‘Vivo en la villa de los nombres reales’: ética y política del nombre propio en Formas de volver a casa de Alejandro Zambra

Abstract

This article analyzes the importance of characters’ names in Alejandro Zambra's 2011 novel FORMAS DE VOLVER A CASA. Although proper names in most fiction have some meaning, Zambra uses the names, lack of names, pseudonyms and nicknames of his characters, particularly the two narrators who double Zambra himself, to guide the reader toward the novel's subject: the ethical and aesthetic pitfalls of writing fiction, not testimony, about the evils of the Pinochet regime. Negotiating these pitfalls will help Zambra's avatars, and all Chileans, toward a social reconciliation that has yet to be complete. Zambra´s citing of Romain Gary in the novel´s epigraph affords a crucial link between the ethical and aesthetic implications here discussed.