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The University of Chicago Press
May 2012
On Sale: May 3, 2012
440 pages
ISBN: 0226279200
EAN: 9780226279206
Kindle: B0097E4LFK
Paperback / e-Book
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Multicultural Fiction | Fiction Family Life | Romance
Rómulo Gallegos is best known for being Venezuela’s first
democratically elected president. But in his native land he
is equally famous as a writer responsible for one of
Venezuela’s literary treasures, the novel Doña
Barbara. Published in 1929 and all but forgotten by
Anglophone readers, Doña Barbara is one of the first
examples of magical realism, laying the groundwork for later
authors such as Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas
Llosa.
Following the epic struggle between two
cousins for an estate in Venezuela, Doña Barbara is
an examination of the conflict between town and country,
violence and intellect, male and female. Doña Barbara is a
beautiful and mysterious woman—rumored to be a witch—with a
ferocious power over men. When her cousin Santos Luzardo
returns to the plains in order to reclaim his land and
cattle, he reluctantly faces off against Doña Barbara, and
their battle becomes simultaneously one of violence and
seduction. All of the action is set against the stunning
backdrop of the Venezuelan prairie, described in loving
detail. Gallegos’s plains are filled with dangerous
ranchers, intrepid cowboys, and damsels in distress, all
broadly and vividly drawn. A masterful novel with an
important role in the inception of magical realism, Doña
Barbara is a suspenseful tale that blends fantasy,
adventure, and romance.
Hailed as “the Bovary of the
llano” by Larry McMurtry in his new foreword to this
book, Doña Barbarais a magnetic and memorable heroine, who
has inspired numerous adaptations on the big and small
screens, including a recent television show that aired on
Telemundo.
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