Men of Maize

“I find it difficult to imagine similar depth, whether by or about the Indigenous people, anywhere in Latin American literature. . . . The translation . . . is an achievement unto itself.” —Eduardo Galeano, Los Angeles Times

“No list about Guatemalan writers would be complete without mentioning an Asturias book. . . . Men of Maize . . . addresses the way of life of the Indigenous Maya population and its attempt to hold on to its culture . . . and tells the stories of what it means when one culture attempts and succeeds to impose itself upon the other—the loss of identities, spiritualities, and histories.” —Jared Lemus, Electric Literature

“Men of Maize is Asturias’s Mayan masterpiece, his Indigenous Ulysses, a deep dive into the forces that made and kept the Maya a subservient caste, and the perpetual resistance that kept Guatemala’s many Mayan cultures alive and resilient.” —Héctor Tobar, from the Foreword

“Men of Maize may one day be considered the most important book written in Central America since the so-called ‘Maya Bible’ or ‘Maya Genesis,’ the Popol Vuh. . . . [It] is the most ambitious novel ever written about the mysterious, fascinating, and tragic country that . . . became known as Guatemala. . . . Its contexts are excitingly diverse and its subtexts extraordinarily profound. . . . It has a tragic relevance for all of us that is even more immediate now than when it was written. . . . [It] is a profound meditation on the history of Guatemala . . . [and] a symbolic history of life on this planet, the whole vast world and universe viewed from the cruel and beautiful case study that was Guatemala. . . . There are few novels from which more can be learned.” —Gerald Martin, from the Introduction