ABSTRACT
In Bajo la Santa Federación, Blomberg and Viale Paz project their vision of ideal Argentine womanhood onto their romantic heroine, María del Carmen. She is one of four female protagonists of the Rosas era who take centre stage in the UHSUHVHQWDWLRQV RI WKH UHJLPH HLWKHU DV KLVWRULFDO ¿JXUHV ¿FWLRQDO KHURLQHV RU both. María del Carmen has much in common with Mármol’s heroine, Amalia, as ERWK¿FWLRQDOIHPDOHFKDUDFWHUVEHFRPHYLFWLPVRIWKHUHJLPHGXHWRWKHLUFKRLFH of lover. The novel Amalia was inspired by the historical case of Rosas’s most infamous victim, Camila O’Gorman. Her execution on Rosas’s orders has become one of the key events for the regime’s historical representation as a tyranny. In their prologue to the published edition of Bajo la Santa Federación, Blomberg DQG9LDOH3D] UHFRJQLVH WKH LQÀXHQFHRI WKHVWRULHVRI WKH¿FWLRQDO$PDOLDDQG the historical Camila on their radio serial and state that they have tried to evoke both in their narrative (5). Traversing the stories of the historical Camila and the ¿FWLRQDO$PDOLDDQG0DUtDGHO&DUPHQLV WKDWRI0DQXHOD5RVDVWKHGLFWDWRU¶V daughter and political aide. Manuela undergoes the transformation from historical ¿JXUH WR¿FWLRQDOKHURLQH LQAmalia and later in Bajo la Santa Federación and KHU LQWHUHVWDVD¿FWLRQDOFKDUDFWHU VWHPV IURP WKHKLVWRULFDO0DQXHOD¶VDOOHJHG attempts at mediation in Camila’s tragic case.
