Doña Barbara: A Novel

Rómulo Gallegos

Mar 2012 · University of Chicago Press

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The classic novel of Venezuelan ranchers battling over land and love—a forerunner of magic realism set in the “steamy, tumescent, lust driven” plain (Larry McMurtry, from the foreword). 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. First published in 1929, it 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 an epic dispute over a Venezuelan estate, Doña Barbara is an examination of the conflict between town and country, violence and intellect, male and female. Doña Barbara is a beautiful woman with such a ferocious power over men that she is rumored to be a witch. 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.

Doña Barbara is a suspenseful tale that blends fantasy, adventure, and romance. Bringing the Venezuelan plains to life—with their dangerous ranchers, intrepid cowboys, and damsels in distress—it has inspired numerous adaptations on the big and small screens.

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Rómulo Gallegos (1889–1969) was a Venezuelan novelist and politician who served briefly as the nation’s first democratically elected president. After publishing Doña Barbara, he was forced to flee to Spain but returned in 1936 to hold a variety of political offices. He was again forced out by a coup d’etat in 1948, returned in 1958, then was elected senator for life.