A poetic novel of class and race relations in the Peruvian Andes in the first half of the 20th century. Arguedas, who learned Quechua from household servants as a child, was an impassioned advocate of cultural autonomy for indigenous peoples. This edition includes the author's essay (written 18 years after the novel): Puquio: A Culture in the Process of Change. Rich in the textures of daily life in the Andes, Arguedas invented a language that mixed Spanish and Quechua syntax, making it difficult to translate. Frances Horning Barraclough (who also translated Deep Rivers) captures the rhythms of the original.  (PRU42, $15.50)