José María Arguedas (18 January 1911 – 28 November 1969) was a Peruvian novelist. January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1911 is a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

Generally considered one of the greats of 20th century Peruvian letters, Arguedas was born in the province of Andahuaylas in the southern Peruvian Andes. He was brought up in poverty amongst the Quechua Indians, and knew Quechua before he knew Spanish. Eventually he ended going to the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos where he studied anthropology. He worked as an anthropologist for the rest of his life. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Quechua (Standard Quechua, Runasimi Language of People) is an Native American language of South America. ... Quechua (Standard Quechua, Runasimi Language of People) is an Native American language of South America. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος = human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ...

Arguedas began by writing short stories about the Indian environment he was brought up in, in a Spanish highly influenced by Quechua syntax and vocabulary. By the time of his first novel, Yawar Fiesta, he had begun to explore the theme that would obsess him for the rest of his career: the clash between (white) 'civilised' civilisation, and the Indian, 'traditional' way of life. In this he was part of the Indianista movement in South American literature. He continued to explore this theme in his next two books Los Ríos Profundos (trans. "Deep Rivers") (1961) and Todos los Sangres (1964). Despite the continued influence of Indian grammar on his style, these remained more or less in the realist tradition. Arguedas had remained moderately optimistic about the possibility of a rapprochement between the forces of 'tradition' and the forces of 'modernity' up until this point, but as the 'sixties developed he became more pessimistic. In his last work El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (Trans. "The Fox From Up Above and the Fox From Down Below") (1969) he abandoned realism for a more postmodern approach. This novel expressed his despair that the 'primitive' ways of the Indians could survive against the onslaught of modern technology and capitalism. In a deep depression, Arguedas committed suicide in 1969. Quechua (Standard Quechua, Runasimi Language of People) is an Native American language of South America. ... In linguistics, syntax is the study of the rules, or patterned relations, that govern the way the words in a sentence come together. ... A vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other entity, or that are part of a specific language. ... Indianista is movement in South American literature that explored the beliefs and lifestyles of the indigenous inhabitants. ... Realism is commonly defined as a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century...

Works Available in English

Deep Rivers (2002) Waveland Press. ISBN 157766244X

Yawar Fiesta (2002) Waveland Press. ISBN 1577662458

The Fox from Up Above and the Fox from Down Below (2000) University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0822957183

Critical Studies

Ciro A. Sandoval and Sandra M. Boschetto-Sandoval (eds) Jose Maria Arguedas. (1998) Ohio University Press. ISBN 0896802000

External link

• "Jose Maria Arguedas: Godfather of Liberationism" (http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1072), by Stephen B. Wall-Smith