Los que se van is a collection of short stories published in 1930 by Ecuadorian writers Demetrio Aguilera Malta, JoaquÃÂn Gallegos Lara, and Enrique Gil Gilbert, members of the so-called Guayaquil Group. The work is considered the most famous short story collection in Ecuadorian literature, and marked a definitive break with the costumbrista literature that had previously dominated the national literary scene.
The collection contains 24 short stories depicting the lives of coastal Ecuadorian peasants. Set in the rural areas of Ecuador's coast, the stories explore the daily struggles of characters who represent the montubio and cholo populations, highlighting their poverty and interactions with family and the land.
The book was published in 1930 by Zea y Paladines in Guayaquil. Upon release, it was met with strong criticism from conservative literary circles, who objected to its crude language and the perceived exaggeration in its narratives. The authors were accused of trying to create international scandal and tarnish the country's image by portraying characters driven by lust, alcohol, or jealousy.
Los que se van is noted for its use of language, narrative techniques, and thematic focus, which marked a departure from costumbrismo that dominated Ecuadorian literature in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work is widely recognized as a precursor to Latin American social realism and magical realism. The stories in Los que se van are written within the framework of literary realism, a movement that sought to portray social reality through literature. They employ several hallmarks of the realist style, including colloquial language, vivid depictions of everyday life, social critique of marginalized communities, and the use of archetypal characters to represent collective experiences.
The stories in the collection are characterized by their use of colloquial language and an emphasis on oral expression. The authors incorporate regional dialects of cholos and montubios, reproducing phonetic features such as metaplasms (e.g. desgraciao for ', naide for ') to reflect authentic speech. Themes vary across the authors, though unfulfilled desire appears as a central motif throughout the collection. Demetrio Aguilera Malta's stories frequently center on protagonists driven by desire and often include scenes of rape and murder in markedly machista settings. JoaquÃÂn Gallegos Lara focuses more on superstition and idealized portrayals of nature, although lust also motivates many of his characters. Enrique Gil Gilbert employs more lyrical language, with some stories exploring the nature of evil and death; the theme of the woman as an unattainable object is also recurrent in his work.
The collection comprises 24 stories: 8 by each author.