A Short Novel about the Chilean Dictatorship: Santiago Cero by Carlos Franz

Abstract

Through the analysis of Santiago Cero by Carlos Franz, I intend in this work to examine the traits presented by the Chilean short novel written towards the end of the twentieth century, after the social break produced during the Dictatorship. A narrative that aims to represent the “cultural blackout” and the oppressive atmosphere experienced by the Chilean society under military regime. The novel was published two years after the famous plebiscite of 1988 that ended the military dictatorship and gave way to the democratic transition with the government of Patricio Aylwin. However, the plot is set towards the late 1970s, during the military rule. Through the hopeless lives of a group of young students, the author recreates in this work the mediocrity, isolation and lack of horizon in which university life ran, subject to strong control by the academic authorities.