Rosario Orrego

Rosario Orrego Castañeda (married name de Uribe, later de Chacón; 1834 – 21 May 1879), known by the pseudonym Una Madre, was a Chilean novelist, poet, editor, and educator. Considered the first Chilean female novelist, Orrego was a pioneer of poetry in Chile and a forerunner of women's literature in Hispanic America. and founded the magazine Valparaíso in 1873. Orrego was the first woman to join the literary academy. Rosario Orrego Muñoz was born in the city of Copiapó in 1834. For most of her life she resided in Valparaíso, where she moved in 1853 after the illness of her first husband, the wealthy Chañarcillo miner Juan José Uribe.

Literary output Rosario Orrego had a distinguished place in the field of Chilean writing during the second half of the 19th century, activity which developed almost entirely in Valparaíso. In addition, she participated in several literary and philanthropic organizations promoting women's rights. In this regard, during this time "she made clear her ardent intention and campaigned to expand the instruction and education of women, as well as a strong spirit of solidarity towards the most destitute of society." Sud-América,

Novels Orrego's debut novel was Alberto el jugador, a text "of romantic court and custom where the atmosphere of the bourgeoisie is observed and the morals and social codes of the time are confronted." She published this in installments in the early 1860s in the Revista del Pacífico.

This trilogy transformed Rosario Orrego into one of the forerunners of the Hispanic American novel, together with Juana Manso, Mercedes Marín, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Júlia Lopes de Almeida, Clorinda Matto de Turner, Juana Manuela Gorriti, and Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera, among others.

Personal life In 1848, aged 14, Orrego married Juan José Uribe Moya. Orrego and Uribe had five children, among them writers Ángela Uribe de Alcalde, Luis Uribe Orrego, and Regina Orrego Uribe, the first woman in Chile to receive the title of bachillerato in humanities).

After being widowed, she married jurist, journalist, and writer Jacinto Chacón Barrios in 1874.

Select bibliography Alberto el jugador (Santiago: Editorial Cuarto Propio, 2001; 1860) Sus mejores poemas, artículos y su novela corta "Teresa" (Santiago: Editorial Nascimento, 1931) Obra completa: Rosario Orrego 1831–1879 (Copiapó: [s.n.], 2003)