River of Sorrows [Rio de congojas].

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

River of Sorrows [Rio de congojas], by Libertad Demitropulos. Trans., Mary G. Berg. Buffalo: White Pine, 2000.

At first, it seems like a tale as old as storytelling itself: Blas loves Maria, who loves Juan, who loves Ana. However, Libertad Demitropulos's novel of romance, jealousy, and unrequited love, set in sixteenth-century Argentina, is more than just a sentimental fiction. It is a brilliant exploration of the emergence of a new Latin American identity in the early colonial period. Told by three different narrators--Blas, Maria, and Isabel--from three different perspectives, River of Sorrows deals with complex issues such as race, justice, and sexual politics.

In 1573 Juan de Garay traveled down the Parana River from Asuncion to found the settlement of Santa Fe, which would eventually become a colonial city to the northwest of Buenos Aires. A brutal man, Garay earned the hatred of some of his mestizo followers, among them Blas de Acuna, who, in addition to resenting the Spaniard's repressive tactics, was in love with his woman, Maria Muratore. As a Spaniard, Garay felt superior to his mixed-breed soldiers and abused them horribly. While Garay was away from Santa Fe rebuilding the port of Buenos Aires after a fire, seven mestizo settlers revolted against the Spanish authorities. Led by Lazaro de Venialvo, the rebels chose Cristobal de Arevalo as their governor. However, Arevalo turned against them, killing Venialvo himself and having the other mestizos executed. These events provide the backdrop for Demitropulos's novel.

Ana Rodriguez, Garay's lover, comes to the New World from Spain in one of the shiploads of women sent to provide brides for the Spaniards in Asuncion who are squabbling over the Guarani women. When her ship runs aground off the coast of Brazil, Ana takes up with a Portuguese trader named Ze Muratore, who leaves her pregnant, then disappears. No longer marriageable, Aha settles into a house owned by Celestino Descalzo on Sin Alley, the brothel district. After her baby Maria is born, Ana abandons the child and eventually takes up with Garay, who leaves her in Santa Fe when he sets out for Buenos Aires.

When she is still a little girl, Maria becomes the lover of Alonso Martinez, a rich Spaniard, twice widowed, who plans to marry her, much to the chagrin of his children. When Martinez drops dead right before the projected wedding, his offspring throw Maria out of the house. She takes refuge at the home of her seamstress...