Respected Linguist Translates Classic 19th-Century Novel into English for the First Time

No study of nineteenth-century Mexican literature, and literature in general, is complete without mention of "The Bandits from Rio Frio." In the 120 some years since its first publication, it has gone through more than a dozen different printings and been loved and read by generations since. It has become a staple in Mexican bookstores and is widely read in high schools and universities, and was a treasured bookshelf addition of famous Mexicans, Leon Trotsky, Frieda Khalo and many other luminaries.

Part I (of two) of this classic has been translated into English for the first time by respected linguist Alan Fluckey.

Los Bandidos de Río Frío (The Bandits from Río Frío) by famed Mexican author Manuel Payno is a naturalistic and humorous epic tale of customs, crimes and horrors. It is equal parts adventure, a sociological study of Mexican society, melodrama, romance, mystery and travel guide, all marvelously blended under the brilliant words and intense vision of a literary scholar.

Following in the footsteps of great authors like Charles Dickens, Payno wrote the novel in monthly installments between 1889 and 1891. Each chapter was written, edited and shipped to Mexico before the next was written. Each chapter had to stand on its own and be interesting in and of itself as well and serve as "cliffhanger" to entice the reader to purchase the next installment. Payno knew he had to keep them laughing, crying; but more importantly keep them hanging on.

The Bandits from Río Frío is a unique novel based on a series of true events. Payno employed a method and style to his writing considered unfashionable to the literary world, yet has drawn him millions of readers over the decades. Though fiction, if you read between the lines you would find an early travel guide to the Mexican heartland. Most importantly, in the heart of the book one finds an author's pride in his native country, a love story between Payno and Mexico which shines through in its famous "Mexicanisms."

Respected Spanish Linguist Alan Fluckey, a Humanities Fellowship recipient for studying indigenous literature in Mexico City, decided to reveal Payno's literary gift to the English-speaking world. Having taught Spanish for 25 years, he felt prepared and qualified to take on the enormous task of translating this epic novel into English for the first time. "Manuel Payno has lovingly preserved a Mexican society now largely gone," Fluckey explains, "yet somehow still familiar, still recognizable within the modern republic. He has defined what it means to be Mexican, and his themes resonate today as powerfully as they did a hundred years ago." "With its thoroughly unique literary style, and what some term as 'defects," Fluckey adds, "The Bandits from Río Frío deserves to be recognized and studied as a faithful rendering of Mexican life in another time. It deserves its place among the significant novels in world literature."

Alan Fluckey received a B.A. in English from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, an M.A in Native American History from the University of Utah, and a diploma from the Academía Hispanoamericana in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. He has taught English and Spanish for twenty-five years, at all levels from Kindergarten through University in both public and private schools.

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