^#smrgSAHAF The Novels of Mexico: The Flies, The Bosses -

Forty.five years ago, in a still relatively tranquil world, the Mexican revolution exploded the long, sinister quiet of the Diaz dictatorship was broken by Villa and Zapata and their avenging mobs of peons and vaqueros. Mariano Azuela (1873-1952), most famous Mexican author of his day, was a doctor in Villa's army.

Taking refuge in El Paso after Villa's defeat, he wrote a series of poignant and often hilarious sketches, together with a full-length novel. The Underdogs, which is considered a masterpiece of Hispanic American literature. The Flies and The Bosses, two remarkable vignettes of the revolution (here translated into English for the first time) were written in hot anger, direct from life; they show Azuela as a skeptic and realist who was nevertheless full of charity for his troubled people.

Lesley Byrd Simpson, author of Many Mexicos, The Encomienda in New Spain, and various specialized studies in Mexican history, and translator of The Celestina, is Professor Emeritus of Spanish at the University of California.