And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomás Rivera | Introduction & Overview

And the Earth Did Not Devour Him Introduction

Originally published in Spanish as … y no se lo tragó la tierra,… And the Earth Did Not Devour Him is a seminal work of Chicano literature and one of the first books in the emerging literature of Mexican Americans. Its success made author Tomás Rivera a leading figure in this genre. Written in 1967 and 1968, the book was awarded the premiere Quinto Sol Prize for literature in 1970…. Y no se lo tragó la tierra was first published in 1971 in a bilingual edition, with an English translation by Herminio Ríos. A later translation by Evangelina Vigil-Piñón, first published in 1988, is considered the definitive English version.

From its first publication,… And the Earth Did Not Devour Him has been praised by critics for its depiction of the harsh life of migrant agricultural workers in the United States, its sense of realism that had previously not been...
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