OTRA TIERRA BALDÍA: EL DESIERTO COMO ESPACIO Y FUNCIÓN EN LA NARRATIVA DE DIEGO ZÚÑIGA

Abstract

Using some notions of intertextuality and topoiesis (space theory), this work analyzes the novels Camanchaca (2009) and Racimo (2014) by Chilean writer Diego Zúñiga, where, the space of the desert becomes a constant. This same constant not only articulates its most visible topics, that range from uprooting, the embroiled path through childhood, and, overall, the difficulty of building bonds with family and friends, but also the possibility of their enunciation. On one hand, the desert works as a reference and a scenario (it is the Atacama Desert, whose camanchaca and darkness affect the characters’ behavior); but on the other hand, this huge space works on a symbolic level in terms of dialogue and the appropriation of earlier narratives (especially that of Roberto Bolaño). In many scenes of their narrative, we witness a family or a couple with a desert in between, which makes it difficult for the narrators to construct the story in a truthful way. This is why the stories are constantly interrupted by autofictional and metafictional reflections, narrating the immeasurable desert and the impossibility of making truths or revelations emerge.