Housewives with the degree in literature

Abstract

This article intends to provide a reading of the narratives of Chilean women from the first half of the 20th century, as they speak to and of the professionalization of writing. The focus is on the representations that these authors construct in their narratives as “amateur writers”. Along with differentiating their work from a male tradition, these authors also seek to denounce the work and educational difficulties in their own training derived from leaving women’s issues out of the political agenda to focus instead on achieving social and class transformations. By analyzing a few novels published between the 1930s and 1960s, this study aims to unveil the gender- and class-based discourse articulated by these female writers regarding the writing profession and writing itself.