Margen, espejo: Poesía chilan y marginalidad social (1983-2009) in Bloomington, MN

In this book, the author explores how a series of Chilean poems configure a representation of the margins that display symbolic and libidinous projections of the community. The margin, understood as a discursive category in dialogue with cultural and social expressions of a diverse nature, thus becomes a mirror in which both readers and critics are called to look at themselves. Going from Diamela Eltit to Juan Carreño, Martina Bortignon outlines three moments in the relationship between poetry and the margins. In the dictatorship, the convergence between normative and marginal characters prevails, and these testify from the imprint of their bodies. With the recovery of democracy, the deconstruction of the public gaze on the marginal is observed through an aggressive or sensually dazzled poetic portrait. In the 2000s, the imaginary associated with the margin is manipulated in order to sabotage the attribution of fixed identities. Margen, espejo is a provocative and intelligent book that lucidly interrogates contemporary Chile through the prism of poetic creation.