Cubagua - conceived in 1925, written between 1928 and 1930, and published in 1931 - is
the culmination of Enrique Bernardo Núñez's narrative work. The novel, which occupies a
very special place in Venezuelan literature, signified an advance in Latin American fiction
as a whole. Although a long time passed before it was recognized as such, it is regarded
today as the country's chief avant garde novel, having no precedent and leaving practically
no recognizable heirs. Speaking of the past, the author succeeded, before any contemporary
intellectual or writer, in understanding deeply the complexity of the present, analyzing
obliquely the society and the consequences of the economic project of the dictatorship of
the time. An almost prophetic work, it already identifies some of the main problems that
have obstructed the realization of the possible future encoded in the South American nation
and its immense natural riches.
The Venezuelan author Enrique Bernardo Núñez (1895-1964), as well as a writer of fiction, was a
full member of the Academia Nacional de la Historia, first official chronicler of the city of Caracas
and an opinion journalist for almost half a century.
