“Nor shame nor fear” by Raúl Zurita: desert and erosion

• Main Author: Matías Ayala Munita
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata 2021-03-01
• Series: Estudios de Teoría Literaria
• Subjects: poesía chilena; paisaje; dictadura; desierto; materialidad; entorno
• Online Access: http://fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/index.php/etl/article/view/4713

In this article we will study the kilometer long inscription in the desert “ni pena ni miedo” by Chilean poet Raúl Zurita in the Atacama Desert in 1993 based on visual, symbolic and material relationships. First, the notion of landscape in his poetic work will be established as a projection of the politics of the post-dictatorship. Second, this inscription in the desert is presented from its contextual and material relations, both as a counterpoint to the Memorial of the Disappeared Detainee and the Political Executed (1993) and in relation to the hegemonic Chilean political discourse in the 1990s. Finally, the erosion and subsequent restoration of the inscription will be weighed.