Novel
Our Daily Bread
Nuestro pan
Enrique Gil Gilbert · 1942
Synopsis
The rice fields of the lower Guayas, from clearing to sale. The day labourers fell the forest, sow, harvest, and watch their share melt away in the hands of the plantation owner. A second line traces the career of Hermógenes Sandoval, a Liberal general turned wealthy hacendado, and shows by what chances the land changed masters; then his only son, Eusebio, returns to the estate as a doctor. The title says what rice is in this country, everyday food for all.
Context
The manuscript entered the 1941 competition for unpublished Latin American novels run by the New York firm Farrar and Rinehart, which was won by El mundo es ancho y ajeno by Ciro Alegría. The book appeared the following year in Guayaquil, from Vera, and Dudley Poore translated it into English as early as 1943; it has also appeared in German and in Czech. It has four books; critics have praised the first, that of the pioneer settlers, and debated the last, which moves from collective narrative to a private story. Its author published no more fiction for twenty-five years.
Who it is for
In Spanish; translated into English in 1943, never into French. It helps to know that rice is the daily staple of the Ecuadorian coast.
Prizes and reception
Distinguished by the publisher Farrar and Rinehart, with an honourable mention or second place depending on the sources; Benjamín Carrión saw it as a masterpiece.