Book description
The first English translation of an Argentinean classic.
Argentina, 1839. A young man dies for his political beliefs when
attacked by a mob in a slaughteryard used to butcher cattle.
The story takes place at the height of Juan Manuel de Rosas' reign of
terror. Though fictional, it is an open indictment of that brutal regime
and the first masterwork of Latin-American literature, orginally
published twenty years after the author's death. El matadero, or The
Slaughteryard, is reputed to be the most widely studied school text in
Spanish-speaking South America.
Available now for the first time in a modern English translation this is
a story that in well over a century has lost none of its freshness and
popularity. This edition is the fruit of years of research into
little-known corners of Argentine literature and history, including an
extensive glossary, the story's rare first printed version, and an
appendix of reports by early English travellers to the River Plate,
including Charles Darwin.
This is an uncompromising and unforgettable story of huge force and
power which richly deserves a wide English-speaking audience. Born in
Buenos Aires in 1805, Esteban Echeverria was a poet and moral thinker
who, owing to his uncompromising ideals, was forced into a long,
militant exile in Uruguay. He died there, in penury, in 1851.
