Colonial representations in Lastarria's writing. Chile, 19th century

Abstract

The present article discusses how the Chilean elite -represented and studied from two historical-literary writings by Jose Victorino Lastarria- built discourses on the colonial past that set it up as a disastrous event in Latin American history. Articulating metaphors that speak about the darkness of this period, the colonial period is presented as a stage to overcome by creating a national history and a foundational time. As we will see, this discourse of creating our emerging nation became hegemonic and already official by the end of the century was intended to formulate, narrate and naturalize the sense of national community.