His Name was Death

Synopsis

Never before in English, this legendary precursor to eco-fiction turns the coming insect apocalypse on its head A bitter drunk forsakes civilization and takes to the Mexican jungle, trapping animals, selling their pelts to buy liquor for colossal benders, and slowly rotting away in his fetid hut. His neighbors, a clan of the Lacodón tribe of Chiapas, however, see something more in him than he does himself (dubbing him Wise Owl): when he falls deathly ill, a shaman named Black Ant saves his life—and, almost by chance, in driving out his fever, she exorcises the demon of alcoholism as well. Slowly recovering, weak in his hammock, our antihero discovers a curious thing about the mosquitoes’ buzzing, “which to human ears seemed so irritating and pointless.” Perhaps, in fact, it constituted a language he might learn—and with the help of a flute and a homemade dictionary—even speak. Slowly, he masters Mosquil, with astonishing consequences… Will he harness the mosquitoes’ global might? And will his new powers enable him to take over the world that’s rejected him? A book far ahead of its time, His Name Was Death looks down the double-barreled shotgun of ecological disaster and colonial exploitation—and cackles a graveyard laugh.

Copyright:

1947

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9780811230841

Related ISBNs:

9780811230834

Publisher:

New Directions

Date of Addition:

11/02/21

Copyrighted By:

Rafael Bernal

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Literature and Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Translator:

Kit Schluter