Martín Rivas de Alberto Blest Gana (1862). Evolución de un modelo literario de modales y moral para varias generaciones

Martín Rivas, in the words of the author, seeks to "interest and instruct", setting up the hero couple of his novel as a model for young Chileans. The claim of liberal ideology allows the analysis of the novel to be oriented towards the elaboration of a model of ideal youth, apt to participate in the construction of the liberal and enlightened nation that the author longed for. Nowadays, promotional and educational discourses set the novel up as a faithful reflection of the reality of that time. On the other hand, academic discourses tend to evolve: if in the 1940s, Martín Rivas appears as a symbol of meritocracy, in the 1970s, he is merely the heir to a middle class. From the 2010s onwards, an analysis of Chilean identity was added to this model: based on the liberal ideals of the European Enlightenment, the novel forged the ideal young Chilean under a model based on the exclusion of the poorest and the indigenous peoples. Thus, promotional and academic discourse has an impact on the ideology and methods of teaching the novel in secondary school.