El letrado y su caudillo

This in-depth study of an early short story by Rómulo Gallegos outlines a critique that problematizes the well-known debate between civilization and barbarism that was popularized through the iconic regionalist novel, Doña Bárbara. “Los aventureros” narrates the fictitious, but not unrealistic, syncretic union between a civilized corrupt intellectual and a barbaric daring caudillo. Through an analysis that explores the regionalist characteristics of “Los aventureros,” this article highlights the emerging criticism against the intellectual apologists of the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez years before the well-known literary resistance against the dictatorship allegorized in Doña Bárbara

Barbarism · Civilization · Criticism · Dictatorship · Afro-Latin American Studies · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies