Yawar Fiesta

José María Arguedas · 1911–1969 · Peru

Originally Yawar Fiesta (Spanish)

Why it matters

An Andean town's mestizo authorities try to replace its violent Indigenous bullfighting ritual with a tamer, imported version, and the community's resistance becomes a referendum on who owns Peru. Arguedas's first novel, laying out the ethnographic double vision Deep Rivers would later deepen.

At a glance

Quechua-inflected Spanish and a wide village ensemble cast reward slow, attentive reading.