El discurso femenino de Juana Manuela Corriti

Juana Manuela Gorriti, well recognized for her narrative in Latin America during the nineteenth century, has remained virtually unknown in the twentieth century. Feminist literary criticism has allowed for the rescue of works, such as Gorriti's, that have fallen into obscurity. This dissertation examines the contribution of Gorriti's life and works to Latin American literature.

The first chapter, "Juana Manuela Gorriti: Vida y obra", is biographical and provides an overview of her works. Special attention is given to the literary ambiance in Lima, Peru when Gorriti's "veladas literarias" were very popular.

The second chapter, "La quena: El ideal femenino y la protesta social", analyzes Gorriti's first work. Her presentation of women and indians provides a counterbalance to the question of the roles of these two marginalized groups in Peruvian society. Gorriti demonstrates the need to include them into mainstream society. Compared to Ricardo Palma's "Amor de madre", Gorriti allows the female characters a greater role in her narrative. She represents maternal love as the unconditional force which survives all tests of fate.

The third chapter, "El guante negro y La hija del mashorquero: La respuesta femenina a la política argentina", analyzes Gorriti's presentation of Argentinian politics. Gorriti rejects war and politics in favor of "love", a virtue needed to overcome death, insanity, and destruction. Compared to Esteban Echeverría's "El matadero", which is based on the defense of the unitarios and the denigration of the federales, Gorriti subverts the dominating political discourse and presents politics as a dividing force which contributed to societal destruction.

The fourth chapter, "Lo Íntimo: El diario como autobiografía", analyzes Gorriti's last work. Her societal observations are of interest for they point to Gorriti's ambiguities with regards to women and their role in society. One can see how Gorriti adhered to societal codes, yet allowed her female characters greater roles in her narrative.

Gorriti's discourse presents a female perspective. Retrieving her work and making a place for it alongside other nineteenth century narratives completes the picture of an otherwise masculine vision of Latin America and its literature.

Digitization of this thesis was made possible by a generous grant from the Jefferson Trust, 2015.

Thesis originally deposited on 2016-03-14 in version 1.28 of Libra. This thesis was migrated to Libra2 on 2017-03-23 16:34:58.