Underdogs

Gustavo Pellon is Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Virginia.

Pellon's translation marks a clear improvement over the previous English versions of this seminal novel. Pellon captures the crisp, tense, and terse dialogue of Azuela's original, and I believe that his decision to leave some words in Spanish is a good one, given that most of the words involved are already well known to the non-Spanish speaking public. The retention of these Spanish words adds flavor to the translation without turning it into a 'Taco Bell' version of the novel. I am so enthusiastic about Pellon's translation that I believe it should become the standard edition of Los de Abajo read in America. . . In short, this new translation is worthy of the classic on which it is based. I will certainly use it in my courses, but more to the point, I will recommend it to my colleagues teaching courses on English literature, Comparative literature, and American studies. --Roberto González Echevarria, Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literatures, Yale University