Brunet, Marta (1897–1967)

Marta Brunet (b. 9 August 1897; d. 10 August 1967), Chilean feminist writer. Brunet was born in Chillán and raised in southern Chile but spent most of her life in other countries, living first in Europe (1911–1914) and later working as cultural attaché to the Chilean Embassy in Argentina (1939–1952), Brazil (1962–1963), and Uruguay (1963–1967). She wrote nine novels and ten collections of short stories. Her most important fictional works are Montaña adentro (1923; Deep into the Mountains), "Soledad de la sangre" (1943; "The Solitude of the Blood"), Humo hacia el sur (1946; Smoke Towards the South), María Nadie (1957; Maria Nobody), and Amasijo (1962; Dough for Baking). Her Obras completas were published in Chile in 1963.

Although Brunet initially followed the criollista tendency in fiction that was prevalent in Chile through the 1930s, she soon went beyond its nativist parameters to present universal concerns through the psychological and existential conflicts of her characters. Based primarily on the world of women, her work characterizes female desire for self-actualization. By means of the opposition between reality and dream, Brunet focuses at once on a woman's submission to the patriarchal forces of family and community and her possibility for spiritual empowerment through the realm of fantasy. In 1961 she became the second woman to receive the National Prize for literature. She died in Montevideo.

See alsoLiterature: Spanish America; Philosophy: Feminist.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Esther Melón De Díaz, La narrativa de Marta Brunet (1975).

Gabriela Mora, "Una lectura de Soledad de la sangre de Marta Brunet," Estudios Filológicos 19 (1984): 81-90.

Mary Berg, "The Short Stories of Marta Brunet," in Monographic Review/Revista Monográfica 4 (1988): 195-206.

Additional Bibliography

Balart Carmona, Carmen. Narrativa feminina chilena: Marta Brunet. Santiago de Chile: Santillana, 1999.

Orozco Vera, Ma Jesús. La narrative feminina chilena, 1923–1980: Escritura y enajenación. Zaragoza: Anubar Ediciones, 1995.

                                             J. A. Epple