Reyles, Carlos

Related Category: Latin American Literature: Biographies

(kär´lōs rā´lās), 1868–1938, Uruguayan novelist. A wealthy breeder of horses, Reyles traveled extensively and devoted himself to writing. His impassioned, naturalistic novels include La raza de Caín [Cain's race] (1900), showing the influence of Zola. Beba (1894) and El terruño [the plot of earth] (1916) depict Uruguayan ranch life; El embrujo de Sevilla (1922, tr. Castanets, 1929) is a prose poem about the Andalusian city. Reyles lost his fortune by 1929. His masterwork, El Gaucho Florida (1932), deals with the social upheaval of ranch and gaucho life.