Jorge Icaza Coronel

Jorge Icaza Coronel (1906-1978), Ecuadorian author, best known for his novels, which challenge his government's treatment of the native peoples of Latin America. Icaza was born in Quito and educated at the Universidad Central de Quito from 1924 to 1927 and the Conservatorio Nacional from 1927 to 1928. After graduating, he wrote plays and acted, supporting himself by working in the government's treasury department from 1932 to 1937. In 1933, however, his play El dictador (The Dictator) was criticized by the authorities, and he turned to writing novels, retaining his job as a civil servant as well as becoming, from 1938 to 1944, a bookshop proprietor.

The publication of Icaza's first novel, Huasipungo (1934; translated 1962) may have caused the authorities to regret their censuring his play, for the book was not only an indictment of the treatment of the Native Americans of Ecuador by landowners, but was also enormously successful and translated into many different languages. The book describes how small fields given to Native Americans by landowners in exchange for their labor are then stolen back by the landowners. When the Native Americans protest, they are killed. The book, which was a frank criticism of capitalism and of exploitation of the Native Americans, was greeted with fury by the landowning classes and the church. However, others praised it for the strength and beauty of its language and for its realistic depiction of the events described in its pages.

After Huisapungo, Icaza continued to write novels and short stories, and returned to writing plays as well. His novels include En las calles (In the Streets, 1935) and El chulla Romero y Flores (The Loner Romero y Flores, 1958). From 1940 to 1973 Icaza traveled to universities all over the world as a guest lecturer. He also held diplomatic posts and served as Ecuador's ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Poland, and East Germany from 1973 to 1977.