TRADITION OF A REPUBLICAN DREAM IN JUAN EGAÑA’S THOUGHT: EL CHILENO CONSOLADO EN LOS PRESIDIOS (1826)

Abstract

This article analyzes the influence of the classical tradition and the reception of ancient Greek and Roman texts in Chile at the beginning of the 19th century. We propose, as a case study, Juan Egaña’s El chileno consolado en los presidios o filosofía de la religión, providing both a description of the context of the fight for national independence (1814- 1817), which frames this phenomenon, and a study about the place that Greek and Roman texts have in the lettered Spanish-American circuit by the late 18th and the early 19th century. Egaña’s text demonstrates the influence of Plato and Cicero in a passage that reports a dream, like that of Scipio or that of Er’s myth, reflecting a process of reception of ancient style and ideas, which brings meaning and value to the discourse of the Chilean author.