El ramo de violetas (1877) by Lucrecia Undurraga: The defense of women's education in Chile from the narrative writing (and the press) of the XIX century

Abstract

Lucrecia Undurraga is one of the first Chilean novelists of the XIX century, however, to date there has not been a detailed review of her literary work. Its production is framed within the political project pursued by liberal scholars of the time: to enlighten the nation, through literature, to guide it towards progress and modernity. Undurraga is one of the first women to make her writing public in the country, to defend women's education through novels published in newspapers. Therefore, this article seeks to analyze the representation of women in the characters of the novel El ramo de violetas (1877), to account for the author's contribution to the institutionalization of knowledge in Chile, from the space of literature (and the press), as a defender of women's education and, in turn, as a disseminator of knowledge.