El Pozo del Yocci - Juana Manuela Gorriti

The actions in El pozo del Yocci take place during the permanent state of unrest that harrased the argentine northern provinces, sparked by the quarrels between federalists and unitarians during Juan Manuel de Rosas' rule over the Argentine Confederation. This non declared civil war became a temptation to the expansion desires of the bolivian ruler, mariscal Santa Cruz who, besides giving shelter to the anti-rosists, encouraged them by financing their raids against the province governors who sided with the Burenos Aires government. The turmoil of political hatred among caudillos was also stirred by personal reasons, many stemming from episodes happened only 25 years before when the division between royalists spaniards and independist criollos painfully set brother against brother, tore appart families and truncated many love stories. There is no better story-teller than Juana Manuela Gorriti, daughter of a family forced to exile losing many lives and fortune due to their confrontation with caudillo Facundo Quiroga, to depict in a most vivid way the chain of circumstances which, as in a greek tragedy, events from the past define the present and future of the main characters. This short novel is not just a jewel of the XIX Century South American literature, but a vivid fresco where historical characters become human and alive through the pen of a most gifted woman writer, who happened to know them personal and intimately.