Baldomero Lillo facts for kids
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Baldomero Lillo (born on January 6, 1867, in Lota, Chile – died on September 10, 1923, in San Bernardo, Chile) was a famous Chilean writer. He wrote in a style called Naturalism. His stories often focused on social problems and protested against unfair conditions.
About His Life
Baldomero Lillo's father traveled to California hoping to find gold in 1848. He didn't get rich, but he learned a lot about mining. Later, he moved to Lota, a town in southern Chile, to work in the coal mines.
Baldomero grew up in these mining towns. He even worked in the mines himself. This experience showed him the tough lives of the miners. He read books by a French writer named Émile Zola. Zola used a writing style called Naturalism to show the difficult lives of French coal miners.
Lillo saw similar problems in the Chilean mines. He wanted to help the workers. So, he decided to write stories that showed how hard their lives were. He hoped his writing would make people care and want to improve things.
Lillo wrote many short stories. These were collected in two main books: Sub Sole and Sub Terra. His stories caught the attention of people who wanted to help others. They were shocked by the bad conditions in the mines.
One of his famous stories is "The Devil's Tunnel." In this story, miners seem stuck in a difficult life. Their lives are controlled by the need for raw materials and the big machines from Europe. At the end of the story, Lillo shows a big difference between the clean, bright sky and the dark, dangerous underground. This underground place seems to "eat up" the people who go into its dark tunnels.
See also
In Spanish: Baldomero Lillo para niños
