"EL CHIFLÓN DEL DIABLO" DE BALDOMERO LILLO, ALEGORÍA DE LA NACIÓN CHILENA MODERNA

• Published in: Anales de literatura chilena 2001-12 (2), p.65
• Main Author: Spicer-Escalante, J P
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Subjects: 19th century; Editorials; French literature; Naturalism; Zola, Emile (1840-1902)
• ISSN: 0717-6058

Como ha señalado Doris Sommer con respecte a la novela nacional chilena decimonónica por antonomasia, Martín Rivas (1862) de Alberto Blest Gana, "Everything ends well in the main plot... just as everything could be construed as coming out all right for Chile's ruling elite in the political struggles of the preceding decade" (p. 204). En términos del caso particular de Lillo, el discurso liberal opera como un ente hegemónico en la Latinoamérica decimonónica; el contradiscurso del naturalismo se opone a este discurso organizador. 7 Para Calinescu, la modemidad burguesa se concentra en "The doctrine of progress, the confidence in the beneficial possibilities of science and technology, the concern for time (a measurable time, a time that can be bought and sold and therefore has, like any other calculable equivalent in money), the cult of reason, and the ideal of freedom defined within the framework of an abstract humanism, but also the orientation towards pragmatism and the cult of action and success...kept alive and promoted as key values in the triunphant civilization established by the middle class" (pp. 41-42). Según Sommer, "When the job of writing America seemed most urgent, the question of ultimate authority was bracketed in favor of the local authors. Bail, Richard E. "The Contrast of Light and Shadow in Baldomero Lillo's Poetic Vision of Hell."