In a distant glimmer of light: photographic and literary correspondences under the Chilean dictatorship

Abstract

This article reflects on the Chilean literary and artistic production that begins around the 70’s, where the relationship between photography and literature was strengthened; this relationship increased by mid-80. Photographic images are transferred to the artistic field through intermedial operations that plague the national literary scene with new artistic meanings. These disruptive signals converge in the construction of a hybrid text, and at the same time, enrich palimpsestic and mutable crosses between photography and literature. With the use of photographic images, texts such as De la tierra sin fuegos (1986) by Juan Pablo Riveros reconstruct scenarios where certain historical and social issues are discussed and confronted, such as the indigenous genocide of Southern Patagonia (1880-1920) and the Chilean military dictatorship (1973-1990).