Zurita and a Totalitarian Poetry

Abstract

The persona of Raúl Zurita, the 20th century Chilean poet, practically means an artistic manifestation which survived through the dictatorship of Pinochet. His work appears as a vivid memory of that period. Despite of being known principally as a poet, his accomplishments are actualized in different artistical fields. His poetry touches the stones of the Atacama Desert and creates cloud-letters in the sky, while attaching to the photographical and musical areas. This paper proposes the question of what was the role of all the artistic-poetic activity of Raúl Zurita in the cultural, political and social context of Chile. To draw any inference, it is needed to retrace the importance of the fusion of different artistical fields along with the enquiry of how naturally art incorporates into the everyday life. In a certain sense, Zurita’s art is not less totalitarist (or totalitarian) than the military regime itself which is the context have generated it, even if they represent two completely opposite poles.