The writer Patricia Cerda hits bookstores with a novel about the Nobel Prize in Literature Gabriela Mistral.
Did Gabriela Mistral have a complex relationship with Chile? Was she a feminist? How should we read her poetry? These are some of the questions that Patricia Cerda tried to clarify when she embarked on the research and writing of her latest novel, “Lucila,” reported Planeta publishing house.
Published by Ediciones B, Lucila recounts Gabriela Mistral’s last trip to Chile in 1954. The novel reviews the poet’s nostalgic ties with the land that formed her and that is so present in her poetry.
“Lucila left as a girl and returned as a goddess,” states the narrator and reconstructs the path that led the self-taught girl to become a world-acclaimed poet.
The story interweaves the first memories of the Elqui Valley with moments that marked Mistral’s life after his departure from Chile in Mexico, France, Spain, Italy and Brazil. It sheds light on the poet’s relationship with her allies, such as Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and reviews the conflicts with her various enemies, who never stopped weaving intrigues against her.
“Lucila” is an intimate portrait of a woman who fused various spiritual currents in her unique search for meaning and delves into the essence of a poet who transcends the borders of time.
“Someone commented in September 1954 that Gabriela Mistral’s last visit to Chile was a dress rehearsal for her funeral. Maybe there was something like that,” says author Patricia Cerda in the epilogue of her book.
Patricia Cerda was born in Concepción in 1961. Since 1986 she has lived in Germany. She has a doctorate in history from the Free University of Berlin. She has published essays on literature and philosophy in various specialized German and Chilean magazines. “Mestiza,” her first novel, quickly appeared in the ranking of best-selling books. On the Ediciones B label, she also published “Rugendas” and “Ercilla”.
