En la parte mas desierta y bravia del cajon del Arauca estaba situado el hato de Altamira, primitivamente unas doscientas leguas de sabanas feraces que alimentaban la hacienda mas numerosa que por aquellas soledades pacia y donde se encontraban uno de los mas ricos garceros de la region.
Pues esta es la historia que se cuenta en Dona Barbara: la del hato Altamira, el mas grande del Cajon del Arauca, herencia de los hermanos Jose y Panchita Luzardo […] Este agujero negro del monte, cienaga irresoluble en las letras de un documento, es tambien una suerte de Aleph de la llanura venezolana. Grado cero del paisaje que contiene la esencia del vasto territorio que Lorenzo Barquero, el desgraciado hijo de Panchita, bautizara como ‘la devoradora de hombres’.
Con ambiguedad deliberada, la novela traza el paralelismo entre la llanura y Dona Barbara, quien tambien es conocida con el mismo sobrenombre. […] Como un avatar del tremedal motivo del litigio, Dona Barbara ha ido extendiendo sus dominios cual si la llanura hubiera acordado con ella castigar la codicia y desidia de los duenos legitimos.
Es aqui donde Santos Luzardo, joven abogado de la ciudad, hace su entrada en el escenario de la infancia para establecer en esas tierras salvajes el imperio de la ley y recuperar lo que le pertenece.
-Rodrigo Blanco Calderon
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Romulo 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 Dona Barbara. Published in 1929 and all but forgotten by Anglophone readers, Dona Barbara is one of the first examples of magical realism, laying the groundwork for later authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
Following the epic struggle between two cousins for an estate in Venezuela, Dona Barbara is an examination of the conflict between town and country, violence and intellect, male and female. Dona 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 Dona 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, Dona 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, Dona 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.
