Poem of Chile, its manuscripts and an assessment of the value of the Gabriela Mistral legacy

Abstract

For the first time in 2007 we received in Chile the full literary heritage of Gabriela Mistral from the United States. This historical benchmark is taking place 50 years after the author's death in New York. This is especially relevant for her posthumous book Poema de Chile, left unfinished upon the author's death. This recently arrived material contains one new manuscript and three new versions of the book, all different from the manuscript that was known until now. The importance of Poema de Chile is that it is the single work of Mistral in which the author takes on the unitary and systematic task of "thinking Chile". It is in this oevre that she puts forth her ethical, spiritual, aesthetical and political ideas in regard to her country. It is a book laden with Utopian values and valuation of subjectivities of those traditionally marginalized by patriarchal and patrimonial logics.