EL KANIL: MAN OF LIGHTNING by No Author - 1982-01-01

Signal Books, 1982-01-01. Paperback. Very Good. Signed by Other. Signal Books[Published date: 1982] First and Limited Edition, #233 of 250 signed copies. Signed by Wallace Kaufman (English Version). Also Inscribed (personalized) and signed by Wallace Kaufman on title page. In very good condition. Brown illustrated paper wraps have light bumping to edges and Light overall scuffing. Binding tight (staple bound). Pages clean and unmarked. NOT Ex-Library. No remainder marks. In 1979, naturalist and former UNC-Chapel Hill professor Wallace Kaufman found himself on a bus in northern Guatemala with Pedro Antonio Montejo, who told him about his brother Victor, a schoolteacher and a writer of the stories of his Jakaltek people.That chance encounter resulted in Victor Montejo coming to North Carolina when it became too dangerous for him to remain in Guatemala. He briefly resided in Pittsboro, where his first book, El Kanil, was published in this English-language limited edition.In his eloquent prologue, Montejo notes the centrality of the legend for the people of Jacaltenango, Guatemala, and the fragility of Maya culture and human life during that period of war and repression:“In many ways if this story vanishes, a part of us will also vanish. . . . In the past few years many people have fled before the terror of political violence. We have had many times when it became very dangerous to speak out or to write one’s thoughts or encourage pride and independence. Knowing this it is easy for the written word to sneak quietly into hiding or to reproduce itself in unbeatable numbers, I record here the story of El Kanil, Man of Lighting.”