Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos was a prominent Venezuelan novelist and political figure born in 1884 in Caracas. After studying law, he transitioned to teaching and began his literary career with a magazine and various written works, although initial efforts met with limited success. His breakthrough came with the novel "Doña Bárbara," published in 1929, which garnered international acclaim and is considered a masterpiece of the "novel of the land" genre. This work explores the themes of civilization versus barbarism set against the backdrop of Venezuela's vast plains, featuring a protagonist who embodies enlightenment facing a formidable antagonist.
Gallegos continued to publish significant works during his lifetime, including "Cantaclaro" and "Canaima," which delve into human struggles against nature and complex social realities. Politically active, he ran for Venezuela’s presidency and served as president from 1947 until his overthrow in 1948. His writings often reflect a moralistic perspective, championing nonviolence and ethical principles influenced by Christianity. Gallegos remains a revered figure in Latin American literature, and his work continues to resonate for its social critique and rich narrative style.
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Rómulo Gallegos
Venezuelan novelist
- Born: August 2, 1884
- Died: April 7, 1969
Biography
After graduating from law school in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was born in 1884, Rómulo Gallegos (gahl-YAY-gohs) became a teacher in 1912. He founded a magazine and wrote unsuccessful dramas and short stories until dictator Juan Gómez suspended the magazine. His first novel, Reinaldo Solar, attacked crooked politics. Not until the publication in Spain of Doña Bárbara in 1929 did Gallegos achieve an international reputation. Doña Bárbara is one of the masterpieces of what has been called the “novel of the land.” Mystique of the land, naturalistic confrontation of man and nature, melodramatic story line, more or less careful literary elaboration, social critique, and strong didactic purpose characterize this genre. Set against the vast Venezuelan plains, the story presents an allegorical conflict between civilization and barbarism. Progress and modernization are represented by the enlightened Santos Luzardo (he has “sainthood” and “light” in his name), who returns to his lands and has to overcome wilderness, backwardness, and violence, represented by Doña Bárbara. The conflict is solved through a family romance: Luzardo marries Doña Bárbara’s daughter Marisol. The novel has gone through many editions and has been made into a film.
While in voluntary political exile in Spain, Gallegos wrote Cantaclaro, the story of a wandering minstrel. Some critics consider it his greatest novel; others call it overly complicated and somewhat unformed. Canaima showcases the overwhelming power of nature vis-á-vis human beings. The protagonist, Marcos Vargas, leaves for the jungle to lead a more fulfilling primitive life, but he falls prey to the malignant god (Canaima) of that environment. At the end, Marcos Vargas sends his son to Caracas to bring back the light of the civilization. The novel revisits the conflict of Doña Bárbara, but without its clear-cut allegorical didacticism.
Following the dictator’s death in 1935, Gallegos returned to Venezuela and wrote Pobre negro (poor black). This novel, published in 1937, deals with a nineteenth century Venezuelan slave. An indigenous girl, educated in New York to work for the advancement of her race, is the heroine of Sobre la misma tierra (on the same land), published in 1943.
Gallegos did more than write about politics: He also campaigned twice for the presidency of Venezuela. In 1947 he was elected to serve until 1952, but he was overthrown by a military junta in 1948. An exile in Cuba, he wrote and published there in 1952 a work titled La brizna de paja en el viento (straws in the wind), a study of political unrest. In all his writing, this novelist, who ranks close to the top among authors of his continent, showed himself an ardent moralist with deep faith in nonviolence and in the ethics of Christianity.
Bibliography
Alonso, Carlos J. The Spanish American Regional Novel: Modernity and Autochthony. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Studies Gallegos within the panorama of regionalism.
Magnarelli, Sharon. “Woman and Nature in Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos.” Revista de estudios hispánicos 19 (May, 1985). Various aspects of Gallegos’s key novel are studied.
Pennington, Eric. “Beyond Realism and Allegory: Myth and Psyche in Doña Bárbara.” Crítica hispánica 9, nos. 1/2 (1987). A psychological reading of the Gallegos’ novel revealing its mythic force.
Rodríguez-Alcalá, Hector, ed. Nine Essays on Rómulo Gallegos. Riverside, Calif.: Latin American Studies Program, University of California, 1979. Provides addresses, essays, and lectures relating to Gallegos and his literary works.
Rosegreen-Williams, Claudette. “Rómulo Gallegos’s Doña Bárbara: Toward a Radical Rereading.” Symposium 46, no. 4 (1993). Challenges the traditional reading of Gallegos’s novel’s ideology and nationalism.