Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera
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Mercedes Cabello Llosa de Carbonera (Moquegua, February 7, 1845 – Lima, October 12, 1909) was a Peruvian writer. Influenced by positivism and naturalism, she was one of the main initiators of literary realism in Peruvian novels. She wrote six novels of social content and critical importance, the most successful being Blanca Sol (1888), Las consecuencias (1890) and El conspirador (1892). She also wrote numerous articles and essays published in Peruvian newspapers on literary and social topics. She especially advocated the emancipation of women, and was one of the first Peruvian feminists. She was a contemporary of Manuel González Prada, who, like Cabello, was a sui generis positivist; and an attendee of Juana Manuela Gorriti's tertulias, which provided her an opportunity to meet other female writers and discuss literature and feminist ideologies. Her literary works Sacrificio y recompensa, Blanca Sol, Las consequencias and El conspirador contain a recurrent theme of women portrayed as "helpless, suffering creatures or as fallen heroines."[1] This is another one of the most prominent themes in her writings. Another common topic is her criticism of the Peruvian bourgeoisie, Lima's social elites, between 1860 and 1880.
Cabello de Carbonera is usually associated with female Peruvian writers like Carolina Freine de Jaimes and Juana Manuela Gorriti.
Cabello's pseudonym was Enriqueta Pradel, which she used to publish her work in the periodicals El Album and El Recreo.
Early years
Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera was born in Moquegua to a wealthy family that provided her with an education. The Department of Moquegua, where she lived during her childhood, was one of the areas affected by the presence of Chilean troops, which would later be a feature of her novel El Conspirador.[1] During her developmental years Ramón Castilla was the president of Perú and his liberal politics led to the expansion of the subjects women could be taught in school, including French, English, geography and arithmetic.[2] She thus learned French in her early years, which later allowed her to read contemporary European writers fluently, without having to depend on translations. But Cabello de Carbonera's own educational development was not due to regular schooling. Due to the lack of available education for women, her parents hired private tutors to keep her properly educated in subjects approved for young ladies of the bourgeoisie; but she mostly taught herself and was very fond of reading.[2] This provided the author with insight into literary works that her fellow Peruvians were not reading. European literary movements such as Romanticism and Naturalism had a great influence over her work. These literary movements are especially important because in literary works of the 19th century like those of Cabello de Carbonera it was highly appreciated when an author could include romantic and naturalistic elements in their work.[3]
Later years
At the age of twenty two, Cabello de Carbonera moved to Lima where she would marry a doctor and develop her career as a writer. Cabello de Carbonera was widowed at a very young age, which had the effects that she had enough liberty to escape from any patriarchal control and that she did not have any children.[2] She knew that she was in a position many women in her community would never understand, so she wrote in order to get women to fight against patriarchal oppression. And despite her marital status, Cabello de Carbonera became an active member of the literary scene. She was published and read during her lifetime, becoming one of the first best-selling Peruvian writers. Her work was highly controversial in the 19th century due to its critical attitudes towards the Peruvian aristocracy.
