Blest Gana, Alberto

Blest Gana, Alberto (älbār`tō blĕst gä`nä), 1830–1920, Chilean novelist. He is considered the principal 19th-century Spanish American realist. Although as a diplomat he spent much of his life abroad, his novels, both social and historical, depict Chilean scenes. In both Aritmética en el amor (1860) and Martín Rivas (1862, tr. 1918), his masterpiece, he attacked the mores of the aristocracy and the upper middle class. His novel Durante la reconquista (1897) concerns the Chilean revolt against Spain.