Romulo Gallegos is best known for being Venezuela's first democratically elected president. But in his native land he is equally famous as a writer responsible for one of Venezuela's literary treasures, the novel Dona Barbara. Published in 1929 and all but forgotten by Anglophone readers, Dona Barbara is one of the first examples of magical realism, laying the groundwork for later authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Following the epic struggle between two cousins for an estate in Venezuela, Dona Barbara is an examination of the conflict...