米盖尔·安赫尔·阿斯杜里亚斯(Miguel Angel Asturias,1899-)是我国读者熟悉的危地马拉的著名诗人和作家。一九五六年他曾应邀来我国参加鲁迅逝世二十周年纪念会。本刊一九五九年三月号曾刊载他的传略,读者可以查阅。他的以揭露和控诉一九五四年美帝国主义者勾结危地马拉叛国分子进行武装干涉,颠复了阿本斯政府为主题的短篇小说集《危地马拉的周末》(Week-end en Guatemala),曾引起许多国家的读者的注意。我国已出版了这个集子的头两篇作品:《危地马拉的周末》和《他们都是美国佬》(I Americanos Todos!)的合刊本;另一篇作品《美洲豹33号》(Ocelotle 33)也已经在本刊一九五九年三月号发表。《鼓声》原名《女霸王》(La Galla),也是译自这本短篇小说集。这篇作品从另一个角度反映了阿本斯政府时期进行的土地改革,并且揭露了美帝国主义勾结危地马拉反动势力,推翻了阿本斯政权,实行血腥统治的一个侧面。在这篇小说中,作者还描绘了印第安人的风俗画面。危地马拉原是古代玛雅文化的中心。这里的印第安人在西班牙殖民者入侵之前,已具有相当高的文化。但自殖民者入侵后,他们被迫退居较偏僻的山乡,受尽殖民者各方面的侵略,生产和文化都不能随时代的进步而发展,处于落后状态,保留了不少迷信的习惯,正如小说里所描写的情景。因此,尽管阿本斯政府所实行的土地改革对他们有利,但是印第安人的迷信组织“祭神会”的主持人迭戈·温·伊格仍向一位老人问卜吉凶。这是具有浓厚的迷信色彩的。这些目前仍处于落后状况的少数民族,在反革命复辟后,同样被美帝国主义和危地马拉的反动派硬加上“共产党人”的罪名,惨遭屠杀。小说揭露了帝国主义者、殖民主义者的凶恶面目,他们是典型的种族歧视者。 Miguel Angel Asturias (1899-) is a well-known Guatemala poet and writer familiar to our readers. In 1956 he was invited to our country to attend the commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the death of Lu Xun. Our magazine published his biography in March 1959 and can be accessed by readers. His act of exposing and prosecuting the armed intervention by U.S. imperialists in colluding with Guatemalan insurgents in 1954 reversed the Week-end en Guatemala, a short story collection by the Abbasid government, Aroused the attention of readers in many countries. My country has published the first two works of this collection: “The weekend of Guatemala” and “I Americanos Todos!”; And the other, “Ocelotle 33” It has also been published in March 1959. Drum, formerly known as La Galla, was also translated from this short story collection. This work, on the other hand, reflects the land reform carried out during the Arbus government period and exposes one aspect of the bloody rule that the U.S. imperialists collude with the Guatemalan reactionary forces and overthrows the Abbasid government. In this novel, the author also portrays Indians’ custom pictures. Guatemala was originally the ancient Mayan culture center. The Indians here have a very high culture before the invasion of the Spanish colonists. However, since the colonists invaded, they were forced to retreat to the more remote townships. As a result, aggression by all quarters of colonists was abolished. Both production and culture can not develop with the progress of the times. They are in a backward state and have retained a lot of superstitious habits , As the scenario described in the novel. Therefore, despite the land reform implemented by the Abbas government, which is beneficial to them, Diego Winger, the victim of the Indian superstition, “Sacrifice God,” still tells an old man about good and bad. This is a strong superstition. After the counter-revolutionary restoration, these minorities still underdeveloped were similarly massacred by the “communists” accusations of the U.S. imperialists and Guatemalan reactionaries. The novel exposes the ferocious faces of imperialists and colonialists, who are typical racists.