https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] BALDOMERO LILLO AND THE CHILEAN SOCIETY OF THE 1900s by XIMENA LUZ PINEDA Thesis submitted fo r the degree of Master of Letters at the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts, Department of Hispanic Studies June, 1983 - 1 ProQuest Number: 10644242 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uesL ProQuest 10644242 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements i l l Abstract îv INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I BALDOMERO LILLO AND THE CULTURAL PANORAMA ======== OF THE 1900s Introduction 7 1 . Realism in Chile 11 2. Naturalism and Chilean Literature 18 J. Modernismo in Chilean Literature 22 4. Popular Culture as Lite rary Background 28 Chapter I I LILLO: THE MAN AND HIS WORKS 1. Biographical Sketch 43 2. A Thematic Approach 57 Chapter I I I INTERPRETATION OF LILLO'S WORKS Introduction 86 1. Structure of Lillo's stories ' 89 2. Lillo and the literary tendencies o f his times 95 Chapter IV LITERATURE AND SOCIETY. LILLO AND HIS TIMES 1. Changes in the Economic Structure of Chile during the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century 132 2. C hile's Social Structure during the Period 138 3. El Espejo del Tiempo: L illo 's work in historical context 145 4. L illo and the emergence of social protest in Chile 171 CONCLUSION 186 NOTES TO CHAPTERS I-IV 189 BIBLIOGRAPHY 212 APPENDIX I CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF LILLO'S WORKS 223 APPENDIX I I GLOSSARY OF POPULAR TERMS USED BY LILLO 228 APPENDIX I I I PHOTOGRAPHS: LILLO AND LOTA 235 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to the many friends who have helped me with my work, I also wish to thank the World U niversity Service (Chile Programme) for the financial assistance which made my research possible. I thank Glasgow University Library for providing me with working accommodation during my research and also for making available my most valuable sources of information. I am especially indebted to Mrs Gabriela Pineda de Salinas who was so generous with her time devoted to procuring numberless books and photocopies in Chile without which I would have been unable to explore the most interesting aspects of my research. I also want to express my gratitude to those members o f the Hispanic Studies Department who at d iffe re n t stages were involved with my research. Professor Nicholas Round, as Head of Department, and Mr Michael Gonzalez as my d ire ct supervisor, aided me enormously with helpful c ritic is m and genuine inte rest and friendship. Whatever may be useful and positive in this thesis owes much to them. F in a lly , I thank Manuel Fernandez who sometimes allowed me to stumble but never to fall grievously while on the path of research. I thank him for his suggestions re la tin g to the h is to ric a l background for my subject and also because he had the arduous task of typing th is thesis. More than anything, I thank Manuel and our boys Antonio, Jano and Robin because without their constant support and warm affection this research would have been neither possible nor worthwhile. ~ H i - ABSTRACT Although not renowned for a prolific literary career, Baldomero L illo is a Chilean short story w riter whose work has been the subject of passionate controversy. Such a controversy, however, has not been helpful in providing a true assessment of L illo 's role w ithin Latin American lite ra tu re but, on the contrary, it has greatly obscured the real issues that lay behind a writer and his work during the crucial period of transition at the turn of the nineteenth century in Chile. This study focuses upon the literary analysis of Lillo's work against two interrelated historical backgrounds. The first relates to the way in which contemporary tendencies such as Realism, Naturalism and Modernismo influenced Lillo's short stories, and the second examines the impact of L illo 's own society upon his work. Chapter I examines the way in which Realism, Naturalism and Modernismo developed in Latin America permeating the literary production of Chilean writers in whose number Lillo also counted. The second chapter provides a biographical sketch of the man and gives a general overview of his short stories. It represents an attempt to classify Lillo's 47 stories into four thematic categories in order to prepare the groundwork for the following chapter in which the stories are analysed according to their structure. This third chapter discusses in a more detailed way those lite r a r y tendencies examined in the f ir s t chapter and their specific impact on Lillo's work. Our research shows that although these tendencies had some bearing upon L illo 's work, ~ IV ~ there tvas another perhaps stronger influence that emerged from the rich popular culture of C hile's mines, farms and emergent c itie s , a re a lity of which L illo had f ir s t hand experience. Chapter four represents an innovative attempt in the analysis of Lillo's. work. His short stories are studied against the background of the social and economic changes taking place in Chile during Lillo's times. Examined in its historical context, Lillo's work represents a portrayal of social classes in acute c o n flic t, the tra n s itio n o f a tra d itio n a l society towards a complex c a p ita lis t structure with the natural emergence of social protest. The present study provides also three appendices which are considered necessary to facilitate further research on Lillo's short stories, a long neglected topic in the literary history of both Chilean and Latin American lite ra tu re . Appendix 1 provides a complete list of Lillo's works arranged in chronological sequence; Appendix I I gives a glossary of popular terms found in the short sto rie s studied and Appendix I I I is a set of photographs of the Lota coal mines at the turn of the century, so close to the l i f e and work of Baldomero L illo . INTRODUCTION In the general context of world lite ra tu re the mention of Baldomero L illo does not evoke - even in the minds of the most a le rt and illustrious critics - an image of a w riter whose work might m e rit an in-depth analysis. Indeed, even in the Latin American context the few c r itic s aware of L illo 's existence would only agree to treat him as a writer of minor stature. Lillo's compatriots themselves have at times passed harsh judgments on the relevance of his writing. In their view, Lillo w^as a frustrated man; a drop-out from secondary school who did not begin to write until his mature years. His chronic illness and early death allowed him to write only a few short stories the merit of which, according to many critics, is highly debatable. For Antonio de Undurraga, fo r instance, L illo is but a w riter "poor in style and lacking in imagination".(1 ) Mariano Latorre also considered Lillo's style to be "of primitive poverty" to such an extent that Lillo could not properly be called a writer.(2) Miguel Serrano, making a distinction between "cuentistas verdaderos" and "simples narradores" concludes that L illo cannot be more than a s to ry -te lle r without the virtues of a real writer.(3) Similar opinions were also expressed by writers and c r itic s lik e Auguste D'Halmar, Mario Osses and Hernàn Diaz Arrieta.(4) The only point of agreement among these critics is that L illo ’s writings represent the plight of the humble at the turn of the century. But even then, some w riters would add, Lillo's writings do not represent a truthful depiction of the - 1 life and works of the miners, fishermen, peasants, Indians and the poor in general. Early critics like Matilde Brandau cast doubts on the plausibility of Lillo's representation of life in the coal mines. On the publication of Subterra, Lillo's first co lle ctio n of short storie s which appeared in 1904, Brandau declared: "creemos que no todo ha de ser desgracia horrenda en la vida del minero, no todo lamento o blasfemia en sus labios".