Four thesis on literature during Chilean Popular Unity

Abstract

In this essay, four theses are developed to explain the invisibility of literature during the Chilean Popular Unity. These four theses approach literary production from different perspectives that form a critical constellation that weaves together works and readings from both historical and contemporary points of view. The first thesis proposes the invisibility of literary history during the Chilean UP. The second speculates that literary works may have failed to articulate the rapidly changing collective event of the Unidad Popular into a memorable work. The third argues that literature during the UP found itself cornered between the mass media and the emergence of the popular. The fourth thesis, on the other hand, points to the contemporary reading of these works: from the post-dictatorship - as a paradigm of political, social and cultural interpretation - which conceives of the UP project on the basis of the failure of the left and the mourning of dictatorial violence, it is incapable of reading literature during the UP as a valuable, interesting and complex object.