María Luisa Fernández Bascuñán (1870–1938), also known as María Luisa Fernández de García Huidobro and by the literary pseudonym Monna Lissa, was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an feminist writer, editor, and poet. She was the mother of poet

Vicente Huidobro Vicente García-Huidobro Fernández (; January 10, 1893 – January 2, 1948) was a Chilean poet born to an aristocracy, aristocratic family. He promoted the avant-garde literary movement in Chile and was the creator and greatest exponent of t ...

(1893–1948).

Career

María Luisa Fernández wrote novels and religious poetry, as well as editing feminist magazines, such as that of the Chilean Women's Patriotic Union – a group she organized – and ''Aliada'' (1922). Part of her literary output is known to be unpublished or scattered in newspapers and magazines – as is also the case with other

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

writers such as Luisa Lynch,

Sara Hübner de Fresno Sofía Sara Hübner Bezanilla (born 18 December 1888; date of death unknown), also known as Sara Hübner de Fresno and by her literary pseudonym Magda Sudermann, was a Chilean feminist writer, journalist, and editor. Biography The daughter of ...

, and the sisters

Ximena Ximena is the female version of the given name Jimeno or Ximeno, a Spanish or Basque name of unknown meaning that has been in use since the Middle Ages. It has been associated with the Basque ''Semen.'' It has come to be viewed as a form of the nam ...

and

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

Morla Lynch. Her literary work is considered to be part of the early 20th century

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

that sought to massify feminist thinking and fight for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

. For some authors, her work can be framed within so-called "aristocratic feminism", along with other writers such as Inés Echeverría Bello, María Mercedes Vial,

Teresa Wilms Montt María Teresa de las Mercedes Wilms Montt (8 September 1893 – 24 December 1921; pseudonyms Tebal and Teresa de la Cruz), also known as Thérèse Wilms Montt, was a Chilean writer, poet, and anarcha-feminist. Described as "embodying sexua ...

, the sisters Morla Lynch, and Mariana Cox Méndez.

Works

* ''Oraciones de mi madre para mis hijos'' (Santiago: Imprenta y encuadernación Chile, 1905) * ''Vida de la santísima Virgen María, madre de Dios'' (Santiago: Impr. Chile, 1935) * ''María del Carmen'' (novel, Santiago: Impr. Claret, 1930)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Maria Luisa 1870 births 1938 deaths 19th-century Chilean poets 20th-century Chilean poets 20th-century Chilean novelists Chilean Roman Catholics Chilean women poets Chilean women novelists 20th-century Chilean women writers 19th-century Chilean women writers Chilean feminist writers