The Maize People

The 20th century is the "star hour" of Latin American literature. The beginning of the new Latin American prose is generally considered to be the year 1949. It was then that the first "magical books" appeared - "The Maize People" by Asturias and the novella "The Kingdom of This World" by Alejo Carpentier. 
"In them lives the inner energy of poetic words" - this is what Miguel Ángel Asturias said about the novels of Latin American authors. "The Maize People" captures the reader from the very first words, immersing them in the dense atmosphere of magical realism. Events transform into legends, in which one cannot distinguish truth from lies, nor reality from fiction. 

The plot of the book is simple. Gaspar Ilom, who is guarded by rabbits with ears made of maize leaves, conspired with the indigenous people to stop greedy merchants from cutting down and burning the forest near the village of Pisiguillito. Many greedy ones met their end at his hands, and then Machohan, an Indian whose Spanish wife had remade him in her own image, bought poison and poisoned Gaspar. But one cannot simply kill a person if they are guarded by yellow rabbits, for whom there are no secrets, no threats, and no distances. The struggle continues. A new chapter begins a new story about very different people: a family suffering from curses, a blind man who has regained his sight searching for his runaway wife, a postman who turns into a coyote. The action spans both villages and cities. The author shows life as it is, marveling at every manifestation of it, from forest beasts to wise shamans, from maize fields to hurricanes in mountain ravines. All of this is his world, his country, his homeland. 

In "The Maize People" is the spirit of Guatemala, a history that cannot be found in reference books and encyclopedias. If you are interested in the culture of South America and are fond of the magical realism genre, do not pass it by. This is one of the best examples of Latin American literature from the genius writer who received the Nobel Prize in 1967.