Rómulo Gallegos
Venezuela (1884-1969)
Gallegos was a writer drawn
to regionalismo, that is, the attempt to redefine the Latin American
soul in native terms. He saw that an emphasis on the values of living in
the countryside would counteract the urban values which he saw them as
too European. Galllegos, in his famous
Doña Bárbara
(1929), sets out to provide an example of how to incorporate theVenezuelan
native into the larger polity. Although, his objective was probably invigorating,
he uses stereotypes, and old pre-conceived ideas about what civilization
and barbarie are. The rescue of Marisela (the native) by the white man,
Luzardo, is nothing but the reemphasizes of the superiority of European
culture which reportedly he was rejecting.
Doña Bárbara
could be an example of Orientalist writing which always sees the
Other as something to label, exclude and control.