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The 20th century’s first Argentine best seller was Cesar Duayen’s novel Stella of 1905. Cesar Duayen was quickly revealed to be Emma de la Barra (1861-1947), who besides founding the first professional school for women in Argentina, the national Red Cross, and a model factory workers’ community, published five extraordinarily sucessful novels about Argentine society in the early part of the century. It was a time of economic anxiety and eagerness to redefine the responsibilities of citizens, both men and women, in this new era of rapid technological change and shifting global relationships. Traditional identities are outdated, and the existing social elite (embodied in Stella by the Maura Sagasta/Quiroz family) must modernize or slip into moral and financial bankruptcy. The central character of the novel is a young woman who engages in an uphill battle to educate and transform not only her own upper class family, but everyone. It is a love story that never quite happens, a portrayal of an Argentina that does not quite manage to enter the modern age, either in upper class urban society or out on the family ranches where obsolete methods go unchallenged. The heroine’s efforts to instill European efficiency, egalitarian morality and a determined work ethic are part of a lively and appealing story. It explores the possible roles for modern women in an Argentina that now offers improved women’s education and professional possibilities, as well as dramatizing the dilemmas of a 19th century nation confronting rapid changes. This centennial edition of Stella has been updated with plentiful footnotes and a critical introduction by Mary G. Berg, author of many studies of Latin American women writers and their times. This novel would fit well into courses on Latin American narrative, women writers, Southern Cone history, gender and cultural studies, and nation-building.
