Poetry
Boletín y elegía de las mitas
Not translated into English
César Dávila Andrade · 1959
Synopsis
A long poem in free verse in which the Indians subjected to the mita, the forced labour imposed by the Spanish colonists, speak in the first person. The witnesses introduce themselves one by one by name, recall their dead and report the abuses they suffered, in a litany that is at once prayer, testimony and a trial brought against the conquerors.
Context
The poem has 287 lines of free verse, which at times verge on prose, and blends poetry, theatre, prayer and historical document. It won second prize in a national competition organised by the daily El Mercurio, and is often compared with Pablo Neruda's Alturas de Macchu Picchu. Translated into Quechua, it was staged in 1967 by Fabio Paccioni, then became a cantata by Edgar Palacios, first performed in Quito in 1990, and a scenic cantata by Mesías Maiguashca in 2007. It has not been translated into French or English.
Who it is for
For hearing the voices of the Indians of the mita in a poem that is part testimony, part prayer, part indictment.
Prizes and reception
María Auxiliadora Balladares sees it as the culmination of the Indigenist avant-garde in Ecuador; Caroline Berge reads in it an aim more mystical than political.