Yo el Supremo, de Roa Bastos. Sobre el poder y el derecho en el mito del Doctor Francia

Abstract

The importance of the relationship between literature and law, in general, is highlighted; and it is pointed out through examples set by some novels and their treatment of Rights. The text is dedicated, especially, to show how the law is manifested in Roa Bastos’s Yo el supremo, a masterpiece of Latin American letters. The famous and enigmatic Doctor Francia —theologian and jurist—, in his Perpetual Dictatorship in Paraguay, dictates and practices the Law. It expresses what the novel says about the Law and offers historic data that support what is said.