A critical sociological study of the novel Garduña by Manuel Zeno Gandía. Manuel Zeno Gandía (1855-1930) was one of the most important naturalist novelists in Latin America. His most successful novel is, La Charca (1894), one of the novels in the serie Crónicas de un Mundo Enfermo which also includes Garduña (1896), El Negocio (1922) y Rendentores (1925).