Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera

Mercedes Cabello Llosa de Carbonera (Moquegua, February 7, 1845 – Lima, October 12, 1909) was a Peruvian writer. Influenced by the current of positivism and naturalism, she was the initiator of literary realism in Peruvian novels. She wrote six novels of social content and critical intent, the most successful Blanca Sol (1888), Las consecuencias (1890) and El conspirador (1892). She also wrote numerous articles and essays published in Peruvian newspapers on literary and social topics. She specially advocated the emancipation of women, and was one of the first Peruvian feminists. She was a contemporary of Manuel González Prada, who, like Cabello, was a sui generis positivist; and an attendee of Juana Manuela Gorriti's tertulias, which provided her an opportunity to meet other female writers and discuss literature and feminist thought.

Novels

• Sacrificio y recompensa (Lima, 1886), premiada por el Ateneo de Lima.
• Eleodora (Madrid, 1887), refundida después en Las consecuencias.
• Los amores de Hortensia (1886 and 1887)
• Blanca Sol (novela social) (1888, 1889 and 1894)
• Las consecuencias (1890)
• El conspirador (autobiografía de un hombre público) (1892 and 1898)

Essays

• Influencia de las Bellas Letras en el progreso moral y material de los pueblos (1887), premiado con medalla de oro por la Municipalidad de Lima.
• La novela realista
• La novela moderna (1892), premiado con la “Rosa de Oro” en el concurso interamericano de ensayo promovido por la Academia Literaria de Buenos Aires.
• Importancia de la literatura
• Estudio comparativo de la inteligencia y la belleza de la mujer
• Perfeccionamiento de la educación y la condición social de la mujer
• La religión de la humanidad (1893)
• El conde León Tolstoi (1894)