Clorinda Matto de Turner

Clorinda Matto de Turner (11 November 1852 - 25 October 1909) was a Peruvian writer, journalist and novelist. She is best known for the novel Aves sin nido (1889), an early indigenista work that denounced abuses by local authorities and the Church and provoked strong controversy that contributed to her leaving Peru for Argentina.

Quotes

• Detesto el agua tibia y los temperamentos indecisos; por eso amo y odio con llaneza y ardor, y lo que emprendo llega á la cima. Esta jira europea misma que estoy realizando, sola, cumplidos ya los cincuenta años de existencia, es manifestación comprobatoria del carácter cimentado en la sentencia shakespiriana, ser ó no ser. Si no nací en Londres, nací en el Cuzco, y me siento llena de orgullo legítimo. ¿Por qué no confesarlo? El disimulo de nuestras espontaneidades es hipocresía; yo la detesto del mismo modo que al agua tibia.
  • Translation: I detest lukewarm water and indecisive temperaments; that is why I love and hate with candor and ardor, and whatever I undertake reaches the summit. This very European journey I am now carrying out, alone, after fifty years of existence, is proof of a character grounded in the Shakespearean dictum: to be or not to be. If I was not born in London, I was born in Cuzco, and I feel full of legitimate pride. Why not confess it? To disguise our spontaneities is hypocrisy; I detest it just as much as lukewarm water.
  • Viaje de Recreo (1909), p.141