Mercedes González Tola
Mercedes González Tola | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 October 1860 Guayaquil, Ecuador |
| Died | 23 September 1911 (aged 50) Quito, Ecuador |
| Pen name | Mercedes G. de Moscoso, M.G. de M, Rosa del Valle |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable works | Reminiscencias (1890) |
| Spouse | Aurelio Moscoso |
| Children | 2 |
Mercedes González Tola (12 October 1860 – 23 September 1911), also known in the literary field as Mercedes G. de Moscoso, M.G. de M or by the pen name Rosa del Valle, was an Ecuadorian poet, playwright and writer of the romanticism movement. She later became an activist with the feminist movement and directed the National Library of Ecuador from 1906 until her death.
Early life and family
Mercedes González Tola was born on 12 October 1860 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.[1][2] Her parents were Nicolás Augusto González Navarrete and Guadalupe Tola Dávalos.[3][4] Her father was involved in politics as a secret agent for Vicente Rocafuerte, leading the family to spend ten years in exile in Lima, Peru.[4] They returned to Guayaquil in 1875 after the assassination of president Gabriel García Moreno.[4]
González Tola married her distant relative Aurelio Moscoso and they had two children. Her first child died in infancy.[4]
Career
González Tola was a poet, playwright and writer.[5][6] She was sometimes known the literary field as Mercedes G. de Moscoso or M.G. de M and additionally used the pen name Rosa del Valle.[2] Her brother Nicolás Augusto González Tola also became a poet.[4][7]
Many of her works were sentimental, intimate and introspective, focusing on family life and loss,[8] including Reminiscencias (1890), En el Nido (1899) and the play Abuela (1903).[9][10] She adapted Abuela into a three act play in 1907.[9]
Alongside her writing career, González Tola was appointed as director of the National Library of Ecuador in Quito in 1906. During her time as director, González Tola requested funds and resources to modernise the library and the first exchanged program was established. She worked as director until her death in 1911 and was succeeded by Zoila Ugarte de Landívar.[11]
González Tola was also involved in the Ecuadorian feminist movement.[8] She contributed to Ecuardor's first feminist magazine, La Mujer.[4]
Death
González Tola died on 23 September 1911 in Quito, Ecuador.[11][12]
References
- ^ V, León Vieira (1976). 12 escritores ecuatorianos contemporaneos y una glosa (in Spanish). Departamento de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Guayaquil. p. 56.
- ^ a b Cortés, Eladio; Barrea-Marlys, Mirta (30 December 2003). Encyclopedia of Latin American Theater. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-313-01721-6.
- ^ Naranjo, Manuel Gallegos (1879). Parnaso ecuatoriano: con apuntamientos biográficos de los poetas y versificadores de la República del Ecuador, desde el siglo XVIII hasta el año de 1879 (in Spanish). Imprenta de Manuel V. Flor. p. 262.
- ^ a b c d e f "Mercedes G. de Moscoso". Ecuadorian Literature. 4 August 2022. Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.
- ^ Cortina, Lynn Ellen Rice (1983). Spanish-American Women Writers: A Bibliographical Research Checklist (in Spanish). Garland Pub. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8240-9247-4.
- ^ Noboa, Fernando Jurado (1992). Los secretos del poder socioeconómico: el caso Dávalos (in Spanish). SAG. p. 154.
- ^ "González Nicolás Augusto". Enciclopedia del Ecuador (in Spanish). 13 April 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2025.
- ^ a b Grijalva, Juan Carlos (15 January 2024). La imaginación patriarcal: Emergencia y silenciamento de la mujer escritora en la prensa y la literatura ecuatorianas, 1860-1900 (in Spanish). UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-1-4696-7943-3.
- ^ a b Noboa, Fernando Jurado (1996). La Ronda: nido de cantores y poetas (in Spanish). Libresa. p. 145. ISBN 978-9978-80-365-3.
- ^ Jones, Willis Knapp (29 July 2014). Behind Spanish American Footlights. University of Texas Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-4773-0015-2.
- ^ a b Kent, Allen (26 February 1987). Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 42 - Supplement 7: The Albert I Royal Library to The United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). CRC Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-8247-2042-1.
- ^ Efecto Alquimia (3 April 2022). Mercedes González Tola «Flor del Valle», mayor representante del segundo romanticismo del Ecuador (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 May 2025 – via YouTube.