AZUELA, MARIANO

born Jan. 1, 1873, Lagos de Moreno, Mex. died March 1, 1952, Mexico City writer whose 20 novels chronicle almost every aspect of the Mexican Revolution. Azuela received an M.D. degree in Guadalajara in 1899 and practiced medicine, first in his native town and after 1916 in Mexico City. His best-known work, Los de abajo (1916; The Under Dogs), depicting the horrors of the revolution, was written at the campfire during forced marches while he served as an army doctor with Pancho Villa in 1915. Forced to flee across the border to El Paso, Texas, he first published the novel as a newspaper serial (OctoberDecember 1915). It received little notice until it was discovered in 1924. It widely influenced other Mexican novelists of social protest and was translated into several languages. Returning from Texas to Mexico City in 1916, Azuela, disillusioned with the revolutionary struggle, wrote novels critical of the new regime: Las moscas (1918) and Los caciques (1917; together translated as Two Novels of Mexico: The Flies. The Bosses); Las tribulaciones de una familia decente (1918; The Trials of a Respectable Family). Azuela experimented with stylistic devices in such later novels as La malhora (1923; The Evil Hour), El desquite (1925; Revenge), and La lucirnaga (1932; The Firefly). His complete works appeared in three volumes in 195860.