Chilean Women’s Poetry under Neoliberalism, 1980–2020

Bárbara Fernández-Melleda

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Examines how women poets have expressed resistance against neoliberalism in Chile at times of intense political upheaval

  • A 4-decade chronology following on women’s poetry response to neoliberal ideology
  • Takes an interdisciplinary approach to poetic work engaging with neoliberalism in Chile
  • Centres on iconic works by canonical Chilean authors that deserve study in an international setting


Chilean Women’s Poetry under Neoliberalism, 1980-2020 explores how the works of 6 women poets interact with the imposition and development of neoliberalism in Chile over 4 decades. The book follows a chronology that joins poetic work that criticises the model from its inception during dictatorship times (1980s), through a democratic transition that did not live up to its expectations (1990s), until the naturalisation of neoliberalism as a new normal that seems not possible to overcome (2000s). Finally, the 2010s show how the great inequalities denounced in the works from the previous 3 decades found concrete resistance through the October 2019 social revolt. This juncture brings new poetry hoping for a refoundation of Chile while also imagining the failure of a revolutionary movement. In the end, the latter came to pass.

List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgements


Introduction: Women’s Poetry in Neoliberal Chile, 1980-2020

Part I: 1980s. Confronting the Darkness in the Pinochet Era
1. Bobby Sands desfallece en el muro (1983) by Carmen Berenguer
2. La bandera de Chile (1981/1991) by Elvira Hernández

Part II: 1990s. Expressing Disillusion in the Early Transition to Democracy
3. Escrito en Braille (1999) by Alejandra del Río
4. Uranio (1999) by Marina Arrate

Part III: 2000s. Depicting Inescapability and Despair in Neoliberal Times
5. ©Copyright (2003) by Nadia Prado
6. Bracea (2007) by Malú Urriola

Epilogue: The 2019 Uprising and Beyond

Index

Bárbara Fernández-Melleda brilliantly kickstarts her analytical journey when the sweeping violence of the Pinochet dictatorship installed the neoliberal model. Her book highlights various mechanisms of resistance against a repressive and individualistic social system. It also examines the asymmetry affecting Chilean literary production, perpetuating patriarchal practices that reduce or negate the contributions carried by the aesthetics of women writers.
Diamela Eltit, winner of the National Literature Prize of Chile 2018
Bárbara Fernández-Melleda is Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies at The University of Hong Kong. She has published articles on Gabriela Mistral, Elvira Hernández, Carmen Berenguer and Nadia Prado, among other Chilean poets. She was awarded the Early Career Scheme Grant by the Hong Kong University Grants Committee for her project The Fall of Neoliberalism in the Chilean Post-Dictatorship Novel (20002020). Her current research interests delve into Sino-Latin American diplomatic relations, especially through the lives and works of Chilean poets Pablo Neruda and Armando Uribe. In 2024, she received the General Research Fund award to begin her 3-year project entitled Pablo Neruda in China.

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