Alejandra Basualto´Sa Esthetic of Censorship
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THE SILENT TREATMENT: ALEJANDRA BASUALTO´S ESTHETIC OF CENSORSHIP · 126 · RECIBIDO EL 8 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2019 - ACEPTADO EL 9 DE FEBRERO DE 2020 The silent treatment: Alejandra Basualto´s a esthetic of censorship El manejo del silencio: La estética de la censura en Alejandra Basualto Resha Cardone1 Southern Connecticut State University ABSTRACT collection, while the aesthetic of silence points to the dialogue with international feminist thought Alejandra Basualto is a little studied yet perceptible in the compilation. In these two short significant Chilean prose writer and poet stories, creative women protagonists challenge whose first short story collection, La mujer de institutional power structures by assuming the yeso (1988), exemplifies the redefinition of the feminized positions of vulnerability and silence. woman writer that occurred in many female- Basualto incorporates literary strategies like authored fiction texts published during the metaphors, mythical allusions, and ellipses to Pinochet regime. Exemplifying the aesthetic of create an intricate textual dynamic representing censorship and silence characterizing her entire repressive military tactics like censorship and short story collection, analyses in this article of disappearing dissidents. A story inscribed on a “La espera” and “1954” reveal how Basualto tortured and repressed female body longing to undermines the repressive hierarchies defining create, an extended metaphor for the Chilean Chilean politics of the dictatorship era as well as nation and its writers, “La espera” showcases REVISTA BOLETÍN REDIPE 9 (10): 126-139 - OCTUBRE 2020 ISSN 2256-1536 REVISTA the national literary establishment through what artists’ frustrated attempts to create during the I call her aesthetic of silence and censorship. regime while representing the psychological The art of censorship recalls the context of despair of Chileans suffering due to the dictatorial repression Basualto confronts in this “disappearance” of their loved ones. The focus 1 Dirección electrónica: cardoner1@southernct. on women and writing in “1954” depicts women edu Teléfono: (802) 522-6768 (EE.UU.) Institución: South- authors’ need to identify female literary models ern Connecticut State University Ubicación: New Haven, and to imagine belonging to same-sex writers’ Connecticut, Estados Unidos https://orcid.org/0000-0002- communities to succeed as authors despite the 2198-1114) THE SILENT TREATMENT: ALEJANDRA BASUALTO´S ESTHETIC OF CENSORSHIP · 127 · male-dominant literary establishment, traditional devido ao “Desaparecimento” de seus seres gender roles, and military and self-censorship. queridos. O foco nas mulheres e na escrita em “1954” descreve a necessidade das autoras KEYWORDS de identificar modelos literários femininos e 80s Generation, Chilean Literature of the imaginar pertencer à comunidades de escritoras Dictatorship, Censorship of Latin American do mesmo sexo para ter sucesso como autoras Literature apesar do estabelecimento literário dominado pelos homens, os papéis de gênero tradicionais, RESUMO assim como também o militar e a autocensura. Alejandra Basualto é uma significativa escritora RESUMEN de prosa e poesia chilena pouco estudada, cuja primeira coleção de contos, La mujer de yeso (1988), constitui um exemplo da redefinição Alejandra Basualto es una significativa prosista das escritoras mulheres que se produz em y poeta chilena poco estudiada, cuya primera muitos dos textos de ficção de autoria feminina colección de cuentos, La mujer de yeso (1988), publicados durante o regime de Pinochet. ejemplifica la redefinición de las escritoras Exemplificando a estética da censura e o mujeres que se produce en muchos de los silêncio que caracteriza toda sua coleção de textos de ficción de autoría femenina publicados contos, as análises neste artigo de “La espera” durante el régimen de Pinochet. Ejemplificando e “1954” revelam como Basualto enfraquece la estética de la censura y el silencio que herarquias repressivas que definem a política caracteriza a toda su colección de cuentos, los chilena da era da ditadura, assim como o análisis en este artículo de “La espera” y “1954” estabelecimento literário nacional através do revelan cómo Basualto socava las jerarquías que eu denomino como a estética de silêncio e represivas que definen la política chilena de la censura. A arte da censura evoca o contexto de era de la dictadura, así como el establecimiento repressão ditatorial que Basualto enfrenta nesta literario nacional a través de lo que yo llamo coleção, enquanto a estética do silêncio aponta la estética de silencio y censura. El arte de la para o diálogo com o pensamento feminista censura recuerda el contexto de represión internacional perceptível na compilação. dictatorial que Basualto enfrenta en esta Nessas duas histórias, as mulheres criativas colección, mientras que la estética del silencio protagonistas desafiam as estruturas de poder apunta al diálogo con el pensamiento feminista institucional assumindo posições feminizadas internacional perceptible en la compilación. de vulnerabilidade e silêncio. Basualto incorpora En estos dos relatos, las mujeres creativas estratégias literárias como metáforas, alusões protagonistas desafían las estructuras de poder míticas e elipses para criar uma intrincada institucional asumiendo posiciones feminizadas dinâmica textual que representa táticas militares de vulnerabilidad y silencio. Basualto incorpora REVISTA BOLETÍN REDIPE 9 (10): 126-139 - OCTUBRE 2020 ISSN 2256-1536 REVISTA repressivas como a censura e a ação de estrategias literarias como metáforas, alusiones desaparecer dissidentes. Uma história inscrita míticas y elipses para crear una intrincada num corpo feminino torturado e reprimido que dinámica textual que representa tácticas anseia criar, uma metáfora extendida da nação militares represivas como la censura y el acto chilena e seus escritores, “La espera” revela de desaparecer a los disidentes. Una historia as tentativas frustradas dos artistas por criar inscrita en un cuerpo femenino torturado y durante o regime, enquanto representam o reprimido que anhela crear, una metáfora desespero psicológico dos chilenos que sofrem extendida de la nación chilena y sus escritores, THE SILENT TREATMENT: ALEJANDRA BASUALTO´S ESTHETIC OF CENSORSHIP · 128 · «La espera» muestra los intentos frustrados de Despite the censorship the junta unwittingly los artistas por crear durante el régimen mientras produced a dynamic underground art scene representan la desesperación psicológica de los known variously as the Generation of 1980, chilenos que sufren debido a la «Desaparición» the Nueva escena, the Avanzada, the Post- de sus seres queridos. El enfoque en las mujeres coup Generation, and the Generation NN. This y la escritura en “1954” describe la necesidad movement was characterized by an intricate de las autoras de identificar modelos literarios formal experimentation with language and visual femeninos e imaginar pertenecer a comunidades media that sought to erode the authoritarian de escritoras del mismo sexo para tener éxito features inherent in art, society, and politics. como autoras a pesar del establecimiento Military and self-censorship created a generation literario dominado por hombres, los roles de of literary innovators, as artists concealed género tradicionales, así como también el militar messages in wordplays, double meanings, y la autocensura. metaphors, ellipses, as well as mythological and literary allusions (Espinosa 66; Millares and PALABRAS CLAVE: Generación de los 80, Madrid 116; Osses 144; Zurita 7). literatura chilena de la dictadura, censura de la literatura latinoamericana. Just as censorship unwittingly produced an active literary underground, the military’s INTRODUCTION imposition of traditional gender roles In 1986 Chilean intellectual, Sergio Pesutic, unintentionally intensified feminist activity and founded the Prensa Oxímoro for the sole purpose produced the largest boom of women writers in of publishing the press’s only title, La inteligencia Chilean history. Many of these authors, such as militar. Scoffing at military censorship during Pía Barros, Diamela Eltit, Heddy Navarro, and Pinochet’s regime (1973-1989), the publication Ana María del Río, among others, wrote erotic is an inordinately thicme of hundreds of blank literature in which women’s bodies—silenced, pages. As is well known, promptly after the 1973 tortured, and sexualized—represented both the coup d’état, the military declared a culture war nation under siege and repression within a wide known as the Cultural Blackout (Apagón cultural): range of human institutions, particularly gender 3 Women’s narratives of the era it murdered, tortured, incarcerated, and exiled relationships. often depict female characters’ processes of the dissidents, instituted a curfew, censored all becoming writers, recalling the military’s attempt forms of expression, and prohibited gatherings to control cultural production as well as its interest where ideas could be exchanged. Despite the in halting the women’s liberation movement. Cultural Blackout, a clandestine literary field emerged, and artists and intellectuals like Pesutic ANALYSIS: ALEJANDRA BASUALTO’S used cultural production to protest against the AESTHETIC OF SILENCE AND regime. Censorship laws were ambiguous and CENSORSHIP uneven during the dictatorship; the government, REVISTA BOLETÍN REDIPE 9 (10): 126-139 - OCTUBRE 2020 ISSN 2256-1536 REVISTA for instance, declared freedom of speech and Alejandra Basualto’s (b. 1944)