La Charca (Clásicos De La Literatura) - Tapa blanda

Considered the greatest Puerto Rican novel of the 19th century, La charca was originally published in 1894. The story takes place in rural Puerto Rico, marked by underdevelopment and the marginalization of coffee field workers. The exploitation by the landowners, the absence of morals, and violence prevail in this realistic depiction of farm life at the time. Zeno Gandía demonstrates his concern for the state of rural society in his descriptions of hunger, illness, and the abatement of customs and values. Nature plays an important symbolic role as a character in this painful classic.

Manuel Zeno Gandía is considered by many to have written the first Puerto Rican novel. He was a journalist, a poet, a novelist, an editor, a doctor, and a political activist. He is the founder of the newspapers El Estudio and La Opinión and was an editor of the Revista de Puerto Rico. He is the author of the poetry collection Abismos as well as the books Al monstruo, Horas de soledad, Horas de tristeza, Un infeliz y un infame, and Piccola, among others.