Short stories
Agua
Not translated into English
José María Arguedas · 1935
Synopsis
Water: three childhood tales set in the southern sierra. In the first, at San Juan de Lucanas, the powerful landowner don Braulio distributes the water as he sees fit, to the detriment of the Indian comuneros, and young Ernesto stands up to him. The second follows the schoolchildren of Ak'ola as they face the landowner don Ciprián; in the third, at the hacienda of Viseca, Ernesto falls in love with the young Indian girl Justina, who prefers Kutu.
Context
The collection appeared in Lima in 1935, when its author was twenty-four; it was José María Arguedas's first book. Arguedas wrote these stories against the distorted image of the Indians that he found in López Albújar and Ventura García Calderón, and spoke of a book born of pure hatred; he later said it was inspired by hatred and by tenderness. Saniel Lozano nevertheless places it in traditional indigenismo, that of communities subject to landowners.
Who it is for
Three stories in Spanish, partly autobiographical, two of which have the same child, Ernesto, as their hero.
Prizes and reception
Second prize in the international competition of the Revista Americana of Buenos Aires; critics have mostly studied its last story.