The Lean Lands

What was it that flew over with such a terrifying roar? Was it, as many said, the devil, or was it that thing a few had heard of, a flying machine? And those electric lights at Jacob Gallos farm, were they witchcraft or were they science? The theme of this harshly powerful novel is the impact of modern technology and ideas on a few isolated, tradition-bound hamlets in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The old ways are represented by Epifanio Trujillo, the cacique of the region, now ailing and losing his grip on things; by ancient Madre Matiana, the regions midwife, healer, counselor, and oracle; by penniless Rmulo and his wife Merced. Progress is represented by Don Epifanios bastard son Jacob, who acquired money and influence elsewhere during the Revolution and who now, against his fathers will, brings electricity, irrigation, fertilizers, and other modernities to the lean landstogether with armed henchmen. The conflict between the old and the new builds slowly and inexorably to a violent climax that will long remain in the readers memory. The author has given psychological and historical depth to his story by alternating the passages of narrative and dialogue with others in which several of the major characters brood on the past, the present, and the future. For instance, Matiana, now in her eighties, touchingly remembers how she was married and widowed before she had reached her seventeenth birthday. This dual technique is superbly handled, so that people and events have both a vivid actuality and an inner richness of meaning. The impact of the narrative is intensified by the twenty-one striking illustrations by Alberto Beltrn.