Mecha Iturbe, published in Buenos Aires in 1906, is the most ambitious and longest of Cesar Duayen's five novels about the transformation of Argentina into a contemporary state in the early part of the 20th century. Cesar Duayen, pseudonym of Emma de la Barra (1861-1947), was the author of Argentina's best seller, Stella of 1905, and Mecha Iturbe, too, was greeted with great excitement. A record number of copies were printed, and the author was paid an unprecedented amount. There were many editions, but none has been available in recent years. In Mecha Iturbe, elements of national reform and modernization are portrayed and debated in an even more complicated failed love story, also set in both Buenos Aires (drawing rooms, congress, the opera, a labor union rally) and in a utopian factory town. The central character, Mecha Iturbe, has just come from Europe so Argentina must be explained to her, and shown to her. But Mecha, from whose point of view everything is seen, is a very traditional Argentine-born woman who resists modernization --she likes being an upper class, affluent, Catholic conservative, she likes organizing charity balls and buying fashionable new clothes-- and who has the misfortune to fall in love with a reform-minded, idealistic medical doctor who expects her to want to change and improve Argentina. The other major woman character is a surgeon, who eventually marries an up and coming politician and labor leader, but continues to practice medicine. With a prologue and notes by Mary G. Berg, this novel would be a discussion-provoking addition to any class on Argentine, Southern Cone or Latin American 20th century history, women's studies, or literature

The 20th century's first Argentine best seller was Csar Duyen's novel Stella of 1905. "Csar Duyen" was quickly revealed to be Emma de la Barra (1861-1947), who besides founding the first professional school for women in Argentina, the national Red Cross, and a model factory workers' community, published five extraordinarily sucessful novels about Argentine society in the early part of the century. It was a time of economic anxiety and eagerness to redefine the responsibilities of citizens, both men and women, in this new era of rapid technological change and shifting global relationships. Traditional identities are outdated, and the existing social elite (embodied in Stella by the Maura Sagasta/Quiroz family) must modernize or slip into moral and financial bankruptcy. The central character of the novel is a young woman who engages in an uphill battle to educate and transform not only her own upper class family, but everyone. It is a love story that never quite happens, a portrayal of an Argentina that does not quite manage to enter the modern age, either in upper class urban society or out on the family ranches where obsolete methods go unchallenged. The heroine's efforts to instill European efficiency, egalitarian morality and a determined work ethic are part of a lively and appealing story. It explores the possible roles for modern women in an Argentina that now offers improved women's education and professional possibilities, as well as dramatizing the dilemmas of a 19th century nation confronting rapid changes. This centennial edition of Stella has been updated with plentiful footnotes and a critical introduction by Mary G. Berg, author of many studies of Latin American women writers and their times. This novel would fit well into courses on Latin American narrative, women writers, Southern Cone history, gender and cultural studies, and nation-building.