Biopolitics and Inscriptions: Raúl Zurita's Poetry as a <i>communitas</i> of Pain

Abstract

This article analyzes part of the poetic work of Raúl Zurita, expressed both in some of his poetry books and in his "inscriptions" or material inscriptions and in his corporal self-mutilations to determine the functions that his art fulfills in the face of neoliberal biopolitical practices (Foucault, Agamben, Calveiro) and as a bet for a communitas of pain (Diéguez). It explains the meaning and function of books such as Purgatorio (1982), Canto a su amor desaparecido (1985) and zurita/in memoriam (2007), or interventions such as her verse "ni pena ni miedo" in the Atacama Desert, her presence in memorials or her intervention "El mar del dolor"; all as differentiated forms of resistance from art, against strategies of power that tried to "let die" part of the society in the context of the military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990) and also in other contexts of human rights violations.