The novel revolves around the llano, and its significance to two feuding cousins with vast ranching estates. Do帽a Barbara, a treacherously beautiful rancher has steadily expanded her estate over the years through her calculating manipulation and seduction of men, furthering her reputation as a witch with her nightly conversations with her 糖心传媒淧artner,糖心传媒� the devil. These corrupt dealings committed by Barbara and the mismanagement of land, wealth, and justice by government officials in the novel represent many of Gallegos糖心传媒� criticisms against the Venezuelan dictatorship. When her cousin, Santos Luzardo, returns from his many years in the city to reclaim his land and ranch, a struggle ensues that jeopardizes the fate of the llano. The struggle is one of violence and seduction, as McMurty perfectly describes it, Gallegos糖心传媒� llano is 糖心传媒渟teamy, tumescent, lust driven.糖心传媒� Furthermore, the llano is spilling over with all sorts of unimaginable occupants characteristic of early magical realism, like the prehistoric one-eyed alligator and various villains like the Turk and his harem, the Toad, the Wizard, and a cowboy assassin…

The llano is the quintessential backdrop for this mixture of magic and reality, allowing for a seamless understanding of the sensuality and danger inherent in the plain and the work of the ranchers. It seems an environment made for the smoky haze between these two worlds, and the feud between the two cousins. Gallegos captures in minute detail the contrasting nature of the Plain:

The Plain is at once lovely and fearful. It holds, side by side, beautiful life and hideous death. The latter lurks everywhere, but no one fears it. The Plain frightens, but the fear which the Plain inspires is not the terror which chills the heart; it is hot, like the wind sweeping over the immeasurable solitude, like the fever lying in the marshes. The Plain crazes; and the madness of the man living in the wide lawless land leads him to remain a Plainsman forever. (90)

It is his characterization of Do帽a Barbara, however, that establishes Gallegos as a master. He details her upbringing as a young girl, abused by the men around her, nearly sold as a sex slave, and ultimately the death of the only man to show her any kindness in her youth. Her hatred and sexual manipulation comes to a halt, however, when she meets her cousin Santos and finds in his gentle, noble demeanor a man worthy of her respect. Gallegos allows for a full and crucial understanding of Barbara糖心传媒檚 convoluted feeling towards Santos:

Up to then, all her lovers, victims of her greed or instruments of her cruelty, had been hers as the steers marked with her brand were hers. Now when she saw herself repeatedly rebuffed by this man who neither feared nor desired her, she felt that she wanted to belong to him, although it had to be as one of his cattle, with the Altamira sign burned on their sides; and she felt this with the same overmastering force which had driven her to ruining the men she loathed. (220)

R贸mulo Gallegos in his intimate understanding of the wild, unyielding llano, the Venezuelan people, and the tragic figure of Do帽a Barbara, created a masterpiece of Latin American Literature, establishing an important and inspiring foundation in magical realism.

Any author who has been both nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature and exiled from his country because of the strength of his criticisms against the nation糖心传媒檚 longstanding dictatorship deserves to be taken note of. R贸mulo Gallegos in his acclaimed novel, Do帽a Barbara, hailed as a classic of Latin American literature, is one such author, almost forgotten by English speaking readers since his initial popularity in the 1930糖心传媒檚. In the University of Chicago糖心传媒檚 recent reprint, Gallegos receives the credit due to him as a Nobel Prize nominee, the first democratically elected President of Venezuela, and forerunner of magical realism, with Larry McMurty writing in his foreword to the novel, 糖心传媒淭here are echoes of Gallegos in Garc铆a M谩rquez, Vargas Llosa, and Fuentes.糖心传媒� In Do帽a Barbara, Gallegos weaves together the story of the Venezuelan llano, or prairie, and the lives of the plainsmen, the ranchers and cowboys, thieves and villains, that all operate around Do帽a Barbara, the witch.

The novel revolves around the llano, and its significance to two feuding cousins with vast ranching estates. Do帽a Barbara, a treacherously beautiful rancher has steadily expanded her estate over the years through her calculating manipulation and seduction of men, furthering her reputation as a witch with her nightly conversations with her 糖心传媒淧artner,糖心传媒� the devil. These corrupt dealings committed by Barbara and the mismanagement of land, wealth, and justice by government officials in the novel represent many of Gallegos糖心传媒� criticisms against the Venezuelan dictatorship. When her cousin, Santos Luzardo, returns from his many years in the city to reclaim his land and ranch, a struggle ensues that jeopardizes the fate of the llano. The struggle is one of violence and seduction, as McMurty perfectly describes it, Gallegos糖心传媒� llano is 糖心传媒渟teamy, tumescent, lust driven.糖心传媒� Furthermore, the llano is spilling over with all sorts of unimaginable occupants characteristic of early magical realism, like the prehistoric one-eyed alligator and various villains like the Turk and his harem, the Toad, the Wizard, and a cowboy assassin…

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Of the Latin American writers I most admire糖心传媒擬ario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez, Carlos Fuentes, Roberto Bola帽o糖心传媒攁ll were recipients of an award named after R贸mulo Gallegos. A teacher, writer, and one of the founders of Acci贸n Democr谩tica糖心传媒攁n important political party in the early years of Venezuelan democracy糖心传媒擥allegos became the first democratically elected president of Venezuela in 1947. But in 1929, he was forced to flee the country after publishing a novel critical of the regime of Juan Vicente G贸mez. That novel was Do帽a Barbara.

. . . The story pits an educated, principled land-owner against a beautiful and tyrannical cattle-rustler, Do帽a Barbara, rumored to be a witch. One of the first examples of 糖心传媒渕agical realism,糖心传媒� it is an epic, a love poem to Venezuela: the land, its peoples and their legends. It糖心传媒檚 also a romance, a political parable, a story of cowboys, spirits and hustlers, and the strange magic of history.

From the first page, I was wowed by Robert Malloy糖心传媒檚 beautiful, poetic translation of Gallegos糖心传媒檚 language: an eerie description of the river and the sense of danger hovering over the young Santos Luzardo. By the time I糖心传媒檇 gotten through visions of dawn on the prairie, with 糖心传媒渢he smell of mint and cattle糖心传媒� and encountered Pajarote糖心传媒檚 stories of vampires and ghosts, and the legal/political shenanigans of the gringo bully 糖心传媒淪r. Danger,糖心传媒� I was ready to gallop out onto the Venezuelan llanos myself and lasso the rights. But we still had no leads on whom to contact.

So it was In茅s who ventured to Venezuela, via the Guadalajara book fair, where she left a hand-written note inquiring after the English language rights at the Cuban-Venezuelan stand. A month later, an e-mail from the Cuban Ministry of Culture landed in In茅s糖心传媒檚 inbox, suggesting she get in touch with the CELARG, in Caracas, Venezuela (Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos R贸mulo Gallegos). After several days of phone calls, she finally reached the head of Publications, who referred her to R贸mulo Gallegos糖心传媒檚 daughter. (He had a daughter! We had a phone number!) Encouraged, In茅s kept phoning and writing Venezuela until she managed to negotiate the rights. She even recruited relatives to help us resurrect this Venezuelan masterpiece: her father hand-delivered the license agreement to R贸mulo Gallegos糖心传媒檚 daughter, and Ines糖心传媒檚 uncle, who happened to be in Venezuela at the time for business, transported the signed agreement back to The University of Chicago Press for its countersignature. After almost six months, we had a deal.糖心传媒�

Of course, the book being Venezuelan, the political plays an integral part of this story, as Ines relates to Maggie:

“When your country struggles for democracy and you watch it sink from afar, your only hope is to raise consciousness in the people around you about what is really happening. I think it糖心传媒檚 essential that English-speaking readers discover this literary gem now, so they can draw parallels between the conflicts described by Gallegos and Venezuela糖心传媒檚 current situation糖心传媒攚here frequent clashes between civilization and barbarism are experienced on a daily basis. Do帽a Barbara is a parable of how Venezuela could be saved from a corrupt and backward-thinking regime. Venezuelans saw that in 1929; that糖心传媒檚 why the book caused such a sensation and made them want to elect Gallegos as their president. If the book could do that then, maybe it can help, in some way, now.糖心传媒�

Like Jeff so rightly told us, this is the type of backstory we all love to hear, both as readers and as people in the business of books. It糖心传媒檚 a lot of work, but sometimes the payoff is so rewarding we can get a little misty-eyed糖心传媒ven cowboys cry.