Two Ways in Eva Canel’s Latin America Narrative: Literature of Manners and Autobiography

Abstract

Eva Canel, an asturian writer of XIX century, spent half of her life in Latin America, becoming a good connoisseur of the entire continent. Her books De América: viajes, tradiciones y novelitas cortas and Lo que ví en Cuba attempted to relate her experience, in a moment of remarkable changes in the relation between Spain and Hispano-America. This article tries to analyze Canel’s position within travel literature, in a time when women writers acceded massively to this genre, but also in the way that she used two narrative modes: literature on manners and autobiography to elaborate her imaginary perception of Canel’s adoption country.