este libro es una obra maestra de la literatura, es lirico, por la forma de expresion de sus personajes, es coloquial en sus expresiones, es de alcance enorme en su tematica. un dictador que tiene control absoluto sobre todo y todos y utiliza el mejor servicio de inteligencia del mundo:el miedo de las personas que las hace delatar hasta lo mas minimo de sus vecinos, amigos o familiares.. es tambien una historia de amor, de un amor especial, lirico onirico frustrante, que termina mal. es tambien la historia de un general cobarde que huye de la muerte dejando a su hija, solo para darse cuenta de que ha estado muerto todos estos anos al estar al servicio de quienes explotan al pueblo. es la historia de una madre que ve morir a su hijo en sus brazos y no puede hacer nada, solamente perder la razon, pues cuando la cordura es tan irreal solo la sinrazon nos queda como alternativa viable para seguir vivos. esta novela tambien esta llena de experimentacion con el lenguaje a un nivel y con una altura excepcional, se nota que el escritor trabajo arduamente en su obra, mas de 10 anos para terminarla y utilizo elementos de faulkner y de joyce, bastante bien usados y pertinentes en esta novela. creo que el abrio la puerta de las letras latinoamericanas para la experimentacion y el avance.

no me basto con decir que este libro es excelente tuve que explicar porque es excelente para que no pase desapercibido y se pierda como joya en la tormenta....

LUIS MENDEZ

crazzyteacher@hotmail.com

Libro que lanzó a la fama Miguel Angel Asturias ganando el premio nobel de literatura en 1967. Señor Presidente retrata la epoca del dictador guatemalteco Estrada Cabrera,y denúncia las atrocidades cometidas por los que estaban en el poder.Realmente muy impresionante.

Este libro menciona las mas duras cualidades de una presidencia. Ademas incluye experiencias propias para darle mas poder a las descripciones que el autor hace. Incluso, el autor se pone dentro de la novelas para darle mayor fuerza a lo que esta escribiendo porque el ha vivido esos momentos de angustias y dolor. Lo recomiendo de verdad. Ademas es un libro que no debe de faltar en su biblioteca.

I read this great book by Miguel Angel Asturias a few years ago. It is set in the beautiful yet corrupt country of Guatemala, where justice is rarely done. The book is masterfully written by Guatemala's best know author and nobel prize winner, Miguel Angel Asturias. I definitely recomend this book to anyone looking for an entertaining and revealing look at Guatemala's former political and social situation, one that can still be seen in many countries of the world.

No book compares to the Mulata. Not just in quality, though it's a wonderful book, or in prose style, though it's beautifully and psychedelically (yes) written, but in topic, which is as far out there yet as perfectly (il)logical as anything I've ever read. Based it seems on Guatemalan mythology, the plot follows a poor farmer (name forgotten by me) who starts out dissatisfied with his economic state and makes a deal with Tazol, the corn-husk devil, an enigmatic being whose first request of him is that he go to market with his fly open to lead the town's women into temptation (thus the title of the other translation, "the Mulata and Mr. Fly"). He ends up divorcing his wife (in a sense; he turns her into a kind of inanimate doll) and marrying a Mulata, who is doubly-sexed and indeterminately dangerous. The book continues to interact with more demons, witches, beasts, gods, etc, etc. Pure loveliness. There is none better. If someone would only translate "Leyendas de Guatemala" ... the itch for more might be scratched, but as it is, this is your only option. and a necessary one.

Asturias writes like no one I have ever read before, but what irked me was the constant dependency on the back of the book for keys as to what anything meant. Much of it comes from the legends of the Mayan culture which I'm sure most people don't know concisely enough to know parts of the Mayan "bible." For the more patient reader, it is an amazing set of tales, but without the critical edition, I think one might become devoured by the profundity it entails, and comprehend only the title. From what I read however, I realized that we are dealing with an unorthodox writer, a shaman with words, and the predecessor of Marquez.

The book is a excelent review of investigation about "Men of maize". I'd apreciate if you could send me the address (email, phone, city etc.) of Gerald Martin. I want to contact him because I'like to send him a article about Asturias book. Sincerly yours Dr. Oscar Vinueza.

Men of Maize is an incredible tale of Indian life in Latin America during the early twentieth century, woven poetically by Asturias. In six parts he simultaneously creates and re-tells history, blurring the distinctions between reality and myth. He interweaves the past, present and future, giving the background tale, then continuing on to show how that tale would become the folklore of the future.

In Maize, there is a strong undercurrent of the clash of cultures that fuels the fires of conflict between the Ladinos, Mestizos and Indians. The Indians see themselves as made of maize, and to have their flesh and blood grown by foreigners for profit is abhorrent to them. As they are evermore forced off their land to clear fields for the commercial maizegrowers they begin to rebel. It is here that Asturias starts his novel, with an attack on Indian Chief Gaspar Ilóm led by soldiers and maizegrowers. The death of Ilóm, one of the magical firefly wizards, wreaks a cycle of revenge that affects all who were involved. A series of battles ensue, and tensions rise, giving way to permanent distrust and dislike between the two groups. Asturias then takes the reader farther through time, showing how the past discords (and the legends that arose from it) give hope and motivation to the generations of the future, as they struggle against the same forces their ancestors struggled with. He creates the tales of many different players in different periods of time, such as the great Chief Ilóm, the Indian postman, and Goyo Yic, the blind Indian beggar. Asturias connects these seemingly unrelated lives with a common theme: each man is gradually alienated from a "progressing" society through losing his land, his woman, and eventually his own self. By this Asturias describes the reality for an indigenous person living in an ever-fluctuating post-colonial Latin America.

Crucial to understanding this clash of cultures is understanding the Indian way of life. For the indigenous of Latin America, the answer to everything lay in the every day activities and choices of the people. The Maya are a highly ritualized culture, even the smallest activity, such as eating or drinking, is governed by unwritten rules. The clothes, the huipil, the essential food, maize, and the petate mat on which they sleep, each play their part in appeasing a higher power (by now syncretized into a Christian God). Asturias makes hundreds of references to these daily activities and the beliefs they represent. Of central importance is the maize, the crop of the Maya, their sustenance, and the basis for their existence. To interfere with the growing of the maize is to interfere with the very core of a Maya, himself being made of maize. Another recurring theme in this book is the importance of the nahual, or "soul double" that each person is assigned at birth. The nahuales take the form of animals, and those animals serve as a connection for each person to the animal world, as aides and companions.

In a loose sense the novel does progress linearly through the years of the early 1900's, though the reader immediately feels a more cyclical motion of time. Often unsure of how much time has passed between stories, and whether the events being described are in "real" time or dream time, the reader is swirled into the reality of the tale. However, by the end of the book the reader, almost surprised, finds each story tied to another in some form, with the final revelation of the identity of the betrayess, María Tecún, completing all cycles.

Asturias' ability to write from the native perspective is amazing. He has succeeded in making this novel a mystical and magical experience for the reader. Through his poetic language Asturias places the reader right in the heart of the forest, with magical fireflies swarming about and rain pelting down on the dusty paths. He has masterfully recreated in writing the lack of acknowledgement of time that is pervasive throughout Latin America. It is no easy feat to put in writing la magia de lo real, or, the magic of reality, and Asturias has done it well. He has shared with the reader an existence contrary to "Western" consciousness, where no thing is governed by "Western" rules, yet this existence found itself trying to reconcile itself with the ever-"Westernizing" world. Through fiction Asturias painst the picture of reality - the cruelty and tragedy of the idigenous struggle to survive in post-colonial Latin America.

Although the storyline is great, I found the novel to be hard to follow as it jumped from here to there. I never did find out- Why did the President hate Abel Carvajal and General Canales so much?????

Is this a difficult read? yes, and especially if you're not used to latinamerican literature or of 'magical realism'. Is it fascinating, entrancing and a rewarding experince? YES, and then more. After reading a lot of books you come to appreciate it when an author tries a lot of different styles and plays around with time and space and creates fascinating multi-layered characters, characters which are not clean-drawn from the beginning and you never really know their true intentions of their true nature (until the very end of course). This adds a lot of suspense to the novel. Although it is far from being just a suspense novel, it has romance in it, social commentary, statements on human-nature and politics, bits of comedy, lots of dreamlike surrealistic sequences and quirky characters. It is a hard and heavy read though, I found myself rereading complete chapters to fully digest the story and tone, it is all well worth it though. The story is excellent and very involving, so are the characters, but if you relish literature and how far it can reach an audience as an art form, than you will be fascinated by Asturias's prose, it is so dense and thick that when you finish you feel like you read twice as many pages and 'experienced' a lot of varied emotions. The ending could come as a surpise to many, I'm not going to give it away, only to say that you dont notice how much you are fond of the characters themselves till you feel their pain in the last chapters. Beautiful novel and one of the best examples of why the BOOM of latinamerican writers in that period. This is one of the best of that period and it has aged well. If you liked this I would recommend anything from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who uses a lighter more fun prose) or Juan Rulfo (genius, short novels that pack a punch). Be warned though, take your time with this one, it is well worth your efforts. A solid 9.5 out of 10!

One of the best books I have ever read.

Before Viet Nam, U.S. supported oppresive regimes like the one depicted in this book, were common in Latin America and in other countries around the world like South Viet Nam.

Then the Vietnamese beat the living cr*p out of the United States in the Viet Nam War and the U.S. Goverment came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea after all to support highly unpopular tyrants, like Somoza in Nicaragua, Marcos in the Philippines, or the Shah in Iran.

Those tyrants are history now. The U.S. noriegized them out of office.

But if you want to have an idea of how bad it was 20 years ago, read this book.

"The Mirror of Lida Sal," by Miguel Angel Asturias, is a noteworthy piece of 20th century fiction by a giant of Guatemalan literature. Subtitled "Tales Based on Mayan Myths and Guatemalan Legends," this volume has been translated into English by Gilbert Alter-Gilbert.

In this book, Asturias draws upon Central American history and culture to create several fascinating short pieces. His style (as I read it through Alter-Gilbert's translation) is psychedelic and florid; Asturias mixes realistic and fantastic elements throughout the book. The result is comparable to a prose version of the paintings of Spanish artist Salvador Dali.

I don't find all of the stories in "The Mirror of Lida Sal" to be equally effective. At times, Asturias' indulgence in ornate wordplay seems to overwhelm plot and characterization. But this is still a richly rewarding volume for the attentive reader. Some of the major themes of the book include magic, transformation, and cultural hybridization.

The best pieces in the book include the title story, which tells of a working class mulatta's attempt to ensnare the man of her desire; "Anteater Juan," a bizarre fantasy; and "Legend of the Silent Bell," a story of religious fanaticism and trans-Atlantic intrigue in colonial Central America. Miguel Angel Asturias is one of the most important figures in Latin American literature, and "The Mirror of Lida Sal" is definitely worth gazing into.