The politics of literature in Chilean post-transition to democracy novels: portraits of society and the political status of women in the narrative of Diamela Eltit and Alberto Fuguet

Lazo-González, D

Thesis

The politics of literature in Chilean post-transition to democracy novels: portraits of society and the political status of women in the narrative of Diamela Eltit and Alberto Fuguet

Abstract:: This thesis explores the relationship between literature and politics through a study of novels published by Diamela Eltit (1949-) and Alberto Fuguet (1964-) in the Chilean post-transition to democracy period (i.e.: after the year 2000). It attempts to demonstrate that Chilean post-transition to democracy literature foregrounds the socio-cultural legacies inherited from the dictatorship (1973-1990), which have been to a great extent endorsed by the Chilean neoliberal transition to democracy. This thesis considers the more recent narrative fiction published by these authors as representative of Chilean post-transition to democracy literature, that is, a literature that shares a politico-historical legacy inherited from the Chilean dictatorship, and highlights a social imaginary permeated by the contemporary neoliberal politico-cultural project imposed by the military and to a great extent endorsed by the transition to democracy. In doing so, this work focuses on questions related to the portrayal of contemporary Chilean society and the political status of women.

Commitment in literature does not necessarily come from the author’s subjectivity or intention, but from his or her study of society and the way in which s/he presents it. Literary commitment, whether overt or not, remains fundamental in the case of contemporary Chilean writers, who have inherited a neoliberal socio-cultural context imposed by a dictatorship, and who may deploy strategies to either disseminate, perpetuate or resist such a cultural model, creating new ones. Therefore, the values to which literature commits can be traced in the case of both the overtly politically committed author and the apparently apolitical one. This methodology allows us to reveal the way in which Eltit and Fuguetʼs writing projects represent different but implicitly related views of Chilean society as well as two semi-canonical standpoints which are prominently representative of the twenty-first century Chilean literary sphere.

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APA Style

Lazo-González, D. (2018). The politics of literature in Chilean post-transition to democracy novels: portraits of society and the political status of women in the narrative of Diamela Eltit and Alberto Fuguet [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Lazo-González, D. The Politics of Literature in Chilean Post-Transition to Democracy Novels: Portraits of Society and the Political Status of Women in the Narrative of Diamela Eltit and Alberto Fuguet. University of Oxford, 2018.

Chicago Style

Lazo-González, D. 2018. “The Politics of Literature in Chilean Post-Transition to Democracy Novels: Portraits of Society and the Political Status of Women in the Narrative of Diamela Eltit and Alberto Fuguet.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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