''Amalia'' is a 19th-century political novel written by the exiled Argentine author

José Mármol José Mármol (1818 – 1871) was an Argentine journalist, politician, librarian, and writer of the Romantic school. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, he initially studied law, but abandoned his studies in favor of politics. In 1839, no soone ...

. First published serially in the Montevideo weekly, ''Amalia'' (1851) became Argentina's national novel. Along with

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (; born Domingo Faustino Fidel Valentín Sarmiento y Albarracín; 15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the second President of Argentina. His writing s ...

Facundo ''Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism'' (original Spanish title: ''Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie'') is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the second president of Argentina. It is a corner ...

, ''Amalia'' can be seen as an early precursor to the

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...

dictator novel The dictator novel ( es, novela del dictador) is a genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society. The theme of '' caudillismo''—the régime of a charismatic ''caudillo'', a political stron ...

through its strong criticism of caudillo

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Although ...

, who ruled Argentina with a strong fist from 1829 to 1852. Set in post-colonial Buenos Aires, ''Amalia'' was written in two parts and is a semi-autobiographical account of José Mármol that deals with living in Rosas's police state. Mármol's novel was important as it showed how the human consciousness, much like a city or even a country, could become a terrifying prison. ''Amalia'' also attempted to examine the problem of dictatorships as being one of structure, and therefore the problem of the state "manifested through the will of some monstrous personage violating the ordinary individual's privacy, both of home and of consciousness."

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* Argentine political novels Argentine novels adapted into films Argentine Civil War propaganda 1851 novels Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Uruguayan newspapers Novels set in Buenos Aires Dictator novels {{poli-novel-stub

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