Son of Man

Augusto Roa Bastos · 1917–2005 · Paraguay

Originally Hijo de hombre (Spanish) · translated by Rachel Caffyn

Why it matters

Nine linked episodes trace Paraguayan peasants through dictatorship, rebellion, and the brutal Chaco War against Bolivia, a national wound narrated in fragments. Roa Bastos's first novel, the rough draft of the historical reckoning I, the Supreme would later complete.

At a glance

Nine loosely linked episodes and shifting narrators require piecing together a fragmented chronology.