The novel depicts the consequences of accelerated modernization of the port of Chimbote, motivated by the fishing boom; thousands of Andean immigrants arrive, attracted by the opportunity to earn a living in a thriving industrial city, while at the same time they assimilate themselves under the guise of 'modernity', all of which, from the point of the writer, brings dire consequences: loss of Andean cultural identity and its moral degeneracy, succumbing to the vices of the city in bars and brothels.

In letters to the Spanish editor Carlos Barral dated from that year, Arguedas tells him about a draft novel that would concern anchovy fishermen and the revolution produced by the fishmeal industry on the Peruvian coast.

[1] From other sources we know that the novelistic project was originally set in Puerto Supe, which also experienced the fishing boom, but was later displaced by Chimbote, where Arguedas traveled to several times to document and interview fishermen and port workers.

This "first diary" appeared in the journal Amaru and sparked controversy with the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, following intemperate criticism that he made regionalist or 'telluric' literature.

[2] It was a difficult time for the writer as he encountered a strong depressive crisis, which had already lead him to a previous suicide attempt (in 1966); he lived in continual battle against insomnia and pains in the neck and back.