5. Writers from Latin America and the Caribbean

This chapter reviews 12 women writers, 1776-1848, from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The whole of mainland America south of Canada obtained independence in the half-century 1776-1826, and that is reflected in the writings of this variety of Latin American and Caribbean women authors. For several countries, no women writers have as yet been identified for the period, a spur to future research. For others, one finds poets, novelists, journalists, even dramatists writing in Spanish and Portuguese.