Lucía Miranda (1860) of Eduarda Mansilla and its Italian Genealogies

Abstract

Lucía Miranda (1860), the first novel by the Argentinian writer Eduarda Mansilla de García (1834-1992) keeps several genetic and genealogical secrets well hidden. The presence of a secondary plot that takes place in Naples (Italy) is a unique fact along all the remakes of the so called «Lucía Miranda’s episode» during centuries, from the chronicle by Ruy Díaz de Guzmán finished around 1612. There are «intratextual» reasons: Naples, presenting the quintessence of high Italian culture, has a strong symbolic value in the interaction Nature/Culture, Barbarism/ Civilization, America/Europe, Wilderness/City, as well as the feminine genealogy (María de las Rosas-Nina Barberini) that «places into abyss» the story of the main feminine character, Lucía Miranda. But there are also «intertextual» motivations for appealing to an Italian scene: the acknowledged, and recently found out debt of the author, Eduarda Mansilla, towards Alessandro Manzoni and his masterpiece: The Betrothed (I promessi sposi), to which she attributes the upheaval of her literary vocation. Finally, the fact of Naples being the chosen scenario, refers us to Eduarda Mansilla’s familiar relationship with don Pedro de Angelis: the great Neapolitan scholar, first editor and publisher of Ruy Díaz de Guzmán’s chronicle. Indeed, he put his best talents to serve her uncle, the Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas, but first of all, he used them at the service of the future historical Argentinian legacy.