Manuela Villarán de Plasencia (1840–1888) was a

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

writer, poet, and journalist.

Biography

Manuela Villarán de Plasencia was born in 1840 in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. Her father was Manuel Vicente Villarán González and her mother Nicolasa Angulo Jiménez. In 1854, Manuela married Rafael Fuentes, the captain of the

Ayacucho Ayacucho (, , derived from the words ''aya'' ("death" or "soul") and ''k'uchu'' ("corner") in honour of the battle of Ayacucho), founded in 1540 as San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga and known simply as Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga) until 1825, i ...

battalion. Manuela Villarán de Plasencia became one of the first enlightened

women to actively pursue a career in journalism. She worked with several magazines, such as El Álbum, La Alborada, El Parnaso Peruano, and many others. Aside from that, during 1876 and 1877, she helped in organizing the gatherings of the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

writer

Juana Manuela Gorriti Juana Manuela Gorriti Zuviria (15 June 1818 – 6 November 1892) was an Argentine writer with extensive political and literary links to Bolivia and Peru. She held the position of First Lady of Bolivia from 1848 to 1855. With the publication o ...

. She also dedicated a poem to

, who inspired her by nurturing a close relationship with Manuela, among other disciples. The name of the poem is "A la eminente escritora Juana Manuela Gorriti". When the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

between Chile,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

started, she lost her only son Ernesto Plasencia. Which motivated her to write an elegy titled "To Ernesto" or "A Ernesto". She died a few years later in 1888 at the age of 48.

Literature

Theater plays

* ''"Agencia matrimonial"'' * ''"A la Eminente Escritora Juana Manuela Gorriti"'' * ''"A Ernesto"''

Poetry

* ''"Cantos íntimos de una madre"''

"Inconvenientes para la emancipación de la mujer" fragment

Venga la pluma, el tintero, y de papel un pedazo: es preciso que comience á escribir hoy un mosaico, pero tocan. Quién será? suelto el borrador y salgo es un necio que pregunta si aquí vive don Fulano. Vuelvo á mi asiento y escribo tres renglones. Oigo el llanto de mi última pequeñita que reclama mis cuidados acudo á tranquilizarla aun con la pluma en la mano; vuelvo a la mesa y ya traigo un cuartetito pensado.... Vuelvo á mi empezado escrito, voy medio el hilo tomando... Me sorprende una visita, á saludarla me paro, los papeles se me vuelan y se cae el diccionario. Por supuesto que me olvido de lo que estaba buscando... Cumplo, pues, con mis deberes más allá de lo mandado. Mi conciencia está tranquila á pesar de mis trabajos; pero esta vida, lectora, que ves a vuelo de pájaro es lo que yo considero un verdadero mosaico.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villaran De Plasencia, Manuela 1840 births 1888 deaths 19th-century Peruvian poets Peruvian women poets Peruvian women journalists