La Emancipada

In this revised 2nd edition, Dr. Flor Maria Rodriguez-Arenas establishes Miguel Riofrios race and birth date, through presenting the facsimile of his Certificate of Baptism, thus correcting the information that has circulated in Ecuador since the 19th century. The text of the novel is offered in a complete form, as the author published it. In the first edition, based on the modern text published by the Consejo Provincial de Loja in 1974, the narrative frame was missing. Also, the study of the text offers new findings about the fictional world created by Riofrio. With his novel La Emancipada (1863) Miguel Riofrio led the Ecuadorian literature into the modern world. Written at mid-nineteenth century this work expresses a method of believable representation -non-biased and objective- of the real world, based upon a careful observation of reality, a censoring and critical attention of the Ecuadorian social life in his times. From that standpoint and through techniques he employed, Riofrio placed his novel within the leading movement in Europe -France- after 1840: Realism. He appears as a writer well versed in the latest knowledges, both cultural and scientific, and as a forefront scholar due to the use of realistic techniques and procedures, he represents, through narrative space and time, cultural, geographic, racial and gender issues that transform Rosaura, the main character, in zones of opposition, ambiguity and exile, demonstrating that she understands her societys structure and how it works. This leads his readers into sharing the interpretative process of the character, and to reach the same understanding. Following Balzac, and other French writers of the period, Riofrio is a Realist well aware of his limits, he also depicts what molds, controls and limits narrative: history, economy, psychology and other precepts considered universal at writing time. The narration therefore shows the Ecuadorian historic and cultural moment, along with scientific, literary and …