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Myth And Reality In Hijo De Hombre, A Novel By Augusto Roa Bastos, David R. Gifford

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

The essence of Paraguayan reality, cloaked in myths since the days of the Conquest, is an enigma which, for the most part, has been elusive to the writer's pen. There is, however, one man, Augusto Roa Bastos, who has succeeded masterfully in capturing that essence and who has done so precisely through the revelation of both Paraguay's myths and her reality. His work is the highly complex narrative Hijo de hombre, winner in 1959 of the esteemed Losada prize in Buenos Aires.

The success of Roa's novel stems from a deeply felt commit­ment to his fellow Paraguayans against man's …