Doña Bárbara

Rómulo Gallegos · 1884–1969 · Venezuela

Originally Doña Bárbara (Spanish) · translated by Robert Malloy

Why it matters

A civilizing young rancher clashes with a savage, sorceress-like landowner over the Venezuelan plains. The novela de la tierra's defining struggle between order and wilderness, and a founding text of Latin American realism.

At a glance

A straightforward allegorical conflict told in vivid, descriptive realist prose.