The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution

Mariano Azuela

A translation of the novel from Spanish, which was first published as a newspaper serial in around 1915. A good scholarly introduction to this edition tells us that first, the title is not right. The underdogs suggests disadvantaged sports team overcoming all odds to win something. And while this is one possible reading, the translation is probably better as "the people beneath". In fact, it is a story of survival, of poverty fighting against political power and then not knowing how to "win" or to stop fighting, how war is an intoxicating/addictive drug. Demetrio is a guerrilla revolutionary who has some military success based on his fearlessness, leadership, and ferocity. This is  his story, about the transition from a two ox farmer to a general, his own recognition of his changing identity, and his inability (disinterest?) in stopping the change. And somehow, even in victory, the people beneath are still beneath...
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