolution in Pareja Diezcanseco's style. The character-
istics of the later novels are also those of the earlier
ones, but the emphasis changes. He becomes progressively
less dependent on dialogue and action as he builds his
characters, or tells a story. Even in the earlier novels,

the‘characters' words and actions serve primarily to comple-

ment or reinforce the authors' description. The following is

 

a scene from 91 Muelles

”--5Todavia no hay qué comer?

--Ya mismito esta.

--5Y que has hecho, pues, en toda la mafiana?

--Es que buscando empleo se me paso el tiempo.

...

-—Pero has debido regresar mas temprano. ...
Es una vaina. ;Ya para nada sirve tener mujer!

--Ya mismito esta listo, Juan. Estoy virando
la carne.

Esto venia ccurriendo a diario y la tristeza de
Maria del Socorro se iba endureciendo. Ya lloraba
menos, pero sentia una gran decepcion. Nunca
su Juan se port6 de ese modo. Empezo a sentir
rabia contra 61 y contra todo. Sinti6 cggos.
Sequramente se trataba de otra mujer...”

The author uses dialogue here to introduce descriptive
interpretation of the character's thoughts. Sometimes he uses
it to climaz description. It can also he a way of heightening
the action, or increasing its pace. The language and vocabu-
lary are always appropriate to the people using them, whether

it is the cholo's simple, direct, and colloquial speech or

159

the bombastic rhetoric of the intellectual and quixotic

Don Balon de Baba.66

 

As one studies these six novels, he realises the
author must have undergone a change in both artistic and
personal attitude between the publication of the first
(1933) and the last (19uu). By the time he wrote Don Ba16n
de Rana heavy attention to the psyChology of the main
character showed clearly that artistic consideration took
precedence over social preoccupation.67 In Hombres Sin
Tiemno the exposition of social problems was incidental
“noexamination of the protagonist's mind. In Las Tres Ratas
the most important consideration was an absorbing story about
three sisters.68 The author seemed to have found more
satisfaction in the development of his artistic ability
than the use of his work as a vehicle to campaign openly
for social change. After Las Tres Ratas he temporarily
stopped writine novels. When he began again his allegiance
was first to art. However, while he never ignored art for
thesis es a young writer, in his maturity he did not ignore

69

thesis Por art.

160

Adalberto Ortiz

 

One wonders when reading Adalberto Ortiz' Juygnsg
whether he is studying a poet writine a novel or a
novelist who writes poetry.7O There is a pervading
lyricism throushout the work. Since his novel is aimed
essentially at depicting the harsher realities of life
for the Ecuadorian Black, he does not attempt to make
every page a prose poem. However, he has the capacity
to add poetic and rhythmic dimensions to the Black as he
rerceives him. He portrays beauty in his existence in
the tropical forests, where he has a relationship with
the environment that is similar but not identical to that
of the rural ghglg and montuvio. For Ortiz, the Black
remains separate from other socio-ethnic types. He
interprets him as proud and independent, which reminds
one of a twentieth century version of the "noble savage".
His protagonist is the Ecuadorian Black's novelistic
symbol. As he attempts to portray his telluric roots,71
the author uses poetic paragraphs to introduce the chap-
ters that deal with the protagonist's life. He calls
these introductory paragraphs "Oido y Ojo de la Selva".

In them he describes the physical and emotional setting for
the coming chapter. The following example is typical:

"El crepfisculo va estrechando, estrechando.
La noche oprime, y lo hace santiguar. Entre las

161

ondas caracolearon redondos cinco pejes—
eagua sin sangre. ... Entre 1a sombra de los
man¢les, chapoteo un caimén durante el aguaje
grande, y hrillando, agitandose, salieron los
peces, sorprendidos troZos de luna blanca. La
india no quiso juyungo porque los mucrtos ‘
vuelven con hambre. Y juyunso es el malo,
juyungo es el mono, juyungo es el diablo,
juyungo es el negro. Pero no eran melones
sino talamhos venenosos los que caian de vez
en cuando sobre las charcas tibias ... Y el
montuvio gonzo, adelante, con el poder de su
macumha." “

Application of well chosen similes and metaphors,
and attention to movements and colors in nature, show the
author's appreciation for the aesthetic beauty of the
environment. The repetitive allusions to the indian
girl's bias against the "juyungo" contrast with the nearly
heroic image of the "montuvio congo", which suggests the
Rlack is not an integral part of the Ecuadorian coast.
in the chapter itself, Ortiz treats on a more prosaic
‘~vel the effect of these elements on'fiuaprotagonist's
life. Tn this case he tells how he leaves home and lives
among the Cayapa indians,73 where he is tolerated but not
accepted into the community. The following example is a
conversation between the protagonist and the Cayapa chief:

"--Tfi, compadre chiquito, gustandome. Tfi,
sariendo numeros, gno? Yo, necesitandote, aqui.

Esta invitacion le regocijo, y sali5 corriendo
... a1 cementerio ... adonde ... los indies ...

Sohre los tfimulos ... depositaban ... comestibles. ...
--;Por que dejan esa comida alli, eufiado
Francisco? ,
--Parientes saliendo de la tumha, con hambre,
do noche ...

162

--5Y si yo me llego a mori, me pondrén también
mi comida?

El hombre quedose pensativo antes de responder,
pero luego dijo con cierta soberbia primitiva ...

--No.7uDonde entierra cayapa, no entierra
Juyungo.”

Tn spite of the Cayapa indians' reservations toward
him, in Juyungo the Black is is much a natural and intrinsic
part of the environment of Esmeraldas as are the native
flora and fauna. He may be a relative latecomer, but he
has adapted totally to the Ecuadorian tropics. As the
author describes the physical environment, he stresses the
Black is an omnipresent element. Witness the following
description of a river:

"El rio viene de arriba, el rio va para

abajo: viajero de oro, de plata, do barro, de

vidrio: crespo como un zambo, liso como un cholo:

callado, manso triste; bullanguero, encabritado,
hambriento all 3 siempre diferente, sin cansancio,
pleno de alma. Es una prolongada risa de negro

en el rostro oscuro de la manigua."7)

Ortiz could he describing the Black as well as a
river. Comparisons to the zambo and cholo indicate he
shares some of their characteristics. References to
conflicting emotions and occasional hunger could also
describe him. The final metaphor underscores lyrically
the idea of fusion between man and nature.

Ortiz constructs his,protagonist from boyhood through

manhood. During his maturation, the author has him perform

difficult tasks, to give a panorama of life in Esmeraldas.

163

As a child, he must aid his family's survival by gathering
food that grows wild. While still a boy he joins two
smugglers and travels the rivers of the region. During
his youth he lives among the Cayapa indians, In his
early manhood he has several love affairs. He falls in
love and lives with a white woman, who bears him a child.
He works as a day laborer, a woodcutter, and at other manual
occupations. At one point he rebels against representatives
of injustice in the social structure. He commits violent
crimes and must go into hiding. Finally, he joins the
Ecuadorian army and fights against foreign invaders. The
stages in his life represent collectively the conflicts,
struggles, and characteristics the author perceives in
the negro esmeraldefio. Poverty, race, and social abuse
are bared. Traits of hard work, pride,.dilligence, and
patriotism are made obvious. Moreover, the protagonist's
experiences are silhouetted consistently against the back-
eround of the coastal tropics. The most essential elements
of the Elack are incarnated in the protagonist of Juyyngo.
Tn this sense, he is a symbol.

However, he is also an individual. Although
he earns his livins primarily by performing manual labors,
he is portrayed as a sensitive and intelligent person.
The author constructs his psychology carefully and thoroughly.

Everythins he experienCes is described from the perspective

léu

of its effect on him mentally. In the following illustration

he begins to feel resentment against the white men who are

exploiting him and other Blacks in a labor camp:

"El remanente de odio que para los blancos
conservaba, tornaha a removerse. Seria capaz de
acabar con todos los blancos del campamento.
gY despues? Bueno, el monte siempre es grands
y el 10 conocfa. aPero no era blanca, también,
la piel de su mujer? Si, pero era su mujer.

Y si Diaz, que era casi un blanco, cstuviera
presents, 510 mataria? No, eso era diferente.

.76

Constantly, this character ponders and reexamines

the meaning of his experiences. He never acts purely

out of instinct. Even his most violent deeds are the

result of careful consideration.

Similar to Pareja Diezcanseco, Ortiz uses dialogue

primarily as a complement to his own descriptive interpreta-

tion of the characters' psychology or the action of the

story.

The dialogue is accurately colloquial.77 Here the

protagonist decides to join some smugglers on the river

because his father has beaten him:

"--&Andas perdido? --averigu6 el curcuncho.

“"NO .

--5Tienes padre?

Iba a decir sf, pero como aun le dolian los
golpes brutales de Gumersindc, quien lo abandonara
inconsciente en el monte, a su propia suerte ...
respondié con viveza.

--No, no tango. Soy guacharo.

--Ma10 ' "18.10 a

Una idea lo atraves5 como relampago. Si,
eso es lo que debia hacer: no mis culebras sin
cabeza y rabo, ni lao. ... No mas cabezota de
la prefiada ni bubas del viejo. No mas hambruna
ni pales. ... 7

--;Me quiere lleva, con uste, sefio?"

165

The dialogue alone does not give the complete picture
of the boy's desire to leave home. Ortiz must explain
his thoughts through descriptive interpretation.

The author also teats secondary characters as
individuals. The protagonist's white wife, or his educated
and lish-skinned mullato friend, are people whose psychology
is exposed primarily through the effect of their experiences.
Even some toroitry characters are depicted through their
thoughts. When the white man who holds title to an island
whose inhabitants he wishes to expel learns two of his
accomplices have been found hacked to death, he thinks:
"gQuien serIa el criminal de tanta safia? gone barbaro!

No podia ser mas que un negro, y de fijo, alfiuno de Pepepan.
Pcro bien dicen que no hay mal que por bien no venga."79

The author misses the mark in creation of the great
symbol of the Ecuadorian Black with Juyunso. His combina-
tion of the lyrical with the prosaic is an innovative
approach to portray the relation of the characters to
their telluric background. However, both the poetic
introductions and descriptions of thoushts use language
and syntax too refined and polished to be congruous with
the unschooled people the characters represent. As
Uriel Ospina has declared: "... a pesar de un cierto aire
natural, no as natural. Es forzado, elaborado, de efectos

80

perscsuidos." The protagonist is too contemplative to

166

be an accurate symbol of the esmeraldefio. In the following
illustration he has learned some white bus': es::man have bur
hit home. His child was burned to death and his wife has
gone mad:

"Si AscensiSn Lastre era una hombre de sentimi-
entos, staba poco dis puesto a desencadenar escenas
tristas que le revelaran esta 1ndole. Peor ahora
que se habia ido endureciendo al temple de la vida.
kl sabia, por haberle visto u o1do, que estar loco
es como estar muerte. Y sus dos difuntos queridos
lo llevaban a enfrentar lo irreparable, con una gran
Fuerza estoica. Estaba convencido de que todo el
hien, 8610 se lo merecen los seres Vivientes. Un
difunto siempre le importo poca cosa en 31. Pero
equi no era el hecho de la muerte, sino also que que-
daba pendiente, also inhergnte a su condici .on de

juyungo As cension La stre. "

Although a capacity for introspection is generally
characteristic of the lower class social inhabitant in the
novels of the "Grupo de Guayaquil", Ortiz' protagonist
culls matters over too thorouehly. He looks at them from
too mary perspectives. Rather than representing the bulk
of the population throu h his thought processes, he borders
on beins an irtellectual.

Nonetheless, one does finish the novel with a compre-
hension of the Black and his native Esmeraldas. He has a
panoramic view of his life; he sees the different ways he
earns his livelihood, what he does for d version, his
'rter-rela tionship with the natural environment, his beliefs

and superstitions. While the protasonist is most preoccupied

with examining andeiIEQtinfiifieiIrlationship with white

167

people, he does the same with the indian and other

”lzcks. There are scenes of social abuse, hut they ar“
no different from others in the novels of the "Grupo

do Cuayaquil". The social message is only secondary.
Ortiz tries to ine a lyrical hut realistic portrayal

of his native region and the people in it. He is only
pertihlly successful, for his greatest accomplishment

is the penetratin" hut unrealistic portrayal of one Black.

Livo “hriQHe Gil Gilbert's Nuestro Pen, the sum of Juyuneo

 

does net +‘ulfill the promise of its components.

168

Conclusions

As artists. the members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
are not uniformly successful. De la Cuadra and Aguilera
Malta hit upon the most happy formulas for the artistic
depiction of social realism. for they best succeed in
creating symbols of the montuvio and choloI Gallegos
Lara, Gil Gilbert. and Ortiz have some unevenness in the
assembly of their novels' components. which results in
faulty finished products. Pareja biezcanseco's work begins
with novels whose potential for social symbolism becomes
obscured by concentration on the construction of characters
as individuals, and the telling of interesting stories.
It evolves to novels that derive their strength from portrayal
of psychology.

The authors share certain characteristics. Each
balances artistic with social conscience. No novel can be
dismissed as a social document. Their technique emphasizes

the importance of the human elements.82

as they interact
both with each other and with the environment. In thepor-
trayal of lower class characters they stress the use of
colloquial language and syntax.83 They are careful to
avoid stereotyping their characters. through emphasis on

individual characteristics.81+

The most enduring feature of the "Grupo de Guayaquil's"

work is the keen and poignant sense of beauty in the portrayal

159

of life in the coastal tropics. L is Alberto Sanchez
characterized the Ecuadorian novel of this period as having
an "ajrc de tragico objetivismo, de hasta goce con el
dolor"85. He failed to recognize the lyrical qualities

the coastal writers often achieved as they recreated

their homeland and its people in their novels. In spite

of the characters' cruelty to each other, hardships. or

even brutality and bloodletting, the aesthetic beauty

at their day to day coexistence, personal triumphs and
tragedies, and intimacy with the surroundings, are constantly
present. While the "Grupo dc Guayaquil" was deeply committed

to the depiction of society and its problems, it was no

less committed to art.

NOTES
CHAPTER IV.

1. See Introduction, notes 6 and 7. Commentaries
by Finrique Anderson Imbert and Arturo Torres Rioseco.

2. This refers to the "nficleo do la sierra" of novel-
ists in Fcuador, whose renowned member is Jorge Icaza.
The novels by Icaza and his highland contemporaries were
more oriented to thesis than art.

3. Joyce Cary, "Como se es crihe una novela", in
t‘rrique i'ribc White, La Novela enGOncrfl. y la Colombians
en Particular (Boqota: Ediciones Lerner, 19597. p. 83.

A. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cien Anos de So].edad
Ruenos Aires: Ed. Sudamericana, 1969), pp. 33“- 35. Here
is a reference to a case of incest.

Mario Vargas Llosa, La Ciudadgy los Perros
(Parcclona: Ed. Seix Barral, 19687, p. 167. The reference
here is to the murder of a military cadet.

The intent is only to illustrate that contemporary
writers deal with aspects of reality that some readers
might consider harsh. There is no implication these authors'

narrative technique parallels that of the Guayaquil writers.
Nonethrless, the content of social treatment, violence, and
oven sex that is found often ir contemporary Spanish American
novels is also the basic content of the Ecuadorian novels

of the thirties.

 

E. The es.scncc of this literaryrevolutionis the
depiction of social reality in an artistic way. In their
effort to balance social thesis with artistic finesse, the
Ecuadorian writers were similar to today's writers in the
"boom H .

6. See Introduction, Note 20. Fernando Alegria
declared categorically that the Guayaquil writers of the
thirties were precursive to the writers of the "boom",
that they were among the firs t of a series of novelists
whose "estética so basa en la realidad social". December
28,1971. Seminar 41 of the meeting of the Modern Language
Association in Chicago.

7. Tose de la Cuadra, Cuasinton, 'n Obras Completas
(Quito: Gas a dc la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958), p. 52h.

Q. De la Cuadra, Guasinton, p. 528.

 

170

171

0. De la Cuadra, Cuasinton, p. 52?.
TO. De la Cuadra, Quasinton, pp. 525-26.

11. Jorse r.nrique Adoum in Tosé de la Cuadra, Obras

Completas. Tntroduction to Guasinton, p. 518.
Adoum says: "Tosefidel la Cuadra proyecta ... su

sentido do penetracion y analisis hacia un ser no humano,
y losrn croar un personaje animal, omnipres ente en el relato,
que cautiva por ... sus habitos, pres entados o inventados
por el autor, y do los que se vale para darnos ... e1 ambiente
do la Costa ecuatoriana."

 

12. Ferna ndo Aleg.r1a, Breve Historia de la Novela
Wisptnonmericana (Mexico: Ed. de Andrea, 19657, p. 267.
Alegria calls de la Cuadra's Los Saneurimas
”precursora del moderno tremendismo espanol". De la Cuadra
began work on this novel in 1931, although it was not published
until 193”.

 

 

 

l?. Benjamin Carrifin, El Nuevo Relate Ecuatoriano (Quito:
Casa do la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 19587, p. 125.

Carrion dolcares that:

"Acaso la hisperbolica afirmacion de quienes han
llesado a decir que de la Cuadra es un formidable prosista,
... un estilista cabal, no se dan cuenta de ue la cos a es
otra: adecuacion sorprendente de la eXpresi n a1 tema,
losrado realis mo en las palabras us adas por los personajes
..., ohzw ervacion minuciosa y trasliteracion fiel del idioma
hablado al idioma es crito. Sin el rebuscamiento de quien
tiene en sus manos algo ajeno, y que le da las vueltas, hasta
encontrarle excelencias o defectos. Con la sencillez de
quien manoja lo suyo: del montuvio que habla en montuvio."

 

1a. José de la Cuadra. Los Sansurimas, in Obras Com-
pletas, p. #56.

 

 

15. De la Cuadra, Ios Sangurimas, p. #95.
This reference is to a case of incest, where one
of Nicasio Sangurima' 8 sons, 8 coronel, lives with a daughter.

 

16, De la Cuadra , Los Sanggrimas, pp. 509-10.

17. Kessol Schwartz, "José de la Cuadra", Revista
Theroamerieana, Vol. 22, p. 101.

Schwartz declares: "Los caracteros no son repre-
sentantes del hombre-mass, y no se trata simplemente do tipos
como el indie, el cholo, o los de 'arriba' contra los dc
'ahajo'."

 

I72

18. De la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, p. #84.

19. De la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, p. #92.

 

20. De la Cuadra, Los Sangurimas, p. 515.

 

21. The significance of the title of Los Monos Enlogue-
cidos is open to speculation. The most probable meaning is
what it implies literally, since the story deals with trained
monkeys. However, another possible interpretation is based
on the practice of the hinhland people in Ecuador of calling
those who live on the coast "monos". Since the novel is un-
finished, it is impossible to give a categorical interpreta-
tion.

22. De la Cuadra, Los Monos Enloquocidos, in Obras
Completas, p. 668.

 

 

23. De la Cuadra, "Advenimiento literario del Montuvio,"
in Obras Completas, p. 963.

an. Joaquin Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua
(Guayaquil: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, lQuBT, p. 133.

 

25. Jorge Guerrero, "Las Cruces Sobre el Agua", Letras
del Ecuador, Nos. 17-18 (Nov. de 19h6), p. 24.

26. Gallesos Lara, Las CrucesgSobre el Agua, pp. 207-08.
27. Gallesos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 19.
29. Callesos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, pp. 176-77.

?9. Cristobal Garcés Larrea, "Las cruces sobre el agua,"
Tetras del Ecuador, No. 15 (Agosto de l9U6), p. 16.

1o. Callesos Lara, Las Crucms Sobre el Agua, p. 207.
In this reference the military breaks a strike
by shooting unarmed people.

 

31. Gallegos Lara, Las Cruces Sobre el Agua, p. 200.

32. Sidney Finkelstein ExistencialismogypAlienacion
en la Literatura Americana (M xico: Ed. Grijalbo, 1967),
pp. ita-Tm.
Although Finkelstein bases his discussion on
North Americ1n literature, the matter of class alienation
is applicable to the novels of this study. He notes:

173

"... bajo el capitalismo lleqa a su colmo la
alienaci5n. ...

.0.

No es s5lo e1 trabajador indue trial quien sufro
alienaci5n. ...

Tambion cl capitalists sufro alieoaci5n. No
pucdo vivir como un ser humano on rclaei5n eon otros, salvo
en el sentido mfis limitado. Ante todo, queda alienado
respecto do sus trabajadores."

33. Donald D. Walsh, “'Nucstro Pan' d? Enrique Gil
Gilbert," Letras del Ecuador, No. 2 (Abril de l9u5), p. 10.
Walsh is impressed by "... la maestria con que
lnriquo Gil sabe monejar un caracter con muy pocas lineaS ..."

 

3M. Enrique Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan (Guayaquil: Ed.
Cervantes, 1968), pp. IOB-Ofl.

 

35. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p.5u,

36. Curios a social gathering of writers and critics
in Guayaquil in July, 1970, at which Gil Gilbert was present,
the conversation revolved around the thirties and forties,
and the spirit of discussion and polemic that was important
to the Guayaquil novelists. At one point, Nuestro Pan was
the topic of conversation. When the matter cf characteriza-
tion in the novel was discussed, Gil Gilbert said very emphati-
cally: "39s que yo soy montuvio'”, which indicates his identi-
fication with his characters.

77. Oil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 29.

t

 

39. Angel F. Roja.s, La Novela P‘cuatoriena (H5xico:
Fondo dc CUItnra Ticon5mica, 19h8), p. 190.
Rojas states that Gil Gilbert "... es un ... altisimo
poota cuando hace su obra en prosa. ... Tiene ... un fuerte
entimiento del paisaje. Las pasinas que ... dedica al am-
hiente de la selva tropical o a la descripci5n de las tarcas
campc sioas son antol5gicas. Re bosan fuerza lirica."

 

39. Gil Gilbert, Nuestro Pan, p. 86.

#0. Benjamin Carri5n, El Nuevo Roloto Ecuatoriano, p. 99.
Carri5n states: "El paisage y el hombre estan
conjusados en tal forma que constituyen una totalizaci5n
ambientol insuperable.’

174

Ml. Aguilera Malta, La Tsls Virsen (Guaya uil; Vera
y Cia., 1992), p. 112. See Chapter 111., Note 1 . This

reference is to the fight between Guayamabe and a tigre.

#2. Aguilera Malta, Don GoVo (Madrid: Ed. Cenit, 1933).

...—“IL.—

43, Aguilera Malta, La Isla Virgen, p. 74.

an. Aguilera Malta is also one of Ecuador's more
successful dramatists.

H5. Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, p. 11.
R6. Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, p. 86.
M7. Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, p. 187.}
r . Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, p. 20b.

U9. Aguilera Malta, Don Go 0, pp. 122-23.

50. In the second edition of Don Goyo (Buenos Aires:
Fd. Platina, 1958) the author does not preserve the fidelity
of the dialogues to the extent of recreating the mispronuncia-
tion of the cholos. He modifies the orthography, no longer
writing "ujtede" for "ustedes", for example.

51. Aguilera Malta, La Isla Virgen, p. 102;

52. Aguilera Malta, La Isla Virgen, p. 36.

' 53. Benjamin Carrion, in Pareja Diezcanseco, E] Muelle
(Mexico: Ed. Tezontle, 1945), p. 9.

 

5M. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Balon de Baba (Buesnos
Aires: Club del Libro, 1939). p. 86.

55. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Balon de Baba, p. 102.

 

56. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Balon de Baba, p. 297.
See Chapter III., Note 27. In this reference Don
Balfin is rejected by the workers at a trade union meeting.

57. Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera (Santiago de Chile:
Ercilla, 1938), p. 9.

 

iii ‘III.
III!

175

58. Benjamin Carrion, in Pareja Diezcanseco, El Muelle,
. 19.

 

T3

Carri6n says that: "... Pareja ... se da cuenta
do que Marine ... no es el 'malo', en contraposicion a e1
'hueno' do los novelones. Por eso ... Pareja no trata con
indignacion dramatica a este su don Angel Merino, sino que
lo fuetea de ironfa, no lo voltea por los cuatro costados
del ridicule ..."

59. Pareja Diezcanseco, E] Muelle, p. 132.
60. Pareja Diezcanseco, Baldomera, p, 9,

6l. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Tres Ratas (Buenos Aires:
Losada, l9u4). p. “a.

 

62. Pareja Diezcanseco, El Muelle, p. 116.

 

63, Pareja Diezcanseco, EL MUEllea FD- 69'63'
Also La Reldaca (Santiaso de Chile: Ercillfl. 1935):

 

 

r. 47.

6“. Pareja Diezoansoco, Las Tres Patas, pp, 51-52.

 

65. Pareja Diezcanseco, E1 Muelle, p. 50.

 

66. Pareja Diezcanseco, Don Balon de Baba, p. 297.

 

This is the same reference as note 56. Also see
Chapter III., Note 27. The quotation is found on p. 91 of
this studv.

67. Benjamin Carrion, in Pareja Diezcanseco, El Muelle,
pp. 9-10.

 

Even in Pareja Diezcanseco's first successful novel,
during thn most "militant" period of his career, Carri6n noted
that:

"Alfredo Pareja no cree que la militancia social,
que la predica partidaria, deben hacer del arte un instrumento
de propaganda."

68. Rojas, La Novela Ecuatoriana, p. l97.

Rojas states categorically that Pareja is "... el
novelists que, en cl Ecuador, mejor domina el oficio. ...
Tres hermanas son los personajes principalcs, sobresaliendo
la sequnda ... que consigue ser, sin duds, una de las mejores
creaciones de este autor."

176

6G. Pareja Diezcanseco's contemporary work will be
discussed in the concluding chapter of this study.

7G. Ortiz is one of Ecuador's leadins poets. In fact,

when he entered 1 social sathering of writers and critics

ir Guayaquil in Tuly, 1970, he was greeted as "el poeta".
His collections of poetry include: TierraLVSon_y Tambor
(“gxieo: F‘ds. Ia Cisarrs, 1944): Camino y Puerto de la
insusti" (Mexico: pd.ls1a, 1945: 2nd. ed. Guayaquil:

Ga.a dc la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1953): E1 Vigilante Insepulto
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957): and El Inimal
Herido (Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 195917'

 

7l. Gilberto Gonzalez y Contreras, "La an stia escondida
do Adalberto Grtiz," Letras dclh Ecuador, No. 11 Feb.--Marzo
dG 19U6), p. 9.

This critic states: "... en 'Juyungo', mas que

lne seros mismos imports el mundo en que se mueven ... . El
aut5nticop erotasonista es la selva, la isla y el rio y
las fuerza: endosenas y ex5genas que intervienen para la
erranizsci5n de su tect5nica.

( 72. Adalberto Ortiz, Juygngo (Guayaquil: Cervantes,
.1.) )Q)' p. '10.

73. The cayapa indians, along with the Colorados of
the resins around Ganto Domingo, are the only rimitive
tribes that survive today in Ecuador's coastal tropical
rainforcst.

7U. Ortiz, Ju nso, pp. 25-26.
Chapter II. of Tuyungo deals wiih this episc ode
in the protagonist's life.

75. Ortiz, Juyungo, p. ll.

 

7G. Orti 5, Ju un o, p. 105,
?7. Uriel Ospina, Problemas Perspectiva, de la Novela
5.3-.12393 (Bosotfi Tercer Mundo, 101'7: pp, 9H_05.

Uriel G spina criticises the use of localis .s in the
Spanish American novel, pointins out that it limits the public
that can understand and appreciate them. He cites Ortiz as
one of ttc Chief examples.

7Q. Ortiz, Ju n'o, p. 16.

7Q. Ortiz, Ju unao, p. 251.

177

80. Uriel GSpina, Problemas y Perspeptivas de la Novela
Americagg, p. 76.

91. Ortiz, Ju n o, p. 236.

82. Luis Alberto Sanchez, Proceso y Contenido do Is
Novela Hispano-Americana (Madrid: Gredos, 1939), pp. 320-21.
Sanchez claims that the novels of the "Grupo de
Guayaquil" are amons the best in Spanish America' for the
combination of human with natural elements.

83. Carlos Fuentes, La Nueva Novela Hispanoamericana

(M5xico: Joaquin Moritz, 19697] p. 30. fl

Fuentes says that "... Latinoamerica se siente
urnida de una profanaci5n que d5 voz a cuatro siglos de
lenguaje secuestrado, marginal, desconocido. Esta resurrecci5n
del lenpuaje perdido exige una diversidad de exploraciones
verbales que, hoy por hoy, es uno de los sinnos de salud a
la novela latinoamericana."

The writers from the Ecuadorian coast are active
in this "resurrecci5n del lenguaje".

8“. Uriel Ospina, Problemas y Perspectivas de la Novela
imericana, p. 16?.

Ospina syas that the latin american socio-ethnie
types "son gentes de valor y de una fuerza sicol5gicos que
afin no se han visto como ellas mercen verse en la América
Latina. ... Afin no se ha sondeado con cuidado su alma."

The writers in the "Grupo de Guayaquil" may not
have achieved the highest expression possible of théir native
socio-cthnic types, but they certainly made significant steps
in that direction, especially in the work of de la Cuadra
and Aguilera Malta.

95. Sanchez, Proceso y Contenido de la Novela Hispano-
Americana, p. 595.

CHAPTER V .
THE LEGACY OF THE "GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"
AND THE CONTEMPORARY NOVELS

Two principal questions remain to be dealt with in
this study: What did these novelists accomplish in their
drive for social reform? What did they leave as their
legacy for the Ecuadorian novel?

The most the writers could hope to accomplish with
respect to social conditions was to point out the problems,
to "denunciar y protestar”. By dramatization of unpleasant
aspects in Ecuadorian society, and through creation of sym-
pathy for characters representing those who suffered most,
they hoped to awaken public indignation over a situation
that may have been largely ignored by people with power
to correct it. Adalberto Ortiz has affirmed that "... los
gobiernos y las clases dirigentes se despertaron a la
realidad que los rodeaba."1

However, the depiction of some aSpects of Ecuadorian
reality by these six writers may have had a negative
effect. The frequent emphasis in the novels on violence
and sex, may have overstepped "el buen gusto” for a part of
their public. These elements may have offended the literary
tastes of some who could have otherwise been allies for social
reform. Nith regard to this matter Edmundo Ribadeneira declared:

"... la literatura no puede precisamente cambiar la sociedad.

178

179

... aur la novela mas realista y mas virulenta siempre sera
. . . 2 . . .
propia de un genero de f1c016n." In his opinion, many
people at whom the writers directed their criticism did
not see themselves through the novels: businessmen did not
identify with Angel Marine of Pareja Diezcanseco's E1 Muelle,
for example. They read the novels more for diversion than
enlightenment. Nonetheless, even these readers were made
aware of the social situation from the perspective of those
at the bottom. For the members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
making people think about problems was the first step toward
solution.

While the writers did not attempt to bring about social
change directly, it seems their novels did add to an acceler-
ating movement toward reform. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco
evaluates his generation's achievements through its literature
as follows:

"... artisticamente, como novela si. Como logro

social en el pais, no. ... Clare que hay un

progreso. Hay una serie de mejoras, ... de

reformas, pero esas novelas aparte de su valor

que pueden tener como novelas, tienen el de

documentos también ... Un investigador de la

realidad ecuatoriana, sociologica, tiene que 3

leer estas novelas para completar su informacion."’

While Pareja Diezcanseco admits the novels he and
his friends wrote during the thirties and forties could be

used as "social documents", he refers only modestly to

their "valor ... como novelas". The "Grupo de Guayaquil"

1.0

was in the forefront of a novelistic revolution in Ecuador.
Perhaps the surest indicator of a successful revolution is
that after the initial period of "storm and stress”, its
ideals become institutionalized. The institutions are

then refined; the revolution becomes a process of evolution.
Their ideals were social commentary on the one hand and
novelistic art on the other. They achieved the first through
dramatic portrayal of the components of their society and

of the struggle between them. They reached the second by
experimentation with and development of artistic techniques
they felt depicted most effectively the human essence of

the cholos, montuvios, and Blacks. When the six writers

were intact as a literary group, they pursued both ideals
equally. Among the surviving members of the group who still
are writing novels actively, the latter ideal has come to the
fore. The interpretation of society remains in evidence.
However, its interpretation is reaching artically for a higher
plane. The ideals of the "Grupo de Guayaquil's" revolution
have become institutionalized, and those institutions are in
process of refinement.

Pareja Diezcanseco criticized a younger Ecuadorian
novelist for imitating the literary manner of the thirties
and the forties; "... para esos afios y esas edades, no estaba
mal; pero también te agregaria que la literatura es mucho

mas que potencia y vigor, o denuncia y protesta."u The

181

novels Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, Demetrio Aguilera Malta,
and Adalberto Ortiz have written since that time may be
offered as proof these last representatives of the "Grupo
de Guayaquil" believe in that statement.

Most of the elements of their novels of the early
years are still present. There are scenes shocking in
violence or eroticism. Poor characters are exploited by
rich ones. The essential components of society consist
of the same people, and the physical and "spiritual" environ-
ments are of obvious importance.

However, there are shifts in emphasis. The scenario
is no longer limited to the Ecuadorian coast. In some
novels the action takes place in Quito, while in others it
occurs in a symbolic location that could be nearly any
Latin American nation. There is a more pronounced trend
away from seeing society in terms of "black and white":
there is a tendency to examine the intermediate shades.

The Ecuadorian historical process is no longer used as
proof of social injustice. It is viewed primarily from the
perspective of its effect on the characters' psychologies.
Events of history are not so important as abstract under-
standing of how people affect their feelings toward one
another and their relationships with each other while they

make history, regardless of social and ethnic lines.

182

Finally, there is a bolder tendency toward technical experi-
mentation. With the more complex goals of the novels, the

narrative technique has become correspondingly more complex.

Demetrio Aguilera Malta

Although he has remained active artistically, since
_a Isla Virgen (1942) Aguilera Malta had not attempted
another novelistic interpretation of the Ecuadorian coast
until 1970. Then he published giete Lunasgy Siete Serpientes.
This new novel retains much of the ”flavor” of the earlier
ones. He continues to emphasize the telluric. His characters
are still products of a primitive and often savage environment,
struggles between man and his surroundings and between compo-
nents of society remain principal themes, and play between
fantasy and reality is in evidence more than ever.

However, the world he creates now is even more strange
than the one in Dgn Ggyg. As one reviewer has observed:

”... la novela ... linda con la literatura del

realismo magico. Las canoas son movidas por

quelonios: los animales trabajan al lado del

hombre: un Cristo quemado habla ...: una difunta

copulag se pacta con el demonic: resucitan los

muertos para participar en ceremonias rituales

y las serpientes quieren hacer el amor. ...”

Aguilera Malta utilizes elements of European, Indian,
and Black folklore, superstitions, and beliefs. He weaves

them into the fabric of the novel through the characters

and the events, in a juxtaposition of fantasy and reality.

183

Muck of the action takes place in the characters' minds.

While their thoughts are colored by references to the local
ambience, they are thoughts that could be found in people's
minds anywhere: of power, greed, lust, love, hate, and fear.

The novel's setting is a small town called Santorontén,
which reminds one of Garcia Marquez' Macondo. People trickle
in at first; a few fishermen, some laborers, a priest. Then
more come, until all society is represented. Conflicts and
friction appear. Interest groups develop. Soon the town
is divided into two camps, the exploiters and the exploited.
In addition, individuals who form these camps have personal
problems and concerns. Aguilera Malta succeeds in creating
the microcosm of life along the Ecuadorian coast, in the
whole of Spanish America, or in the world, depending on the
perspective from which the novel is considered.

Aguilera Malta's characters are no longer primarily
rural socio-ethnic types. While poor cholos, montuvios, and
Blacks have not disappeared, the military, the church, big
business, and professionals are also represented. However,
they are surrounded by an aura of unreality that is more
appropriate of ”pure" fiction than of social thesis. Each
main character is distinct and unique from other members of

any group he may symbolize.

18“

For example, the military is represented by a coronel.
This one does not belong to any particular army, but could
represent military strongmen from all over Latin America.
He is a combination of pride, arrogance, brutality, and
sensuality. He goes after what he wants like a wild beast.
He destroys.any hindrance. His conduct is so animalistic he
becomes transformed into a caiman. In the following illustra-
tion he rapes a young girl, after having just murdered her
parents:

"... Mientras la muchacha se hundia en ...

la inconsciencia, se le subio encima. La cabalgo.

Después, metamorfosis del caim5n. Saltando en

trébol de corazas verdes. Arremolinandose contra

los arboles. Tumbandolos con la cola. Destrozando

e1 tronco con las fauces. Estriando la corteza

con las garras. El caiman esta loco. sAy de

la montana! xAy de las hojas: sz de los animales

minimos cuya aurora les estallo en las entranas!

... sAy del mundo que la pan6ptica del saurio ha116

en el agua! ... E1 caiman se ha vestido de lumbre

sangrienga. El caimfin esta loco. Esta loco el
caiman.”

Similar to those found in the work of Julio Cortazar
(such as in the short story Axglotl), Aguilera Malta's char-
acters are capable of having their thoughts and wishes
magically transformed into reality. However, that reality
remains interior. It exists only in the characters' minds.
Even when others perceive this coronel as a caiman, his
physical shape is altered for them alone. They see he acts
like a beast, and in their minds he becomes one. Although

the world in which this occurs is the ephemeral one of thought

185

and imagination, what happens within that context is indeed
real.

The coronel exists also in the perspective of ”exterior"
reality. He was an orphan, abandoned in his infancy on the
village priest's doorstep. Although there is an abiding love
between him and the priest, his nature is uncontrollable and
unruly. After a series of personality clashes with his foster
father, he leaves home, but not before setting fire to the
church. His life is characterized by attempts to bolster
his ego. He gathers a band of outlaws around him and becomes
a gggigpg‘ He has the personal discipline, power, and inclina-
tion to impose his will on society. Sometimes he fights for
a cause to help others, but often his violence is channeled
to flatter his pride. Here is an example of what he does
with his enemies:

”... Los enterraba vivos, ... con la diestra

de fuera. Ya bajo tierra ... agitaban esa

mano ... hasta sus filtimos estertores ag6nicos.

E1 coronel se agarraba el vientre de tanto.r$Ir.

LYa ves ... como ahora si me saludan? ...

The only challenge to the coronel's authority is
his foster father, the village priest. The relationship
between them is human and individual. They annoy each
other, become angry and forgive. The military man has a
personal and complex psychology. He debates his relation-

ship with other characters, and is obsessed by a specific

woman. The priest is a character created with equal care.

186

He is a man who has turned his humility, martyrdom, and
messianism into something mysterious, mythical, and mystic.
For him, the metamorphosis of his thoughts is a Christ

who descends from the cross. The Christ is created as

a separate character, but he is also the representation

of the priest's psychology. When in the end the coronel

is going to marry, the priest and the Christ debate whether
they should respond to the adopted son's pleas and partici-
pate in his wedding:

"--;Padrino! aPadrino!

Candida mir6 a Crista. Desolado. El Nazarene
desprendi6 sus brazos de la Cruz. Hizo ademan de
qué-quieres-que-te-diga. Después guifio un ojo,
malicioso. .

La voz parec16 crecer. Clamorosa. Desesperada.

--;Padrino! :Padrino!

Casi en contra de su voluntad, a su vez, grito:

--;Voy: 3Voy!

Y al Nazareno, con angustia:

--Ahora, Lqué hago?

--aAfin sigues dudandolo? Debes ir. 3E8 tu
ahijado!

Dolidg, reproch5:

--5Mio? 53510 mio? Cuando lo encontramos, gno
me convenciste de que se quedara en la iglesia?
aNo gozamos juntos con sus tempranas sonrisas?

LNo te alegraste igual que yo con sus primeros
juegos y palabras? aNo discutimos muchas veces
acerca de su porvenir? Es nuestro --tuyo y mIo--.
aNuestro ahijado!

--Bueno. aNuestro! Ya d jate de discursos.

Y vs a cambiarte de sotana."

The "Cristo Quemado" becomes a mythical figure for
the local people, separate from customary religious symbolism.
He is almost another idol, like those of indigenous or African

origin. He also represents a kind of imaginatively modern

187

mysticism. Through him there is a symbolic fusion of the
priest's Spirit with the divine.

Other main characters are similarly unique in their
personalities, whether they are a businessman who masks his
impotency with the accumulation of money, a girl whose trauma
over having been raped causes her to imagine she castrates
every man in town, or a physician whose lack of confidence
around real women allows him to become involved emotionally
only with those who can demand nothing of him, like the bare-
back rider in a circus or a cadaver in medical school. In
every case there is the mixture of fantasy with reality; the
play between interior and exterior reality.

While Aguilera Malta continues to create characters
who are symbols as well as individuals, his narrative tech-
nique has evolved. He retains the terse, dialogue-like
phrases in his descriptions, at times to the point of abuse,
and he uses dialogue extensively to underscore depiction
of psychology, as in the above example. However, now he
experiments with interior monologue. He uses this technique
to give an intimate view of a character as an individual,
which puts him on a plane in which one can empathize. A
physician remembers how as a young man he escaped other
people's personal demands on him by becoming a scholar:

”... los microinquisidores quisieron pulverizarte,
buscaste una salida. La Medicina. La Medicina

188

se te figur5 un hilo luminoso para escapar ...
Te pegaste a los libros. Como una ventosa. Te
asomaste a la Morgue fantasma fantasmal de otro
planeta. Fantasma cotidiano. La peripecia9de
los busturis result5 tu propia peripecia.“

A sensitive person's desire to escape others' demands
is not limited to coastal Ecuadorians. In another example
the author portray's the coronel's thoughts that pertain
to his relationship with his foster father, the village
priest:

"... El Padre Candida es muy hombre. ... Lo

que pasa es otra cosa. Al ser cura, se anud6

lo que sabemos. Y aunque a veces quisiera

desatarselo, ;se aguanta! Ese nudo lo tiene

para bien. Si no, estas islas se poblarian

de Mariscales. ... aClaro que es muy hombre

mi padrino! He visto encendérsele Ios ojos

cuando una hembra se le acerca. ;Se aguanta:

Cierra los ojos. Aprieta las manos. Y de

seguro, reza. sSe aguanta! ... No. No creo

que mi padrino sea mi padre. Aunque lo quiero

como si 10 fuera.r Es 1a finica luz que tengo

adentro. iAh! ;Si 51 me hubiera entendid8!

351 no me hubiera botado de su casa! ..."1

The coronel's admiration for the priest's stoicism
and his lamentation at having fallen out of favor with
him are thoughts anyone might have concerning someone with
whom they have an intimate relationship. In other instances,
a young girl questions her relationship with all men, or a
young priest debates his personal values and convictions.

In every case, the characters are also symbolic of elements
in society. Aguilera Malta succeeds through an imaginative

approach in combining local with universal significance.

189

However, Aguilera Malta's imaginative experimentation
is not limited to the depiction of psychology. He also ex-
periments with that of the reader. The novel is full of
bizarre scenes that dramatize secret thoughts, usually of
a violent or erotic nature. He tells each character's story
in a time sequence that is a chronological mosaic, in which
before he explains the motivation behind fantasies, he stuns
the senses with a scene that depicts them. One does not
know what is the reality until he is well into the novel.

By then he has been so inundated in the fantasy world.he

may be no longer certain of what is ultimately the most real,
the concrete events that are catalytic in the production of
the fantasies, or the fantasies themselves. One of the first
scenes depicts the erotic fantasy of a young girl who is

just reaching puberty. In her cultural background, there are
mythological beings called Tin-Tines who are supposed to be
instrumental in making women pregnant:

"... advirtio la llegada de dos Tin-Tines. ...

Con sus cabezas enormes ... Con sus ojos menudos

semillas de papaya. Sus labios abiertos ventosa

ambulante. Su cuerpo encogido. Sus brazos y

piernas fornidos. Dos Tin-Tines. Hechos 8610

de nervios, mfisculos y sexo. ... Se aproximaron.

Se detuvieron. Elevaron las chatas narices.

Olfatearon. ... Llegaron al pie de la casa. ...

Se observaron ... Los ojos les llamearon. Elevaron

la voz. Su tono se hizo airado. Sus ademanes,

coléricos. Casi en seguida, empezaron a golpearse

mutuamente. Cosa extrana 11. Se golpearon con
los miembros viriles. ...”

190

The reader does not realize this scene takes place
only in the girl's mind, until after he has read it. This
fantasy and others like it are told with as much detail as
more "conventional" scenes. They are told as if indeed they
did represent reality.

Although he approaches his material from a different
angle than in Don Goyg (1933) and La Isla Vi en, (l9h2) in
Siete Lunas y Siete Serpientes (1970) Aguilera Malta has
refined the technique of the earlier novels. Movement of
fantastic elements to a higher plane, de-emphasis of references
to native £193; and faunaI creation of characters who are symbols
of society's components from all levels, and elimination of
"localistic" vocabulary are main departures from previous
practice.

Nonetheless, the work retains a telluric flavor. One
never loses sight he is dealing with a novel that could be
only from Latin America. The characters' ethnic mixture
draws from the three principal races in that part of the world.
In some of the scenes of fantasy a character may turn into
a ggpg or a tigrg. It is clear the action takes place in a
tropical setting. The occasional mention of a plant, or a
tree, refers to a native variety.

Siete Lunas y Siete Serpientes appeals to a broad
public. The ”general" reader who seeks merely diversion

will find enough of the literarily marketable elements of

191

sex and violence to entertain him. The more sophisticated
one with an interest in history, sociology, or anthropology
will find it rewarding. The discerning student of literature
should appreciate Aguilera Malta's blending of modern

narrative techniques with regionalistic material.

AlfredQ_Pareja Diezcag§§£9_

 

Pareja Diezcanseco has been writing for a public
that is ever smaller in absolute numbers but broader in

extension.12

He appeals most to a relatively small elite
who can appreciate the high intellectual plane of his work.
However, this elite may be found in any part of the world.
None of his contemporary novels use the urban slum
as the principal setting, nor is the poor ghglg the
protagonist. Most of the action now takes place in the
environment of intellectuals at the university, gatherings
of artists, writers, and political activists, the minds of
the characters or abstract thoughts of an anonymous narrator.13
In his Las Nuevos Afigg series Pareja Diezcanseco

1“ As stated

attempts to write the "biography” of Ecuador.
by Edmundo Ribadeneira, "... el personaje principal ... es

el pais, el movimiento masivo del pueblo, pero individualizado

en los personajes tipicos que actfian en la gran escena nacional."15
The novels in this series may be referred to collectively as

a novela-r10 (roman fleuve).l6 In them the author attempts to

192

depict and interpret the Ecuadorian historical process17

since 1925 through the impact of the events on the lives

of the characters. There had been nothing like Lps Nuevgg
Afigs previously in Ecuadorian literature. Benjamin Carrion
calls it "... uno de los esfuerzos espirituales mas series,

una de las aventuras y pensamientos de la ficcion mas audaces

y bien concebidas de nuestra historia literaria."18

The first three novels of this series (Lg Advegtencig,

1956; El Aire y lgs Recuerdgs, 1959: and Lgs Poderes animodos,
l96h) are tied together by a single character, Pablo Canelos.

The author explained his significance:

"... En parte es un testigo inventado, en parte

es hecho de distintas porciones de gentes y amigos
que he conocido, en parte, acaso, hay en él
inevitablemente algo de mi mismo. Sobre todo,
acaso él es "los nuevos afios", la transicion,

el crecimiento de una era en la cual empezaron

a advertirse los rapidos cambios sociales de
nuestro tiempo, un intelectual, vamos, con ciertas
audaces pretensiones de ser per se una casi
tipologia psico-social de una generaci6n incierta
y todavia con huellas romanticas. Es testigo

y parte, es, claro esta, un ente de ficci6n y
hasta un pretexto para organizar un semi-mensaje
extraido de tan varias y hasta opuestas corrientes
de un pensamiento en formaci6n. Un poco de
pedagogia y otro de abstrafgion, de racionalizacion
y de choques emocionales.”

The reader becomes acquainted with Ecuadorian history
through the protagonist's thoughts and his conversations
with other characters. In many instances literary as well
as socio-political events are brought to light in this

manner. The protagonist becomes involved in circles of

193

intellectuals, writers, and artists. Sometimes the conversa-
tions include the members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil" as minor
characters in the novels, thereby allowing the author to
recreate the milieu of the times as it affected him and his
friends.

Since his goal now is to interpret Ecuadorian reality
on an intellectual plane, Pareja Diezcanseco has modified his
narrative technique. The terse dialogue that in his early
novels portrayed the chglo is no longer appropriate for
characters who are highly educated. He does not describe
the environment or a character's thoughts with language
and images that might be used by a member of the lower classes.
In the following illustration the author describes the pro-
tagonist's thoughts after his first intimate contact with a
woman:

"... Pablo velaba. La hoguera de su sangre

estaba en paz, porque hab vuelto de la tibieza

de Clara. Sabiase apto para pensar y decidir....

Sobre todo, ella estaba con el, en 51 se habia

aposentado, en su tienda, en su fuego. Insomne,

pero radiante, alimentado por el placer, odi5

todo camino falso, tuvo delante el destino mejor,

crey6 en la bondad, en el hermano hombre y en que

a su época 1e estaba senal ado e1 cambio que

trajese pan y amor para todos. "20

The concept of manhood is clearly of a different
nature than was that of lower class socio-ethnic types depicted

by the author and his companions during the early years of their

literary production. Here, Pareja Diezcanseco evokes reflec-

194

tions fitting of an idealistic, sensitive, and educated
young man. Concepts of universal goodness and human brother-
hood would be too abstract for the poor cholos who populated
his first novels.

Pareja Diezcanseco attempts constantly to make his
work appeal to a sophisticated reader's intellect. Conse-
quently, he never ceases to experiment with and refine his
style. Until his latest novels, he had relied on either
the technique of the anonymous and omniscient narrator, or
the first person, in which the narrator is the main character
but does not depict ostensibly the author's thoughts.21 In
Lgs Pgdeges Omnimodgs he begins to experiment with interior
monologue. In the following example he depicts the protagonist's
thoughts during a time of political and social unrest. The
protagonist has lost the woman he loves:

"Pasé 1a segunda noche sin una hora de sueno,

porque si me dormia habiera temido renacer. En

realidad, el deseo de dormir me abandon6 pronto.

Me ha abandonado quizas hasta cuando. Me siento

prisionero de la vigilia y de la vigilancia.

Naturalmente, he proseguido en mi b squeda, de

dIa y de noche, corriendo a veces en pos de un

cuerpo parecido, metiéndome en las tiendas, en

las pensiones, en los hoteles... ... ya no me

es posible ir a mi departamento, no ire jamas

a 61. Tengo una hamaca y esta mesa donde escriBo.

Estoy enteramente dedicado a este oficio."

While in Aguilara Malta's latest novel interior

monologue is appropriate for the creation of characters

who are not intellectuals, in Pareja Diezcanseco's contemporary

195

work the characters are intellectuals. Their thoughts are
correspondingly more abstract.

They do not debate issues that relate to elemental
concerns, like the meaning of impotency or relationship with
peers. They have thoughts appropriate of intellectuals
anywhere. They are concerned with matters that could relate
to everybody,such as loneliness, or hOpe.

Nonetheless, in the first three novels of his ng
Nuevos Afigg series Pareja Diezcanseco's protagonist exists in
two worlds. On the outside is the world of Ecuadorian reality,
where people debate, fight, and die: where governments come
and go: and where people in Guayaquil or Quito struggle to
maintain or improve their condition or merely to survive,
while they become words or statistics on the pages of
Ecuadorian history. On the inside is the world of the
protagonist, only semi-private because it is enclosed and
molded by the other one. In this world he seeks order in
spite of exterior chaos. It is also the world where the
author attempts to relay a feeling of cautious optimism.
Pareja Diezcanseco suggests sensitive, intelligent, educated,
and introspective Ecuadorians like the protagonist could
most successfully bring their country into line with the
best of the modern world.

In Las Pequefias Estaturas (1970) the author takes

a step further in his evolution. While there is no ostensible

196

indication the novel is specifically Ecuadorian in setting,

it is a bitter-sweet and abstract burlesque of the power
politics that have long dominated Pareja Diezcanseco's
homeland. It displays a deep and intense affection for

the pueblo; for the great majority of the people. The
characters live, suffer, and sometimes die at the hands of
those who would "liberate" them as well as those who would
preserve the status quo. People in established power

grapple with those who would become the new powers, ultimately
at the expense of the common folk. The author shows sympathy
for neither the political left nor right here. Through
barrages of subtly chimerical charicatures he strips naked
political extremists and agitators, dictators, foreign
"advisers", and all who seek power. He shows that for all
their fanciful rhetoric seemingly expressive of high ideals,
what really drives them is personal gain. His message is
similar to that of Garcia Marquez in Qien Afios de Soledad,
when after years of bloodshed between Liberals and
Conservatives e1 Coronel Aureliano Buendia comes to the
realization that: "5610 estamos luchando por el poder."23
Yet Pareja Diezcanseco's message is not so obvious, for it
comes out of a novelistic milieu that is much more "kafkaesque".
The following commentary of Franz Kafka's work would be equally
fitting for the Ecuadorian writer:

"... It is a world in which those in authority
are always wrong and yet manage to give the

197

impression that they are always right. In this
world there is no justice: men feel strange,
excluded, alienated, so that their most intense
desire is "to belong,” to be admitted, to be
ordered about. ... They live in ignorance of
ultimate goals and do not know how to attain
such goals as they do recognize. Cause and
effect are reversed: because a man is accused
of some crime whose nature he cannot even suspect,
he becomes guilty, (of what? he doesn't know),
acknowledges his guilt, and is executed for it.
...AJJ.this irrationality is taken for granted
by the mass of humanity as perfectly normal."24

While Pareja Diezcanseco may create a world similar
to Kafka's in function, it is different in form. The people,
the scenario, the underlying flow of traditions, beliefs,
values, superstitions, and even brujeria are Spanish
American. Still, it is a fantastic and ephemeral world, where
nothing seems exactly real or unreal, but somewhere in between.
It exists primarily in the thoughts of the characters, who
have only a tenuous connection with what is “conventionally"
real. Regardless, one is aware the physical setting is
an underdeveloped country:

”... Sus habitantes Vivian mas de la tierra
que de las latas ... Ios negocios se hacian sin
logogrificas demostraciones, 3610 a punta de
ojo y regateos. ... La velocidad de los auto-
moviles era moderada, el ffitbol se jugaba con
los pies, ... las papas no tenian saber de
arsénico y las naranjas entraban y salian del
mercado sin maquillaje. Continuaban las vacas
recibiendo directamente el amor de los toros ...
Se solIa rogar a los santos, como en cualquier
pais civilizado, pero aqui los ponian de cabeza
y les quemaban las pestanas con los cirios, si
demoraban en conceder favores. En todas partes
... santos demonios coexistian pacificamente,
o, cuando m s, luchaban a garrote y un poco de
mentirillas. Y una bruja seguia siendg una
bruja, y no un extremista cualquiera." 5

198

However, the place is unimportant. It could be
Ecuador, but does not have to be, as is indicated in the
following paragraph with which the author ends the novel.

It is almost identical to one with which he begins it:
"Pa36 lo que paso en un lugar desconocido.

Puede que no hay existido nunca ese lugar, pero

también es posible que existiera en cualquier

parte. Por conveniencia, llamadlo pais, si 10

quereis, pero no le deis hombre propio ni 1e

fijeis espacio, porque seria devoradg por el

analisis, y ni las potencias del sueno ni las

potencias del amor bastarian para volverlo a 26

encontrar. Y tendria que ser inventado otro."

There is an underlying stream of social conscience,
but it is not critical of Specific elements in society. The
author new attacks the human beings who represent its
components. Obliquely, he brings out basic human weaknesses
that corrupt ideals of every sort. The representative masculine
characters who predominate are Ribaldo, the revolutionary in
perpetual crisis, and Parcitas, the unscrupulous and fanatical
"party" member. They function at the top, in the power
structure. The feminine characters represent more basic ele-
ments, that strive for constancy in spite of what men do. There
are three women who share a house (updated versions of "las
tres ratas"): Redama, a simple girl who lives in her own
world of pleasant dreams and fantasies, but who collaborates
with Ribaldo's political extremism because of her love for

him: Anafora, whose fantasies center on a man who is never

there, and perhaps never was: and Edfirea, the intransigent

199

pggtg who would preserve things as they are at any cost.
There is also Fascinata, a woman of the pueblo who encarnates
its traditions: a witch who becomes a folk-heroine, almost

a myth, when the government persecutes her.

The story is told principally through interior mono-
logues of Hedama and Ribaldo. They exist simultaneously on
several levels, each of which is a varying mixture of fantasy
and reality. On one of Redama's levels she is an illegitimate
child whose own mother does not know the father. On another,
she and her mother have invented a fictitious father-husband,
for whom they maintain a room, adding a dimension of concre-
teness to the dream. On still another level she is Ribaldo's
sweetheart. She follows him unquestioningly until she realizes
that when his organization attempts to impose by force supposed-
ly humanistic goals, innocent people die. On one of his
levels, Ribaldo is an idealistic reformer, struggling messianically
to correct society's injustices. On another he is Redama's
boyfriend. Here basic needs, love and companionship, are
satisfied. On yet another level he is a member of a nebulous
organization, which demands allegiance to it as an institution
more than to the ideals it claims to purport.

The thoughts that depict these levels of existence
are loosely connected, occasionally in harmony, but often in
opposition. The author experiments with contemporary narrative

techniques. Within the "stream of conscience" method he explores

200

free association:

"... No me acuerdo de lo que dijo, sino de
cosas sueltas, que debieron estar enlazadas por
esas menores partes de la oraci5n que la maestra
me hizo aprendar para que olvidase sus propiedades
en cuento empecé a usarlas por mi crenta y a mi
modo. Decia el pelado, dec1a distinguidos patriotas
orden derechos sacrificio herencia mayores conser-
vacion nobleza tradiciones propiedad privada
destrucci6n bandera lucha jesucristo corona espinas
padres hijos mujeres santidad prostitucion columnas
sabias hogar virgen maria gloria eterna condenacion
siemprevivas soberbio gecora orden inmaculado
costumbres dignas..."2

This technical experimentation caused one reviewer
to react negatively:
"... Together with Ra ela, Cien anos de soledad,
and A ilera Malta's Siete lunas y_§iete serpientes
(1970 this novel joins an increasing number Which
shows the snobbish devil-take-the-reader attitude
of some of the better known contemporary authors.
... Pareja ... follows the current technique of
inventing words, and in combining two or more nouns
by using hyphens: for example, 'signos-ojos' and
'idea-temor'. ... the change of narrators without
warning, the occasional Latin phrases, and the ...
use of single sentences which run from one to five 7
pages ... do slow and impede the author's message."
However, one should realize it is not the thoughts them-
selves that are chaotic, but the reality that is their founda-
tion. Like the characters in Las Pequefias Estaturas, people
often do exist on several antagonistic levels. They find
their ideals, or fantasies, conflict with what they do tangibly.
Finally, they usually satisfy perhaps the most basic human trait,
self-indulgence.

Pareja Diezcanseco's ultimate message is as applicable

201

to the entire world as Latin America. Nobody really believes
what he pretends to. Government officials pretend to repre-
sent the population, but their first and last concerns are
for themselves. Social reformers pretend to work for the
good of others, but they are really motivated by the desire
for personal recognition, or glory. People may harp endlessly
on the value of their pretenses, always avoiding the admission
they are pretending: that what ultimately drives them is their
own greed. The society portrayed in Lgs Peguefias Estaturag
is absurd. However, it is an abstract representation of the
society people generally consider real.

The author has evolved from the idealism of his earlier
novels to cynicism. Witness Ribaldo's thoughts concerning
a national economic crisis:

"... El ejército pedia mas canones y aeroplanos.

Los importadores, una rebaja general de los

impuestos aduaneros. Los industriales, que los

aumentasen sobre todo articulo de competencia.

... Los bomberos exigian mas escaleras, camiones,

y pitones, en previsi6n de incendios criminales.

Los trabajadores, aumentos de salarios. Los

economistas ortodoxos, que el Gobierno cortase

gastos por la mitad ... Los heterodoxos, que

... gastase las reservas ... para ... dar trabajo

a los desocupados. Los maestros de escuela,

que les pagasen sueldos atrasados o les diegan

pildoras para insensibilizar el hambre..."2

Both individually and in groups the characters sacrifice
ideals for self-interest. While they play a game of deception,
pretending to each other and to themselves they are something

other than what they are, they become similar to each other.

202

As individuals, they are reduced. They become ”pequefias
estaturas".

Of the members of the ”Grupo de Guayaquil”, Pareja
Diezcanseco has undergone the most extensive evolution
of his novelistic art. He has become more exacting about
what and for whom he writes. He still makes one aware he
is appalled by the condition of society, but the presentation
of the reasons behind that condition are increasingly more
complex and his artistic technique is under constant refine-
ment. Nhile this latest novel may be considered another
link in the chain of his Lg§_Nuevos Afigg series, its connec-
tion loose. The author states in his preface:

"Este libro, aunque de forma y construcci6n
diversas, es, a su manera, complemento o consequencia
de tres novelas anteriores, partes ... del ciclo
IQ? HHEMQfi ADQB ... No es ... Necesario, ni ...
recomendable, leerlas, antes de ... esta novela,
de la que 8610 quiero decir quggse integra ... al
proposito de Lgs Nuevos Anos.

Adalberto Ortiz
In his lates novel, Ortiz approaches autobiography.
He has moved from treatment of an alienated black laborer in
Juypngo (1943) to a cultured and sensitively introspective
black intellectual in El Esgejo y la Ventana (1967: 1970).30
The protagonist of this novel is similar to the author.

Ecuadorian coastal society is still important, but its

function is the milieu in which the character develops.

203

Similarly, historical events are important primarily for their
effect on the protagonist. Instead of portraying the charac-
ter's psychology as representative of a specific socio-ethnic
group, the author now deals with the psychology of an indivi-
dual.. The emphasis is on the process of growth and matura-
tion more than socio-economic elements that may influence that
process.

The form of ElpESpejo y la Ventana is similar super-
ficially to Juyung . While in the latter novel Ortiz employed
a lyrical paragraph to depict the protagonist's telluric roots
and describe the physical and emotional setting for the coming
chapter, in the former one he uses a similar paragraph to
interpret abstractly the effect of the protagonist's eXperi-
ences on his mind and to set the psychological tone. He
calls these paragraphs "Primera Voz en el Espejo". They are
the intrOSpective view of the character's development, as
opposed to the label given to the bulk of the chapter,
"Segunda Voz en la Ventana", which is the presentation of
the character's eXperiences. For example, in the first
chapter civil war has forced the protagonist's family to
leave its native Esmeraldas for Guayaquil. The following
paragraph introduces the second chapter:

"Lien hubiera querido Mauro enterrar ... el duro

tiempo de sus nineces. Casi todos estos recuerdos

son pesarosos y crueles. Segfin dicen, logr5 sepul-

tar el cadaver en el mas inaccesible paraje del
yermo. Pero sopla e1 huracan nocturno, remuch

20h

las arenas y lo deja a la intemperie,
mostrando sus serias lacraduras ... Luego,

el Eequefio cadaver crece silenciosamente como
un rbol, y aumentan también las incisiones
de su corteza. Quisiera saber cuantos seres
hay en el mundo que pueden afiorar con nostal-
gia 'la infancia feliz'. ...,El pequefio
cadaver siguio creciendo como un arbol mata-
palo al impulso de sus substancias bi6genas,
y al amparo de su memoria donde tpdo resulta
ingénuo. Inocente y elemental."3

The civil war, which is referred to but not described
in the first chapter, is of secondary importance. The real
issue is the hardship it brings on the young protagonist.

While he still tells the story in the third person,
as the "omniscient narrator”, Ortiz experiments occasionally
with the technique of free association. In the following
illustration a man has just shot a caiman that was attacking
some swimmers:

"Era el vigilante fusil de don Manuel que

tronaba omnipresente, omnipotente, parte de sf

mismo, preservador, claro, terminante, voluminoso,

baculo de voluntad, sagrado dueno de voluntades,

de volumen, volatil, te volio b ne, (sic), volare,

vapuleador, voli, volutas, bolitas, voliciones,

voy y vengo... con virginia... virginal......

vaginal... Virgo... potens, virgo fidelis...

volantuza, voy y vengo disparandome... voy y

VuelVOeoo ooon3

Nonetheless, El ESpejo y la Ventana is a less success-
ful novel in its epoch than was Juyungo. Other than cautious
technical experimentation, it lacsk the force, lyricism,
and uniqueness of content of the latter work. While it
deals with a topic that promises universl appeal, human

psychology, it offers neither symbol nor message nor signi-

205

ficant stylistic innovation, when compared with the contemporary
works of Aguilera Malta and Pareja Diezcanseco. However,
it does represent a change in artistic orientation for the
author, in which he begins to direct his work toward a poten-
tially broader public.

The greatest legacy the six writers from coastal
Ecuador left for the Ecuadorian novel is one from which
three of them are still benefitting: the concept that
society can be interpreted in an artistic way. Art and
thesis need not be separated, but the former gives lasting
merit to the work. As stated by Pareja Diezcanseco through
the protagonist of his Lg§_Nuevos Afios series:

”... se puede clamar por la justica social,

... se puede y se debe poner e1 arte ... al
servicio del hombre, pero no es necesario para
eso recurrir 8610 al lado feo de la vida, a1
descuido de lo artistico, que es el descuido de
lo transcendente mismo, de la intuici6n futura,
de la ordenacifin del mundo y la naturaleza, del
juicio a que se atreve el hombre frente a lo
desconocido.... El realismo que se limita a 81
mismo con palabras gruesas y exclamaciones, deja
d8 ser realiBmOeeeeeLooe la feliCidad moral y
el patetismo necesario a ella no son completos
sino en el reves y el derecho, con toda la com-
plejidad de la vida activa y de la vida Intima?
LAcaso no hay realidades reales que pertenezcan
a la vida del espiritu con el mismo derecho que
a la condggta exterior y esquematizada de los
hombres?”

Probably the greatest success of the "Grupo de
Guayaquil" was that it was the vanguard of a generation

that brought the greatest attention to Ecuador's literature.

206

perhaps since Montalvo. Their failure, however, was they
did not awaken in the next generation of writers that sense
of cohesiveness, self-criticism, and mission),+ The "Grupo
de Guayaquil” left a legacy many young writers in Ecuador
seem to ignore.35 The literary movement they began failed
to gather sufficient momentum to carry other writers with

36 Since the

it, much less establish a literary school.
mid-forties few novels from coastal Ecuadorian writers,
other than those written by Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Alfredo
Pareja Diezcanseco, and Adalberto Ortiz, have won more than
a passive nod from readers and critics outside Ecuador.

The remaining members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil”
are aware of the passing years and loss of frequent contact
with each other. Yet they keep writing, and their work
grows generally more consummate. One can hope their efforts
will have more transcendental effect on other Ecuadorian
writers than seems to be the present case. The experience
of their companionship during the early years forged a bond
between them so strong that regardless of time and space
that separates them, in a spiritual sense there might

always be a "Grupo de Guayaquil“.37

NOTES
CHAPTER V.

1. Personal interview, Guayaquil, August, 1969.

2. Personal interview, Quito, August, 1969.

3. Personal interview, Quito, August, 1969.

h. Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, "A Proposito de la Novela
'Sed en el Puerto'," Letras del Eguadgr, No. 129 (Agosto de
196a), p. 25.

5. Jose Otero, "Siete Lunas y Siete Serpientes“,
Hispggia, Vol. 5“. No. 2. p. #04.

6. Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunas Siete
Serpientes (Mexico: Fonda de Cultura Econbmica, {5755, pp.
7'20

7. Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunas y Siete Segpientes, p. 122.

8. Aguilera Malta, §i§te Lunas_y Siete Serpientes, p. 375.

4 9. Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunas y Siete Se ientes, pp.
2 9‘50 0

10. Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunasgy Siete Serpientgg, pp.

 

358-59 0
ll. Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunasgy_Siete Ser ientes, p. 10.

12. In 1967 I completed a study entitled "The Novelistic
Evolution of Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco". Thesis for the
Master of Arts degree, Michigan State University, Dept. of
Romance Languages.

13. As much a student as a creator of literature, Pareja
Diezcanseco has read most prominent , modern novelists,
James Joyce, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Mann are among those he
holds in highest esteem.

lb. Pareja Diezcanseco's Los Nuevos Afios series is
similar in approach and scope to that of the Spaniard Arturo
Barea, in his La Forja de un Rebelde (1951) trilogy (La Fogfa:
Lg_;gt§, and La llama). However,-there is no documente ev -
dence Pareja Diezcanseco was attem ting to do in the Ecuadorian
scenario what Barea attempted in t e Spanish one.

20?

208

15. Edmundo Ribadeneira, ngMederna Novela Ecuatoriana
(Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958): P- 92.

16. This terminology is found in Benjamin Carri6n,
E1 Nueve Relate Ecuatoriane (Quito: Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana, 19335, p. ISO.
17. Alejandro Carri6n, "Les Poderes Omnimedes,” Letras
del Ecuad r, No. 131 (Mayo-Agosto de 1965), p. 18.
Carrion says of this novel that ”... e1 nevelista
y el historiador se van aceplande cada vez mejor."

18. Benjamin Carrion, El Nuevo Relate Ecuatorian , p.
152.

19. Personal correspondence. Letter of March 3, 1966.

20. Pareja Diezcanseco, Lg Advertencia (Buenos Aires:
Losada, 1956). p. 275.

21. Pareja Diezcanseco uses the first person in Rio
Arriba (1931) and in Hombres Sin Tigmpe (1941).

22. Pareja Diezcanseco, Les Poderes Omnimedes (Buenos
Aires: Losada, 1964), pp. 231-32.

23. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cien Afios de Seledad
(Buenos Aires: Ed. Sudamericana, 1969), p. IU7:

2h. Ernst Feise and Harry Steinhauer, GermangLiterature
Since Goethe, Part Two (Boston: Heughten Mifflin, 1959). P.
29 .

25. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Pe uefias Estatprgg (Madrid:
Revista de Occidente, 1970), p. 16.

26. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Pe uefias Estaturas, p. 33.

27. Bernard Dulsey, ”Las Pequefias Estaturas", His nia,
v01. 5“. NO. 1". pp. 975-760

28. Pareja Diezcanseco, Las Pequefias Estaturas, p. 38.
29. Pareja Diezcanseco, Lgs Pequefias Estaturgg, p. 7.

30. E; Espeje y la Ventana was published first in
Guayaquil in 1 . n e 0 e tion the author revised and

enlarged it. This study utilizes the 1970 edition.

209

31. Adalberto Ortiz, El Es e' la Ventanna (Guayaquil:
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 19709, p. 17.
32. Ortiz, El Espejo y la Ventanna, p. 62.

33. Pareja Diezcanseco, L98 Poderes Omnimgdgs, p. 30.

3h. Efrain Subere, ”La Novela Americana Debs Seguir
Siendo de Contenide Social y Humane”, Interview with Alfredo
Pareja Diezcanseco, Letzas del Ecuador, No. 11“ (Enero-Marze
d8 1959)o Po 5:

The interviewer cites Pareja Diezcanseco's opinions
on what he thought should be the best course for the Spanish
American novel:

"... En su epini6n, 1a novela americana debe seguir
siendo de centenide social y humane. Pero cada vez mis exigente
en su concepci6n técnica. ....

--Am6rica esta en una tema de conciencia. E1
novelista tiene que marchar al paso con lo contemporanee.
Exigirse cada vez mas. Obligarse a ir mas adentre en el camine
ardue de su propia ejecuci6n literaria y no quedarse en les
faciles linderes del folklore.

El realismo de la novela latinoamericanae--es la
creencia de Alfredo Pareja Diezcansece-- debe ser un nuevo
realismo. Les problemas no les vemes come partes aislads,
sine come todo. Pere a la vez, esto es mas exigente que la
medalidad practicada anteriermente.”

35. Emmanuel Carbalho,Hernan Lavin, and Dario Mereira,
”Bienales de Peesia y Novela“, Letras‘delIEgugdor, No. 146.
(Junio de 1970), p. 4.

An international jury delcared the following after
reading eight Ecuadorian novels submitted to it to be considered
for a prize:

”Les jurades ... estan de acuerde en no otorgar les
premios establecides en las Bases per considerar que la calidad
de las obras no cerrespende a la categoria del Concurse.”

However, there have been a few promising novels
from coastal Ecuador in recent years, such as Rafael Diaz Ycaza's
Les Prisieneres de la Neche 1967). or Nelson Estupifian Bass'
Cuando Les Guayacanes erec an (195u) and El Ultimo Rio (1966).
None of tEESe,—however, approaches the stature of the novels
by the original "Grupo de Guayaquil".

In July, 1970, Angel F. Rojas criticized the younger
novelists for not being more active in living up to the legacy
of the ”grupo de Guayaquil".

36. Edmundo Ribadeneira, ”La Novela Ecuatoriana en
Receso," Letras del Ecuador, Nos. 73-7d (Nev.-Dic. de 1951), p.
15.

210

As early as 1951 Ribadeneira lamented publicly
what he already saw as a decline in the Ecuadorian novel:

“El case es, en definitiva, que nuestra novela
se encuentra estancada. Junte a nuestros valores tal vez
censagrades mug prematuramente, han surgide escritores in
dudablemente d b les, les mas sin asemes de personalidad
promisoria, lo cual ha contribuide mas bien a aumentar e1

desaliento. A maestros que se duermen sobre sus laureles,
corresponderia tal clase de discipules."

37. Aguilera Malta, Siete Lunas y Siete Segpientes:
prologue:

”Esta especie de saga sdle es mIa en parte.
En la medida que una vez perteneciente a un
CORO entena --en forma transiteria--un SOLO
cuya melodIa pudo vibrar, también, en etras
veces fraternas: las de José de la Cuadra y
Joaquin Gallegos Lara --ya pasajeres del viaje
infinite-u: y las do Alfredo Pareja-Diez Cansece,
Enrique Gil Gilbert, Angel F. Rojas y Adalberto
Ortiz, que adn se proyectan sobre el herizente.“

CONCLUSION

This study's primary purpose was to show that novels
written about coastal Ecuador during the thirties and forties
by the "Grupo de Guayaquil" had both social and artistic
value. A secondary purpose was to determine the artistic
maturation in these members of the group who continued to
write novels beyond the mid-forties.

In contrast to novelists centered in highland cities,
whose characters were mainly Indians and mestizos, the
Guayaquil writers concentrated on coastal cholos, mpntuvies,
and Blacks. Through their novels, they denounced and pre-
tested aspects of society that they considered unjust to
the poor. Some literary critics observed the social orienta-
tion in the Ecuadorian novels of the thirties, but failed
to give attention to the artistic development in these from
the coast.

The writings of European, North American, and Spanish

American Romanticists and Naturalists had influenced the

littoral authors, as had those of Spanish American ppstumbristag,

regionalists, and social reformers. They were also influenced

by the ideals of Marxism, Socialism, and the Russian Revolution.

Their interpretation of Ecuadorian life showed the effect of
these influences.
The members of the "Grupo de Guayaquil“ evaluated

and analyzed each other's work in a spirit of discussion
211

212

and polemic, to define and solidify their social and artis-
tic goals.

Their literary debut was made with Lg§:gue se van
(1930), which set precedents in subject matter and artistic
approach for later novels. It departed from earlier
costumbrista works, in that the depiction of local customs,
scenes, and dress was incidental to portrayal of individual
.ghglg. montuvio, and Black characters. They were pictured
as intelligent and introspective, with a strong, natural sense
of justice, deep, volatile emotions, and an intensely personal
interaction with the environment. Outside their sub-culture,
they were social misfits. Short, succinct statements and
simple, direct dialogue, in keeping with speech patterns
of the coastal peer, were used to portray them. Their
social problems were made evident without harangue.

When the authors of Les que se van were joined by
their friends in the formation of the "Grupo de Guayaquil",
they concentrated on the novel. Their goals were to bring
out positive and negative aspects in society, in the hope
of influencing the amelioration of ills, and to develop
the aesthetic qualities of their art as a contribution to
the national literature.

The environment is pictured in great depth and
against a wide panorama. Struggles against injustice

become part of a global picture. Lower class characters

213

are portrayed as more worthy human beings than these in the
upper classes. Chglgs, m ntuvies, and Blacks relate intim-
ately with native plant and animal life, and are deeply
rooted in superstition and folk-traditions. They are

the most interesting characters and it is clearly suggested
that they are the true representatives of the region. His-
torical references are used to affirm ideas about the nature
and composition of society.

These novelists use extensively language and syntax
imitative of native speech. Stereotyping the characters is
avoided through emphasis on individual traits. Some are
symbols of their race or social class, but still have
unique psychologies. The protest against social injustice
is evident, but propagandism is usually restrained. Lyrical
qualities and a sense of the beauty of life in the Ecuadorian
tropics are often achieved.

De la Cuadra and Gil Gilbert wrote about the mgntuvig:
Aguilera Malta, Gallegos Lara, and Pareja Diezcanseco
concentrated on the 95212: Ortiz focused on the Black.

De la Cuadra, Aguilera Malta, and Gil Gilbert characteris-
tically used vivid scenes in which the characters were per-
trayed primarily through their words and actions, while
Gallegos Lara, Pareja Diezcanseco, and Ortiz used dialogue
which adds "local color“, but which is augmented by descrip-

tive interpretation of the characters' thoughts. De la

21h

Cuadra and Aguilera Malta created characters who were, res-
pectively, symbols of the mgntuvig and ggglg. With Pareja
Diezcanseco, the careful attention to the portrayal of his
characters' individual psychologies outweighs their possible
symbolic value. The attempts by Gil Gilbert and Ortiz

to create symbols were unsuccessful. Gallegos Lara's work
was flawed by propagandistic elements.

After the disintegration of the "Grupo de Guayaquil"
in the mid-forties, its members who continued to write often
used settings other than the Ecuadorian coast. There was a
tendency to examine society more objectively, through charac-
ters representative of good and bad elements in all social
classes. History was no longer used to confirm social atti-
‘tudes, but its events affected the psychologies of the
characters. Experimentation with contemporary narrative
techniques became one of their primary concerns.

The writings of the ”Grupo de Guayaquil” evidently
had some effect on the social process, although the realistic
description may have offended some readers. While their
literature made social defects obvious, they also left as a
legacy for newer writers a group of novels that are based on
social reality and are also works of art. Their work during
the thirties and forties was precursive to contemporary trends

in the Spanish American novel.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SECTION I.
WORKS BY THE ”GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

Aguilera Malta, Demetrio. Dgn Goyo. Madrid: Editorial
091111;. 19330

La Isla Vir en. Guayaquil: Editores Vera y
Compania, 1955.

Los ue se van. Guayaquil: Ed. "Claridad",
1970. 3rd. 9 ..

Siete Lunas Siete Ser ientes. Mexico: Fondo
de Cultura Econgmica, I970.
De la Cuadra, Jose. Obras Com letas. Quito: Casa de la
Cultura Ecuatoriana, I533.
Gallegos Lara, Joaquin. gas Cruces Sobre el A a.
Guayaquil: Editores vera y Compania, I336.

Los que se van. In collaboration with Demetrio
AguIIEra Malta and Enrique Gil Gilbert.

 

 

 

 

 

Gil Gilbert, Enrique. Los que se van. In collaboration
with Demetrio Aguilera Malta and Joaquin Gallegos
Lara e

Nuestro Pan. Guayaquil: Editores Libreria
Cervantes, I958. 2nd. ed..

Ortiz, Adalberto. El Es e’o la Ventana. Guayaquil:
Casa de la ura Ecua or aha, 1970. 2nd. ed.,
enmendada por el autor.

 

Ju n.o. Guayaquil: Editorial Libreria Cervantes,
1963. 3rd. ed..

Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. Baldomera. Santiago de Chile:
Ercilla, 1938. ~

D n Bal5n de Baba. ‘Buenos Aires: Club del
bro. I; 5g 0

4f_ El Aire y los Recuerdos. Buenos Aires: Losada,
1959.

 

215

216

E1 Muelle. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economics,

 

1995. 2nd. ed..

Hombres Sin giempgm Buenos Aires: Losada, 1991.

 

La_Advertenoia. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1956.

La Beldaca. Santiago de Chile: Ercilla, 1935.

 

 

Las Pe uefias Estaturas. Madrid: Revista de
Occidente, I970.

__ Las Tres Ratas. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1944.

Los Poderes Omnimodos. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1964.

 

SECTION II.
STUDIES DEALING WITH THE ”GRUPO DE GUAYAQUIL"

Adoum, Jorgpt Enrique. In de la Cuadra, Jose. Orbras
Com letas. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana,
1955. Introduction to ”Guasinton", p. 519.

Aguilera Malta, Demetrio. ”Jose de la Cuadra: Un Intento
de Evocacifin." Letras del Ecuador, No. 101 (Marzo
de 1955), pp. 21 and 35.

Anon. ”Los Monos Enloquecidos.” Letras del Ecuador, No.
69 (Julio de 1951). p. 6.

Cabrera Leyva, Orlando. ”Entrevista a Demetrio Aguilera
Malta.” Letras del Ecuador, No. 33 (Abril de 19MB),
p. l .

Carrién, Alejandro. "A Joa uin Gallegos Lara." etras
del Ecuador. NOS. 2 -39 (NOYO-DiCe d6 19“ . pp. 12-13.

"Los Poderes Omnimodos.” Letras del Ecuador,
NO. 131 (NlayO.Ag08tO de 1965). P. e
Carri6n, Benjamin. In Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. §%_4
9 5.

Muelle. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura.Econ6mica,
Pr logo.

 

"La Vuelta de Demetrio.” Letras del Ecuador,
No. 85 (Julio-Agosto de 1953), p. 1.

De la Cuadra, Jose. "12 Siluetas Ecuatorianas". In Obras
C m letas. Quito: Casa de la Cultura EcuatorIana,
l , pp. 798-820. Articles dealing with Aguilera
Malta, Gil Gilbert, Gallegos Lara, and Pareja Diezcanseco.

 

Dulsey, Bernard. ”Las Pequefias Estaturas.” His ia,
V010 514'. NO. a. PP. 975-760

Garcés Larrea, Crist6bal. ”Las Cruces Sobre el Agua."
Letras del Ecuador, No.15 (Agosto de l9u6 . p. 16.

Gonzalez y Contreras, Gilberto. "La Angustia Escondida
de Adalberto Ortiz.” Letras de; Ecuador, No. 11.
(Feb.-Mar. de 1946), pp. -9.

217

218

Guerrero, Jorge. "Las Cruces Sobre el Agua." Letras
del Ecuador, Nos. 17-18 (Noviembre de 1956), p. 24.

Linke, Lilo. ”The People's Chronicler." Americas, Vol.
8: N0. 11 (Nov.. 1956), pp. 7-11. Deals with Pareja
Diezcanseco.

Lorenz, Gunter W.. "Adalberto Ortiz." In Dialo mit
Lgteinamerika. Tubingen: Horst Erdmann VerIag, 1970.
Otero, Jose. "Siete Lunas X Siete Serpientes." His ania,
Vol. Sh, No. 2, p. on.

Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. "Carta a Joaquin." Letras
del Ecuador, No. 109 (Julio-Die. de 1957). p. 35.

Siegel, Reuben. The Group of Guayaquil: A Studyin Contemporary
Ecuadorian Fiction. Univ. of Wisconsin: 45h. D.
DissertEtion, I93I.

Schwartz, Kessel. "José de la Cuadra." Revista Iberoamericana,
22: PP- 95’107:

Walsh, Donald D., "Nuestro Pan de Enrique Gil Gilbert."

Letras del Ecuador, No. 2 (Abril de 1995), p. 10.

SECTION III.
GENERAL AND COLLATERAL WORKS

Alegria, Fernando. Historia de la Novela Hispanoamericana.
Mexico: Eds. de Andrea, 1965. 2nd. ed..

Anderson Imbert, Enrique. Historia de la Literatura

Hispanoamericana. Vol. 11.. Mexico: Fondo de
Cultura EconSmICa. 1961.

Arias, Augusto. Luis A Martinez. Quito: Imprenta del
Ministerio 3e G051erno, 1937.

Asturias, Miguel Angel. In Bellini, Guiseppe. Lg Narrativa

de Miguel Angel Asturias. Buenos Aires: Losada
19 9. pp. 11-1 .

Calle, Manuel J. In Martinez, Luis A.. A la Costa. Quito:
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1946.

 

Carbalho, Emmanuel: Lavin Herman: and Moreira, Dario.
"Bienales de Poesia y Novela." Letras del Ecuadgg,
No. 146 (Junio de 1970), p. 8.

Cary, Joyce. "C5mo se Escribe una Novela." In Uribe
White, Enrique. La Novela en Genera1_y la Colombiana
en Particular. Bogota: Eaici6nes Lerner, I9 9.

CarriSn, Benjamin. El Nuevo Relato Ecuatoriano. Quito:
Casa de la CuItura Ecuatoriana, 1958,

Dorfmann, Ariel. Imaginaci6ny Violencia en America.
Santiago de Chile: Ed. Universifaria, 1970.

Estupifian Bass, Nelson. "E1 Hombre Negro del Ecuador."
, Letrasgdel Ecuadgg, No. 121 (Marzo-Abril de 1961),

Feise, Ernst, and Steinhauer, Harry. German Literature
Since Goethe. Part Two. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1959. p. 295.

Finkelstcin, Sidney. Existencialismo Alienacién en la
Literatura Americana. MExico: Ed. Grijalho, 1967,

Franco, Jean. The Modern Culture of Latin America.
London: PEII MEII Press, I957.

219

220

Frank, Waldo. "E1 Siglo del Mestizo." Letras del Ecuador,
No. #2 (Febrero de 19A9), pp. 15-16:

Franklin, Albert 8.. ”Ecuador's Novelists at Work."
Inter-American QuarterLy, II., No. A, p. 30.

Fuentes, Carlos. La Nueva Novela {ispanoamericana.
México: Ed. Joaquin Mortiz, 1969.

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Cien Afios de Soledad. Buenos
Aires: Ed. Sudamericana, 1969. 15th ed..

Gil Gilbert, Enrique.. In Martinez, Luis A.. A la Costa.
Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 19

Gonzalez, Manuel Pedro. "Trends in Hispanic American
Literature." Books Abroad, XVII. (l9h3), pp. 16-21.

Gonzalez y Contreras, Gilberto. ”Aclaraciones a la Novela
Social Americana." Letras del Ecuador, No. 8,
(Noviembre de 1945), pp. 15-13. Continued in No. 9
(Diciembre de 19h5), p. 216.

Icaza, Jorge. Huasi un o. In Obras Escogidas. México:
Aguilar, 1951.

"Relato, Espiritu Unificador en la Generacion
*del Ano 30. " Letras del TEcuador, No. 129 (Agosto

 

Leal, Luis. Historia del CnentoH ispanoamericano. Mexico:
Eds. de rAndrea, 1966,

Martinez, Luis A.. A la Costa. Quito: Casa de la Cultura
Ecuatoriana, 1956. 2nd. ed..

Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. ”A Prop5sito de la Novela
'Sed en el Puerto'. " Letras del Ecuador, No. 129
(Agosto de 1964), pp. 25 and 30.

"De Literatura Ecuatoriana Contemporanea. "
Revista Nacional de Cultura (Caracas), XVIII.,
0391-: PP-‘32-73.

Historia del Ecuador. Quito: Ed. Colon, 1962.

Qpién esAQuien eg‘Venezue a Panama Ecuador Colombia.
BogoEKT OliverIo Perry y Cia., I952.

 

 

 

221

Ribadeneira, Edmundo. La Moderna Novela Ecuatoriana.
Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1958.

 

"La Novela Ecuatoriana en Receso." Letras
del Ecuador, Nos. 73-7fl (Nov.-Dic. do 1951), p. 15.

 

Rojas, Angel F.. La Novela Ecuatoriana. Héxico: Fondo
de Cultura Econfimica,19fiB}

Sanchez, Luis Alberto. Proceso y Contenido de la Nove a
Hispanoamericana. Madrid: Gredos, 1953.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. What is Literature? Eew York: Harper
and Row, 196 ,

Schwartz, Hessel. "Russian Literature in Contemporary
Ecuadorian Fiction," Kentuck F reign Language
Quarterly, III., pp. 151-55.

"Some Aspects of the Contemporary Novel of
Ecuador." His ania, Vol. 38, pp. 294-98.

Subero, Efrain. "La Novela Americana Debe Seguir Siendo
de Contenido Social y Humano." Letras del Ecuador,
No. 114 (Enero-Marzo de 1959). p. 3. Interview from
"El Universal", Caracas, 1959, with Alfredo Pareja
Diezcanseco.

Torres-Rioseco, Arturo. Nueva Historia de la Gran Literatura
Iberoamericang. Buenos Aires: EmecéOEditores, 1961.

Uriel Ospina. Problemas i Perspectiva§_de la Novela
Americana. Bogo : d. Tercer Mundo, 196H,

Uzcétegui, Emilio. "Novelas y Novelistas del Ecuador."
Americas, Vol. XVI., No. 6 (June, 1964), p. 30.

 

Vargas Llosa, Mario. La Ciudad los Perros. Barcelona:
Ed. Seix Barral, 1968.

APPENDICES

APPENDICES
A. OTHER EDITIONS OF THE WORKS CONSIDERED IN THIS STUDY

Aguilera Malta, Demetrio. Don Goyo.
2nd. ed.. Buenos Aires: Editorial Platina, 1958,

La Isla Vir en
2nd. ed.. Qu1to: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1954.

Los que se van. In collaboration with Joaquin Gallegos
Lara and Enrique Gil Gilbert.

lst. ed.. Guayaquil: Ed. Zea y Paladines, 1930.

2nd. ed.. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1955.

 

De la Cuadra, Jose. Guasinton.
lst. ed.. Quito: TalIeres Gréficos de Educaci6n, 1938.

Los Monos Enlo uecidos.
lst. ed.. Quito: Casa del la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1951.

L s Saanrimas.
lst. 65.. Madria: Editorial Cenit, 1934.

Gil Gilbert, Enrique. Nuestro Pan.
lst. ed.. Guayaquil: Eds. Vera y Compafiia, 1941.

 

 

Ortiz, Adalberto. El Es e'o yila Ventana.
lst. ed.. Qu1 o: asa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1967,

‘_ Juxungo,
lst. ed.. Buenos Aires: Ed. América Lee. 19u3.

2nd. ed.. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957.

 

Pareja Diezcanseco, Alfredo. Baldomera.
2nd. ed.. Quito: Casa a Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1957.

El Muelle.
lst. e3.. Quito: Ed. Bolivar, 1933.

 

La Beldaca.
2nd. e5.. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1954.

 

Las Tres Ratas,
‘2nd. ed.. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1962.

222

B. TRANSLATIONS OF THE WORKS CONSIDERED IN THIS STURY

Aguilera Malta, Demetrio. D n Go 0.
English ed., included 1n Flores, Angel, and Poore,
Dudley, Fiesta in November. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1942.

Gil Gilbert, Enrique. Nuestro Pan,
English ed., Poore, Dudley, Our Daily Bread. New
York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1943.

Ortiz, Adalberto. Ju .
French. ed., included in Michel Reboux. La Croix

du Sud. Paris: Librarie Callimard, 1955.

Czecfi ed.. Muzi Neumiraji Na Posteli (9Los Hombres
no Mueren en la Camai).

Prague: Ed. Svoboda, 1949.

German ed.. Hans Platschek and Jahnheinz Jahn.
Frankfurt Main: Ed. S. Fischer, 1967. There have
been four German editions up to 1964. Place and
publishers unknown. Information supplied by the
author.

Ukrain ed.. Leon Olevsky. Kiev: Publisher unknown,
1959.

Croation ed.. Place and publisher unknown: 1963.
Information supplied by the author.

Slovak ed.. Place and publisher unknown: 1963.
Information supplied by the author.

Pareja DieZCanseco, Alfredo. Baldomera.
German ed.. Hamburg: PuEIisher unknown, 1954,
Information supplied by the author.

La BeldacaI
French ed.. Paris: Publisher unknow, 1949. Information

supplied by the author.
Polish ed.. Helena Byshowska. Warsaw: Pafistwowy
Instytyt Wydawnic2y (State Publishing Institute), 1951.

 

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