Men of Maize

米盖尔·安赫尔·阿斯图里亚斯 / 刘习良 / 笋继英Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaDec 2018

Rating 4.0
Word count
229K words
Chapters
30
ISBN
9787532762293

Tags

Foreign Literature Man and NatureFaith ConfrontationNative BeliefLatin American CultureCorn MythologySpecies ConflictTribal CivilizationMagical RealismNobel PrizeAsturias

Summary

Corn Men is the representative work of Miguel Ángel Asturias, winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature and a principal founder of the Latin American magical realist movement—a veritable artistic masterpiece. The main storyline concerns the conflict and struggle between Indians and white creoles over the cultivation of corn. For the Indians, growing corn is a matter of subsistence and survival; in their religious belief, corn was transformed from human beings, and humans in turn survive by eating corn. The white creoles think otherwise: they grow corn for profit. Thus a life-and-death struggle erupts between the Indians led by Chief Gaspar Ilóm and the white forces. The book also tells many legendary smaller stories, such as the tale of Machojón and the tale of the coyote postman. Machojón disappears on his way to find his fiancée, surrounded by a swarm of fireflies. Legend says he became a ghost, glowing all over, often appearing in burning cornfields. The coyote postman's wife vanishes mysteriously. Frantic, the postman loses his way in the mountains while searching for her. Those sent by the village to find him say he has turned into a coyote of the wild.

Editor's review

Corn Man is the representative work of Guatemalan writer and Nobel laureate Miguel Ángel Asturias, and a foundational text of Latin American magical realism. The novel's realistic main line is the land conflict between Indigenous peoples and white settlers, but its core goes far beyond that. Asturias deftly fuses the ancient worldview of the Maya epic Popol Vuh, turning the corn god into human and humans into corn, building a fantastical universe where all things have spirit and reality, dream, legend, and daily life intertwine. Here curses bring plagues, fireflies form vengeful alliances, and the narrative leaps across multiple perspectives and times, forming a unique, poetic language labyrinth full of primal force.

The value of reading this book lies not only in its status as a literary classic but in the radically different cognitive and aesthetic experience it offers from Western rational traditions. Asturias does not simply "use" magical elements; he seeks to reorganize narrative through Indigenous thought and cosmology, mounting a profound critique of colonialism and modernity. This "magic" is rooted in the reality of Latin American local culture and collective unconscious. For readers, the challenge is to let go of attachment to linear plot and clear logic and immerse themselves in a narrative flow built from myth, symbol, and collective consciousness. Once adjusted to this rhythm, one can appreciate a vast, earth-heavy beauty and the author's deep mourning and respect for a lost civilization. The Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition conveys the original's spirit well and is a reliable path into Asturias's literary world.

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Reading tips

  1. Before reading, a brief acquaintance with the Mayan myth Popol Vuh and the colonial history of Latin America will help in understanding the cultural foundations of the text.
  2. First-time readers may try to relax the urge to 'understand' and instead prioritize experiencing the poetry of the language, the impact of the imagery, and the overall atmosphere.
  3. The book features many characters and complex relationships; noting key figures and family ties as you go can help, but there is no need to sort everything out completely—feeling their symbolic significance as bearers of a collective fate matters more.

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 译本前言 魔幻和现实的融合 魔幻和现实的融合
  3. 加斯巴尔·伊龙
  4. 一
  5. 二
  6. 马丘洪
  7. 三
  8. 四
  9. 五
  10. 七戒梅花鹿
  11. 六
  12. 七
  13. 查洛·戈多伊上校
  14. 八
  15. 九
  16. 玛丽娅·特贡
  17. 十
  18. 十一
  19. 十二
  20. 邮差——野狼
  21. 十三
  22. 十四
  23. 十五
  24. 十六
  25. 十七
  26. 十八
  27. 十九
  28. 尾声
  29. 后记 得失寸心知 得失寸心知
  30. 附录

FAQ

How does this book compare with One Hundred Years of Solitude? Both are masterpieces of magical realism, but The Mulatto was published earlier and is regarded as a precursor. Compared with the family saga of One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Mulatto is more intensely mythic, more fragmented and poetic in structure, more directly rooted in the indigenous worldview, and more direct and sorrowful in its critique of social reality.
Is it very obscure and difficult to read? There is indeed a certain barrier to entry. The difficulty lies less in the language than in the distinctive narrative structure and the modes of thought deeply embedded in a particular culture. It is advisable to adjust your expectations and approach it as an immersive cultural and aesthetic experience rather than as traditional story consumption. If you persevere through the first half and gradually adapt to its rhythm, it becomes easier to settle into.
What is the core theme of the book? The core themes are multilayered: on the surface, the struggle over land and the clash of civilizations; at a deeper level, an elegy for the violated sacred bond between humanity and nature (symbolized by maize), an indictment of colonial violence and cultural extermination, and the reconstruction of national identity and memory through mythic narrative. It explores fundamental questions of faith, survival, and the continuity of civilization.

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About the author

米盖尔·安赫尔·阿斯图里亚斯 Author

Miguel Ángel Asturias was a Guatemalan writer, usually placed within the tradition of foreign literature in the Chinese-speaking world. Four of his works are included in this catalogue: The Eyes of the Interred (Corn Men, Classic Translations), Leyendas de Guatemala, Mr. President, and Corn Men. Because public information is limited, this note does not expand on the details of his life and focuses instead on his works. These titles suggest that his writing is closely tied to the land, legends, and political realities of Guatemala: on the one hand it draws on folk tales and myth, and on the other it confronts power and social injustice. Mr. President and Corn Men exemplify this dual orientation, the former turning toward politics and the latter rooted in rural life and collective memory. His works have been translated into Chinese, offering readers an important window into Latin American literature.

刘习良 Author

Liu Xiliang is an author about whom very little public information is available. What can be confirmed is concentrated in the foreign literary works he has helped translate and introduce. The library holds three of his works, including Corn Men (Translation Classics), Corn Men, and The Wrath of Heaven, all categorized under foreign literature and world classics, which suggests that his focus lies in bringing overseas fiction into the view of Chinese readers. The appearance of Corn Men in multiple editions indicates that this work occupies a relatively prominent place among his translations and reflects a certain continuity of the related versions among readers. Because his dates of birth and death, nationality, and educational background cannot be verified, little more can be said about his life. Judging only from the available bibliographic information, his translations serve the dissemination of classic works, with a tendency toward foreign fiction marked by regional color and narrative tension. For readers who encounter the originals through these translations, the language style and presentation of plot they find there are the most direct way to understand this translator.

笋继英 Author

Sun Jiyeng is an author about whom limited public information is available. The only confirmed work attributed to this name is The Corn People (玉米人), which appears in the library in two forms, including a “Translation Classics” edition, and is commonly classified under foreign literature. As the author's dates of birth and death, nationality, and English name cannot be verified, it is difficult to trace any biographical outline, and no other reliable background information is available for supplementation. Based on the existing material, the name Sun Jiyeng is chiefly associated with this translation or edited work, and readers' attention likewise centers on the book itself. Regarding this work, one may note that its inclusion in the “Translation Classics” series suggests the publisher considered its textual quality and readability, while its classification under foreign literature indicates that its content involves foreign subject matter or is translational in nature. In the absence of further public information, assessments of Sun Jiyeng should remain cautious: the author is best regarded as closely tied to The Corn People and still awaiting further discovery, rather than as a figure whose identity, experience, or full body of work can be inferred.