An Argentine "Gone with the Wind"

Abstract

T WENTY-ONE YEARS after the last of Manuel Gailvez's Escenas de la guerra del Paraguay had come from the press, Josefina Cruz published El viento sobre el rio (1950),' a historical novel covering the same period. A journalist, short story writer, dramatist, novelist and a prominent figure in literary circles of Buenos Aires, Josefina Cruz had already received the de la Municipalidad for her drama Mekhano and the Primer Premio del P.E.N. Club for her psychological novel El Chizcaro. When the work treating the Paraguayan War appeared, it was well received and the following year was awarded the del escritor. Interesting and well written, while it has attained the distinction accorded Gailvez's trilogy, it has enjoyed popular success. Its favorable reception by the Argentine public has induced the author to continue in the field of the historical novel, publishing in 1960 Dofia Mencia la adelantada, whose action takes place during the colonial period. El viento sobre el rio, with an accurately reconstructed historical background, tells the story of the life and loves of the young medical doctor Salcedo Ruiz. Accounts of scenes on the battlefield, in hospitals, and in the homes of leading families of Buenos Aires are given with an abundance of authentic detail. The work has been praised for its beautiful style and well-handled dialogues.2 Although at least one reviewer laments the fact that it has not emulated the sober concision of the Paraguayan War trilogy of Manuel Gilvez,3 many Argentinians are undoubtedly willing to overlook its verbosity because they find in the novel, narrated in a spontaneous, natural style, some of the stories of their country's past which they have heard since childhood. The plot is relatively simple but well planned and developed. Character portrayal is logical and consistent.