Counterpoint of history and stories: José Ángel Cuevas' ex Chile as biographical discourse

Abstract

The literary work of José Ángel Cuevas (Santiago de Chile, 1942) is shaped by the experience of Augusto Pinochet’s civil-military dictatorship in Chile (1973-1990) and speaks from exile and militancy in poetry to engage a dialogue with the present. His work, published after the return to democracy, includes Treinta poemas del ex poeta José Ángel Cuevas (1992), Proyecto de país (1994), and Poesía de la comisión liquidadora (1997). These books, however, mix the transition, the politics of the 1990s, and the accommodation of neoliberalism in Chile with scenes from the authoritarian regime. In short, Cuevas’s poetry reflects on the circumstances of recent Chilean history. In addition, his writing reveals biographical connections, making him a literary witness, but also a critical voice on reality itself. In this article, we will seek to emphasize the counterpoint between the narrative of recent Chilean history and the history of a poet who has not moved from Santiago, in order to support a critique of neoliberal triumphalism, motivated by the metamorphosis of a lexicon. In this vein, it is relevant to study how Cuevas’s lyrical self-confronts the end of the 20th century and, taking the biographical discourse, how poetry is a critique of institutional, political and everyday language. In short, Cuevas's poetry reflects on the circumstances of recent Chilean history. In addition, his writing reveals biographical connections, making him a literary witness, but also a critical voice on reality itself. In this monograph, we will seek to emphasize the counterpoint between the narrative of recent Chilean history and the history of a poet who has not moved from Santiago, in order to support a critique of neoliberal triumphalism, motivated by the metamorphosis of a lexicon. In this vein, it is relevant to study how Cuevas's lyrical self confronts the end of the 20th century and, taking the biographical discourse, how poetry is a critique of institutional, political and everyday language.