Birds Without a Nest - A Novel: A Story of Indian Life and Priestly Oppression in Peru

"I love the native race with a tender love, and so I have observed its customs closely, enchanted by their simplicity, and, as well, the abjection into which this race is plunged by small-town despots, who, while their names may change, never fail to live up to the epithet of tyrants. They are no other than, in general, the priests, governors, caciques, and mayors." So wrote Clorinda Matto de Turner in Aves sin nido, the first major Spanish American novel to protest the plight of native peoples.

First published in 1889, Birds without a Nest drew fiery protests for its unsparing expose of small town officials, judicial authorities, and priests who oppressed the native peoples of Peru. Matto de Turner was excommunicated by the Catholic Church and burned in effigy. Yet her novel was strongly influential; indeed, Peruvian President Andres Avelino Caceres credited it with stimulating him to pursue needed reforms.

In 1904, the novel was published in a bowdlerized English translation with a modified ending. This edition restores the original ending and the translator's omissions. It will be important reading for all students of the indigenous cultures of South America.

List of contents

• Foreword
• Author's Preface
• Part One
  • 1. The Town of Killac
  • 2. The Yupanqui Family
  • 3. Indian Loans, 500 Per Cent
  • 4. White House
  • 5. Priest and Governor
  • 6. Juan's Return Home
  • 7. Fernando's Gift to Lucia
  • 8. Danger Ahead
  • 9. A Stratagem
  • 10. Rosalia Restored
  • 11. Doña Petronila
  • 12. Marcela Pays the Priest
  • 13. Sold to Rochino
  • 14. The Plot
  • 15. The Assault
  • 16. Hope Renewed
  • 17. Evil Deeds
  • 18. The Indian's Gratefulness
  • 19. Melitona Gleaning News
  • 20. The Burial of Juan
  • 21. Manuel and His Mother
  • 22. The Instigators Interviewed
  • 23. A Secret Revealed
  • 24. A Shot That Missed Its Mark
  • 25. Marcela Follows Juan
  • 26. The Priest's Confession
  • 27. Sebastian's Bad Conscience
• Part Two
  • 28. Fernando and the judge
  • 29. Manuel, a Good Teacher
  • 30. Colonel Paredes
  • 31. Tired of Killac
  • 32. No Need of a Warrant
  • 33. The Wrong One Imprisoned
  • 34. Going to Lima
  • 35. Father Pascual's Solitude
  • 36. Talking It Over
  • 37. Fleecing the Indian
  • 38. Margarita and Manuel
  • 39. Doubts, Fears, and Hopes
  • 40. Teodora's Escape
  • 41. The Pursuit
  • 42. Manuel's Birth Veiled
  • 43. The Hide, Then the Flesh
  • 44. A Heroine of Love
  • 45. One Against Five Thousand
  • 46. Fernando Enlightens Lucia
  • 47. Martina Visits Isidro
  • 48. Fernando's Proposal
  • 49. The Departure and Arrest
  • 50. Comments
  • 51. To the Station
  • 52. Manuel Follows
  • 53. The Journey by Rail
  • 54. The Prisoners Released
  • 55. A Terrible Shock
  • 56. Grand Imperial Hotel
  • 57. The Agate Cross
  • 58. Birds without a Nest
  
  
  

  About the author

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  By Clorinda Matto de Turner
  
  

  Summary

  Presents a story of Indian life and priestly oppression in Peru.

Product details

• Authors: Clorinda Matto De Turner, Clorinda Matto de Turner, Clorinda Matto De Turner
• Assisted by: Naomi Lindstrom (Editor), J G H (Translation), J.G. H. (Translation)
• Publisher: University Of Texas Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.1996
• EAN: 9780292751958
• ISBN: 978-0-292-75195-8
• No. of pages: 206
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 216 mm x 13 mm
• Weight: 298 g
• Series: Texas Pan American Series; Classicos/Clasicos; Classicos/Clasicos; Texas Pan American Series
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature