Novel
Martín Rivas
Alberto Blest Gana · 1862
Synopsis
From July 1850 to the end of October 1851, while the country's first liberal revolution is ripening, Martín Rivas, a young man who is poor but intelligent and ambitious, arrives in Santiago from the mining north. His father, since deceased, has placed him with don Dámaso Encina, a wealthy notable of the capital; Martín comes there to find a position that will support his mother and sister, and falls in love with Leonor, his host's haughty daughter. Other young men of the bourgeoisie, among them Rafael San Luis, move around him.
Context
The novel, subtitled Novela de costumbres político-sociales, appeared as a serial from May to July 1862 in La Voz de Chile, the newspaper of Manuel Antonio Matta, then in volume form from the presses of the same newspaper. The educated public, who recognised themselves in it, made it a great success, according to Memoria Chilena. The critic Eliodoro Astorquiza links the work to the modern novel inaugurated by Balzac. It is taught in Chilean schools; Tess O'Dwyer translated it into English in 2000, Bertille Hausberg into French in 2003.
Who it is for
A long novel of manners, well constructed, which reads easily; translated into French and English.
Prizes and reception
For Memoria Chilena, the work that made Blest Gana the great Chilean writer of the nineteenth century.
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