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Biography of Rómulo Gallegos FreireName: Rómulo Gallegos FreireBirth Date: August 2, 1884 Death Date: April 4, 1969 Place of Birth: Caracas, Venezuela Nationality: Venezuelan Gender: Male Occupations: novelist, educator, politician, president Rómulo Gallegos Freire 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 CareerHowever, 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 interior was immediately popular …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…cuervo about Cuba and La brizna de hierba en el viento dealing with Mexico.Upon the fall of the military dictatorship which had succeeded his regime, Gallegos returned to Venezuela in January 1958. In accordance with the new Constitution of 1960, Gallegos held a seat in the Venezuelan Senate as a democratically elected former president. However, he seldom attended Senate sessions, since his health did not permit this. After a long illness Gallegos died in Caracas on April 4, 1969. Further Reading There is no detailed study in English of Gallegos. Aspects of his political career are discussed in Robert J. Alexander, The Venezuelan Democratic Revolution: A Profile of the Regime of Rómulo Betancourt (1964), and John Martz, Acción Democrática: Evolution of a Modern Political Party in Venezuela (1966).Dunham, Lowell, Rómulo Gallegos: an Oklahoma encounter and the writing of the last novel, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press 1974. |