Rómulo Gallegos Freire (1884-1969) was Venezuela's most noted novelist, a teacher, and a political leader. Though he became president of his country, his fame rests on the vivid description of the Venezuelan people in his novels.

Rómulo Gallegos was born in Caracas on Aug. 2, 1884. He chose secondary school teaching as his vocation and during the 1920s instructed many young men who as university students mounted a rebellion against the tyranny of Gen. Juan Vicente Gómez and later became leaders in Venezuelan politics.

Literary Career

However, it was not as a teacher or political leader that Gallegos was to achieve greatest fame. In 1921, when he was 37, he published his first novel, Reinaldo Solar. Five years later his second work, La Trepadora, appeared. But Doña Bárbara (1930) brought him worldwide attention. This fictional portrait of a typical character of the Venezuelan...