Asynchronous Blog Post
Instructions:
1. Watch the Netflix documentary Massacre at The Stadium (Bent Jorgen Perlmutt, 2019).
2. Read Roberto Bolaño’s short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” and the poem “Six Solitudes” by Enrique Lihn.
3. Pick ONE of the following options and respond in the comment section down below. The deadline is 1/30 before the class. 200-words minimum.
OPTION ONE
According to the documentary, why singer-songwriter Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime? Why do you think Bolaño brings a distorted Jara into his story? How this ghostly figure fits into Bolaño’s nightmarish narrative?
OPTION TWO
In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolaño says that Chile and its capital Santiago “once resemble hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain” (191). Explain this quote by bringing examples from the documentary Massacre at the Stadium.
OPTION THREE
After reading these two sections from “Six Solitudes” by Enrique Lihn discuss how Bolaño builds the dream atmosphere of his short story using Lihn’s poetic style and imagery.
1.
The unending loneliness from which others drink
at happy hour
is not my cup, but my grave. I bring it to my lips
and flail within it till I slip from sight
into its morbid waves.
Loneliness for me is not a caged bird but a monster,
as if I were living with an insane asylum.
3.
Everyone’s waiting for war but me.
The housewife is waiting for war
with the invading rats.
Kids are waiting for the future,
for the war ahead.
Men walk the warpath
with banners and slogans.
All but me, who am waiting for what?
Waiting for poetry.
Waiting for nothing.
Victor Jara an inspiration, political activist, song writer. These three are some of many other traits that Jara has developed before his death. During his time as an artist, Jara created music revolving around Love. He then started highlighting the social inequalities that has been happening in Chile. Unfortunately the right wing did not have the same views as Salvador Allende so they began to riot. Since Jara was known for his music, he influenced many others to join together and vote for Allende for office. This struck a nerve to the right wing and Jara became an enemy. Through the documentary we have a more in-depth understanding and visuals about Jara and what kind of individual he was and why justice needs to be served.
According to the Documentary, Victor Jara was considered a huge threat and enemy to the Augusto Pinochet’s regime because his of music and its influence on the Chileans, as well as the election of socialist Salvador Allende. Jara’s music expressed so much love and passion which bought many joys to the lives of the Chileans who lived in poverty. Jara started composing music that reflected on the uprising issues that the country was experiencing at the time, which is why he became such an inspiring figure to his people. The Pinochet’s regime may have seen Jara as a huge threat, as his influence began to obstruct their power and bring more power to socialist Allende. While reading “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” by Roberto Bolaño, Bolaño briefly mentions Jara’s name while storytelling his dream, when encountering a hit man in front of the façade building. I believe he does to get off the hitman’s radar because he mentioned how the hitman had an impression that he felt Bolaño was trying to make fun of him, by trying to pretend that he knew who he was. So, when Bolaño referred to the hitman as Jara, the hitman maliciously felt good about himself, because Jara was a great person and that was something the hitman was not. I think that this ghostly figure fits into Bolaños nightmarish narrative because it all coincides with the timing of which all occurred. Jara was a huge part of that time, so it made sense that his presence was in Bolaño’s dream.
Balaño builds the dream atmosphere of his story by using Lihn’s poetic style and imagery by using this style to set the tone. In Balaño’s passages, he uses metaphors to color his writing as well as the tone set in his story. Lihn does the same thing as well.
For example, in Lihn’s poem, he says, “The unending loneliness from which others drink at happy hour is not my cup, but my grave.” Lihn uses this phrase to show that though people drinking at a bar may be their “happy hour”, it’s something that he does on a daily basis.
In Balaño’s passage, he uses a similar metaphor when referring to his future. In the passage, it says, “Men walk the warpath with banners and slogans. All but me, who am waiting for what? Waiting for poetry. Waiting for nothing.” He compares these people to waiting for war. These people waiting for “warpath” could be a metaphor for looking forward to a challenging life ahead. At the end of his passage, he says that he’s waiting for nothing. This shows that he has no faith in what the future holds for him. Meanwhile, the people listed beforehand have this sense of hope. They are looking forward/preparing themselves for the warpath.
Both Balaño and Lihn use “hopeful” and “positive” themes to show that they don’t have any of those things. In Lihn’s passage, it was happy hour, mostly being a place where he goes to get drunk. It’s not as “joyous” for him. It’s more of an everyday occurrence for him at that bar. In Balaño’s passage, he uses the term “warpath” as a “hopeful” outlook on life. Though people may be hopeful and prepared for the life ahead, he isn’t.
Option two
In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolaño says that Chile and its capital Santiago “once resembled hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain” (191), in reference to the massacre that occurred in Chile’s national stadium following the 1973 military coup. Bolaño makes the resemblance between Chile and hell to highlight the marked beginning of a violent campaign of political suppression via torture, murder and exile. According to the documentary “Massacre at the Stadium”, Allende’s election resulted in a period of social unrest and political tension between Pinochet’s regime and the socialist president which ultimately led to the mass imprisonment and tortuous event that took place within the stadium. The words, “will forever remain” can also be seen as a reference to victor Jara’s family’s immense journey in seeking justice and closure. The Jara family has spent decades of their lives seeking justice and although answers were found after almost 44 years, there is still that need for justice as Barrientos, the one said guilty of the torture and death of Victor Jara remains a free man.
Option II:
Chile and its capital Santiago had seen many changes in a relatively short period of time all because of the influence of Victor Jara. Chilean people connected with Jara because Jara collected the struggles that they experienced and gave them the much needed representation in his music. In Bolaño’s quote, he calls Chile and its capital ‘hell’ because people struggled to live there, they were hungry and faced many hardships. The Netflix documentary portrays the poverty that existed in the country due to the communism enforced upon the country. There were protests and strikes from university students and the working class. When Allende was elected, people still continued to struggle although the country was moving toward democracy and a socialist economy. With the growing difficulty, individuals received resources in the form of rations; one speaker in the film described having to stand in line to receive milk. Additionally, Bolaño could have viewed Chile as hell because of the September 11 massacre depicted in the film, where Jara and many people were killed for supporting leftist ideas such as democracy and freedom. Furthermore, Bolaño’s quote employs the term ‘layers’ to distinguish between the real and imagined city. This may refer to the free country that activists fought for and imagined for everyone and the actual city where many people died trying to achieve those dreams. When Bolaño says ‘forever remain’ he means that the legacy of Victor Jara will stay with Chile. His history will be taught in classrooms and his life will be celebrated by the new generations. The Netflix documentary ends by revealing that every year, Chileans play 1000 guitars to remember Jara in the streets of Santiago.
Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing regime because he was an influential singer-songwriter who not only used his influence and music to spread messages of love and peace but also to bring up the issues facing his country and to support Salvador Allende, a socialist, for president. Given that Jara’s influence stood in stark contrast to the regime’s right-wing views and that it could have posed as an obstacle for the regime to gain power and influence, it quickly turned Jara into a target.
As for why Bolaño brings up a distorted “Jara” – a hitman – in his story, it seems as if that’s meant to not just distract the hitman but also to suggest how Jara’s influence still lives on, even if the influence doesn’t come from Jara himself. That is particularly made clear when Bolaño not only calls the hitman “Jara” but also creates a flattering version of “Jara” with many unrealistic virtues all of which makes the hitman even more satisfied and envious of being “Jara” than he already is. This all fits into Bolaño’s nightmarish narrative because just as how the perception of “Jara” is warped to be someone else in his dream, the perception of “Enrique Lihn” is also distorted in the same dream, for example, to look more “handsome” and “prepossessing” than he was.
In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn,” Roberto Bolaño states that the city of Santiago, Chile “resembles hell” and that this resemblance will live on forever. According to the documentary, “Massacre at the Stadium,” on September 11, Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime invaded the city and attacked many people. They took many people captive, tortured, and killed them in brutal ways. Previous to this event, there was a new president who was elected. This president’s aim was to bring more power to the people and bring them out of poverty. Many people living in Santiago were working just to make ends meet. People were suffering and hurting. Allende’s aim was to help these people. Victor Jara was an activist for the people as well. He had experienced and lived through poverty since childhood. Therefore, he made music that would expose the government, bring awareness to the suffering of the people, and spread love to his people. On the day of September 11, 1973, Victor Jara, along with many others, were beaten and tortured to death, all due to Augusto Pinochet’s fear of losing power. This event still affects the lives of many people today. The injustice that the people of Chile suffered is still fought for and moves the lives of many today.
Option 2
In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolaño says that Chile and its capital Santiago “once resemble hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain”. The “hell” Roberto is referring to is the violent coup led by Augusto Pinochet and his military junta, along with the support of the US government. According to the film, this coup led to the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the start of one of the most violent dictatorships in history. Victor Jara was a Chilean singer, songwriter, and political activist whose work flourished in the early 1970s. Deeply connected to the traditional folklore and melodies of Chile, Jara’s music was an inspiration to Chile’s peasants and working classes. His music focused on themes of social and economic inequality and the lives of the indigenous poor. Jara was a strong supporter of socialism and the administration of Chilean President Salvador Allende. When Roberto says “layers of the real city and the imaginary city”, specifically “imaginary city”, I believe he is referring to the city that the indigenous poor envisioned and fought for Chile and it was portrayed through the music of Victor Jara. The last part of the quote, “will forever remain” refers to the legacy of Victor Jara and the impact he has had following his death. In the film they show a beautiful scene of 1000 Chileans playing their guitars in honor of Jara.
1 – Born and raised in severe poverty, the famous Chilean singer, Victor Jara, knew and understood the feelings of the common people. He got his musical inclinations from his mother, who singed for events, and picked up the guitar from there. Initially, he wrote love songs where he expressed his fond feelings for his wife, Joan Jara, but seeing the devastation in Chile, Victor couldn’t continue singing empty music that only served for entertainment. As the South American country gained a Socialist government that promised to serve the people first, Victor found an importance in politicizing his music. He supported the government shift, as did most hopeful citizens, and wrote directly to his fellow Chileans. These news songs were meant to enlighten and mobilize Chileans, inspiring them to fight for what was best for them, express their private-but-common sorrows. Victor didn’t limit his musical talent, and for better or for worse, became a person of guidance and symbol of hope for citizens.
Victor Jara’s direct and blunt lyricism didn’t sit well with the bitter military chief, Pinochet, who quickly regained control of Chile by the start of the 70s, especially when Jara criticized him in one of his songs. The amount of influence Victor had on Chileans was a threat to Pinochet, and in what would become a shocking and violent reclaim of power, as well as the world’s first 9/11, Pinochet took control of Chile and Victor, as well as thousands of innocent civilians, were massacred.
In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” by Roberto Bolano, Victor Jara makes a short cameo, but not by himself. This occurs in a haze of shared confusion by Bolano and a stranger, saving face and acting like he mistook them for Jara. The stranger decides to play with him and they began an interesting convo. Bolano’s world in this story, perhaps a dream, was a big metaphor for all of the political and economic devastation that had happened to Chile. Bolano’s take on Jara was a mournful look on the singer’s life, as well as his influence and what he accomplished in such little time. Bolano felt this need to go on about Victor Jara, almost reassuring that Victor’s impact on Chile remained as strong as it once was, while painting him as a person most importantly, and not just a national hero.
Option 1:
In the documentary “Massacre at the Stadium”, Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime because of his political beliefs and activism. Jara was a strong supporter of President Allende’s government and used his music to spread messages of social justice and equality. When Pinochet’s military coup overthrew the Allende government, Jara was arrested, tortured, and ultimately killed.
Roberto Bolaño brings Victor Jara into his story as a way to explore the themes of memory, history, and loss. The presence of Jara as a ghostly figure in Bolaño nightmarish narrative highlights the idea that the past continues to haunt the present and that the violence committed by the Pinochet regime cannot be erased from memory.
In this way, Bolaño’s use of the ghostly figure of Victor Jara serves as a powerful metaphor for the lasting impact of political violence and repression on a country and its people. The figure of Jara, who was a symbol of resistance and hope for many Chileans, becomes a haunting reminder of the tragedy and loss suffered by the country during this dark period in its history.
Option One
Victor Jara was likely considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime that was controlling Chile after the September 11 coup-de-etat. This is likely due to the fact that Victor Jara made music that was inspirational and uplifting to the common people, who were beginning to rebel. As stated by the documentary, it was music borne out of necessity, and it was music of rebellion. This type of music influenced the common working and student classes to realize that the political and socioeconomic environment in Chile was detrimental to the common people of the country. Bolaño introduces a distorted Victor Jara into the narrative. He probably does this in order to demonstrate how the city of Santiago and the country of Chile was attempting to brush over Jara’s murder, and how dystopian the entire country was after the coup. This ghostly figure provides symbolism of the state that the country and the people were in. The fact that the ghostly, fake version of Jara was falling in love with the stories that the narrator was telling him of the real Jara is evidence that the country needed Jara. Throughout the narrative, the author alludes to the entire story being fake, as to provide all the rhetoric needed to provide his message.
Option 1.
According to the documentary, singer-songwriter Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime because Jara stood for the common man. He was a symbol to the people who used the communities experiences to write worldwide popular songs detailing their struggle at the time. This was classified as “communist songs” in the eyes of the Pinochet regime and thus made him an enemy of it. His political songs were also used in promoting and securing Allende’s presidency thus their impact and political influence was undeniable. Therefore he was killed because he could have used his music in opposition to Pinochet. In Bolaño’s story he gives an unknown figure the name of Jara despite not knowing that person. This unknown “Jara” seems happy with learning about who Jara is and pretending to be him. I believe this could be a metaphor for how someone like Jara is not only remembered for his music but is then transformed into a symbol with more meaning given to him. This is furthered when we read the quote at near the end of the story that only the dead go out in that city. Furthering the idea that the dead and their life and impact are changed to fit certain needs of the people depending on time and how people want to represent them.
Option two
In the first few lines of Roberto Bolaño’s story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn”, the author states “ bearing in mind that Chile and Santiago once resembled Hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and imaginary city, will forever remain”. By “resembled Hell” Bolaño might be alluding to the 1973 military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, who was the dictator of Chile for 17 years. The Netflix documentary ‘Massacre at the stadium’ recounts the events surrounding the murder of Victor Jara and other political prisoners during the coup. The documentary portrays the political situation in Chile during that time as a really hellish one, in which many people suffered at the hands of the military and Pinochet. People who supported the government of Salvador Allende were kidnapped, tortured, and many brutally murdered. The events of September 11,1973 and the years to come have left a mark in the country and that is what Bolaño refers to when he says that in some way Chile and Santiago will always resemble hell. These tragedies have left many scars on the country and people, which will probably never go away. Time has passed and will continue to pass but Chile will never forget.
Option One:
Based on the documentary “Massacre at the Stadium”, The reason why the singer-songwriter Victor Jara was an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime is because of who Victor Jara was and what he was known for. In other words, Victor Jara used his voice and his talent to express what was happening in Chile to spread awareness especially being that he grew up from having nothing (poverty). Also, he supported the election of socialist Salvador Allende. Many people loved his music because he made music for his people which they can relate to, and he also made songs about peace and love. However, once Salvador Allende was elected to make a change for the people in Chile. The Pinochet’s military began to riot. While reading “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” by Roberto Bolaño. Bolaño mentions Jara’s name while he encounters a hit man outside. Once Bolaño refer to him as Jara, the hitman started to feel confident and good about himself that he went along with Bolaño. I believe the reason why Bolaño uses Jara out of all people is because being that Jara is known for his accomplishment that he made in Chile. From him appearing as a ghost in Bolaño’s dream, not only does it remind people his accomplishment but also his tragedy and what the community went through during a rough period in history. From him being murdered and the way he was murdered leads to him popping up in Bolanos dream as a distorted ghost further proves the tragedy of his life.
Victor Jara was considered an enemy because of the fact that him, and his music represented the left wing marxist sentiment that those on the right wing were so scared of, and opposed to. The significance of his music is shown by how president Yellende said something to the effect of if there are no songs there are no revolution. It would appear this is not only something Yellende believed but also his opposition, as they felt that by putting an end to Jara and his music, they could significantly hinder the amount of people who supported those left wing values. In my opinion, the point of having the guy pretending to be Jara in Bolanos’ poem was to illustrate what an important figure Jara was in Chile. When Bolano calls the guy Jara, he gets really happy with the fact that he gets to live as Jara for a few minutes instead of who he actually is, even when he thinks Bolano is messing with him, he still proceeds to go along with it because it’s bringing him a lot of joy. This goes to show that Jara is very loved by the people of Chile, and to be compared to in any manner, even if that is being mistaken for him, is a great honor. It’s the same as how in the United States people find people like Muhammed Ali, or Oprah to be very honorable, and may not mind being mistaken for either of them.
Option Three
Bolano builds a dream-like atmosphere in his short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” by using surrealist imagery in order to make the reader question if what they are reading is based in reality. In the short story, Bolano is meeting with Chilean author Enrique Lihn in a bar, and Bolano notices that something does not feel right to him when Lihn said that his heart was failing him, since Bolano is aware that Lihn died from cancer instead (Bolano, page 195). This, to me, was the first indication from the story that made me question if what was happening was based in real-life because Lihn said something that contradicts Bolano’s knowledge about Lihn’s death. Another scene that creates a dream-like atmosphere in “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” was when Bolano was watching Lihn take his pill and commented about how the pill in the glass cup of water looked like a swirling galaxy, and that galaxies all die at some point (Bolano, page 195). I took this as a metaphor for how life was pretty finite and could end both suddenly and arbitrarily.
According to the documentary singer-songwriter, Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinchet’s right-wing military regime because his songs represented and stood for the poor and working class. At the beginning of his career, Jara often sang about love however he started composing songs that gave a voice to those in poverty. Songs like “El Arado” and “Prayer of the Worker” were songs that many Chileans could relate to. Bolano might have brought a distorted Jara into his story to still keep the memory alive. Not only his memory but also the nature of his death. It’s not like Jara passed away peacefully, he was a prisoner and then tortured. One would think his spirit would still haunt him, especially after justice wasn’t served for many years, and even now the perpetrators of his death are still free. He says “a world in which even the great Jara was an ant whose death on a shining step would not have mattered at all to anyone”. After watching the documentary, we see how brutal and merciless his death was. He was treated exactly how Bolano compared him to, an ant that was beaten on. This ghostly figure adds to the suspense and horror factor in Bolano’s nightmarish narrative. The atmosphere is already eerie and unsettling but with this ghostly figure, the story becomes so ominous that you don’t know where the plot is heading to.
Option 2- In “ Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolzano says that Chile and it’s capital Santiago “ once resemble hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain” (191). The “ hell “ that Roberto is referring to is what happened at the stadium in chillie. It was a huge mass scare that happened people were being tortured and there was multiple murders. Victor jara was one of the victims. He was tortured to death. And he was shot. Victor jara was a theater director, poet and a singer- songwriter. The first part of the documentary jara was arrested by Chilean military that was led by augusto Pinochet. He was tortured and shot to death. The day all of that happen. Balano is referring hell to that day because so many lives were lost and so much happened. Chile will always resemble hell when people think about that day. People still remember that day until this day.
Because of his political activism and backing for Salvador Allende’s leftist administration, which was toppled in the 1973 coup d’état, Victor Jara was viewed as an opponent of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military rule. Jara, a well-known personality in Chilean political and cultural circles, advocated for social justice and human rights through his songs. Jara appears in Bolao’s novel as a skewed representation of the brutality and tyranny the Chilean people endured under the dictatorship. Jara is portrayed as a ghostly character in his nightmare story, standing in for the memories and lost souls of those who perished and tortured during the rule.The idea that the dictatorship had a lasting effect on Chilean society is emphasized by Bolao’s depiction of Jara as a warped, haunted person, which also serves as a reminder of the crimes done by the military rule. It might be argued that Bolao honors the victims of the dictatorship by including Jara’s spectral figure in his story and by emphasizing the idea that their memories and experiences will always be a part of Chile’s history and cultural legacy.
According to the documentary, why singer-songwriter Victor Jara was considered an enemy of Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military regime?
Victor Jara was considered an enemy of the right-wing junta because he was seen as a representative of the working class. He is a singer, comes from a peasant family and is part of the community (with strong local ties), and the content of his songs is described in the beginning of the film which reflected the social situation in Chile (appealing the harsh conditions of the working class), people sympathized with his song and supported him.
Why do you think Bolaño brings a distorted Jara into his story?
Jara’s character so far removed from the generally perceived image emphasizes that the story is an event in his dreams and cannot happen in real life. I think there is Alternatively, the author portrays the characters in the work as different images from the general perception, telling the reader that the inside of the author’s dream is a world line different from the real world, such as a parallel world or the world after death. The author may be hoping for an effect reminiscent of that.
How this ghostly figure fits into Bolaño’s nightmarish narrative?
I suspect that Bolaño turned down Jara’s invitation and returned to the bar because Jara’s character made him feel like he was dreaming even more within his dream. (Like the movie “Inception”) Readers may recognize from the beginning that this story is in Bolaño’s dream, but with the appearance of Jara, they may feel as if they have wandered into a different world line in the story.
Option III:
After reading these two sections from “Six Solitudes” by Enrique Lihn discuss how Bolaño builds the dream atmosphere of his short story using Lihn’s poetic style and imagery
Enrique Lihn’s poem “Six Solitudes” reminded me a lot of the term “the rat race”. If you do not know that term, it is a term used to describe the thirst for power among men in a Capitalist system. I noticed this in the second paragraph of the poem when Lihn mentions how “Everyone’s waiting for war but me.” He later goes on to mention that “All but me, who am waiting for what? Waiting for poetry. Waiting for nothing.” The way I interpreted Lihn’s writing was that the reason for his loneliness and heartbreak is the lack of understanding between him and his fellow men; while they thirst for power and the grapple for it, he waits for nothing, and it is this similar ideology that Bolaño uses in his short story to build a potent, active, and compelling story, one in which you cannot discern dream and reality. Imagery that they both used to show this was the mention of alcohol, and its use as a coping mechanism for many people around them. Bolañ0 mentions that “… words that I had somehow expected to hear, as if the whole thing were a play and I had suddenly remembered my lines and the lines of my fellow-actors, and then Lihn got out of the swimming pool and we went down to the ground floor, and we made our way through the crowded bar, and Lihn said, The tigers are finished, and, It was sweet while it lasted, and, You’re not going to believe this, Bolaño, but in this neighborhood only the dead go out for a walk.” Both Bolaño used the “rat race” idea one way or another. Bolaño used the aforementioned idea in his story as a way to talk about the other men and women around, but also himself. He states in the quote how he feels like he is simply repeating the lines of his character, as if he is playing a part in a play, which is quite literally what the “rat race” is about. His use of this idea makes you as a reader wonder who is in the wrong, whether it be him and his knowledge of Lihn, or if he is simply in a delusional state of dreaming. Lihn in “Six Solitudes” does not talk about his role and how he follows it per se, but he definitely mentions his awareness and lack of control over its existence. Bolaño’s use of his style creates a feeling of uneasiness throughout the short story, which further contributes to this dreamlike feeling of the work. Using Lihn’s previous imagery and writing styles, it is almost like Bolaño is asking, “where is the ending to this story?”
From Ethan Del Rosario De Regino
Bolano builds the dream atmosphere of his short story “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” by using Lihn’s poetic style and imagery setting the tone to be of layered dreams filled with uncertainty. He walks us through his own friendship with Enrique Lihn while at the same time discussing the future of younger poets. The section of “Six Solitudes” states that “Kids are waiting for the future, for the war ahead.” It was mentioned in his short story that their friendship started when Bolano reached out to Lihn, Lihn read Bolano’s poems and presented his work including other younger generation poets to the Chilean- North American Institute. The war part can be interpreted as the “time when you had no support, not even from friends, forget about mentors, and there’s no one to give you a hand…” You can’t miss these poets’ uncertainty about their future, especially Bolano’s. He looks up to Lihn for guidance . The Six Tigers composed of: Bertoni, Maqueira, Gonzalo Munoz, Martinez, Rodrigo Lira and Bolano reflect the first section of “Six Solitudes.” Their loneliness is demonstrated through the way they either passed away or resorted to isolation and drinking. The people in the dream taking Bolano to meet the poet were represented as “enthusiasts.”
Option 2: In the “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolaño says that Chile and its capital Santiago “once resemble hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain”
Option 2: In “Meeting with Enrique Lihn” Roberto Bolaño says that Chile and its capital Santiago “once resemble hell, a resemblance that, in some subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city, will forever remain” I Believe This quote might be alluding to a past event military coup of 1973 that was led by Augusto Pinochet, who was the dictator of Chile for decade and a half. This quote can be said that the past tragic events can linger for a long time, so long that it can be present in someone own dreams and manifest. There was stadium in Chile Called El Nacional, El Coloso de Ñuñoa Where a huge massacre that happened people were being tortured and there was multiple murders. The stadium was notoriously known for being used as a mass imprisonment, torture, and extrajudicial execution facility by the Pinochet dictatorship following the 1973 military coup. One of the victims Victor jara as he was tortured and shot to death. This trauma is what the quote refer to where Chile”Will Forever Remain” Hell.
Option I:
Singer-songwriter Victor Jara was considered an enemy to Augusto Pinochet’s right winged military regime because of the way he used his music as a means of expression. Although when Jara originally began his career he started with traditional music, then romantic when he composed his own songs, he began to sing about Chile’s situation soon enough. He decided his music would not just be for entertainment, that leaves you empty, he wanted his music to live on forever with meaning. His music was meant to directly rebel against that regime. Bolaño probably brought him in because he is in Chile, and Jara was a huge part of Chile’s history. I also think it fits in the nightmare because Jara’s music would have not existed if Chile wouldn’t have been in the negative state that it was. At least it would not exist in its rebellious form, without the existence of the oppressors.
Option Two-
This quote that Bolano uses to describe Santiago is described in the documentary Massacre at the Stadium. In the very beginning of the documentary Eduardo Carrasco the co-founder of the Quilapan Folk group describes Chile as a place where poverty is commonly seen. The children are walking barefoot in the cold and how poverty is something that shapes you. The “hell” Bolano describes is poverty that is embedded into the city but the people who grow up into it are trying to escape it. For example, the documentary talks about how Victor Jara tries to free the people of the harsh political regime through song and advocacy. The “subterranean layer of the real city and the imaginary city” is the people of Chile fighting against Pinochet’s rule and the chaos in Santiago. What was once the city and what was left of it and what it had become is what that quote is referring to I believe. In the documentary, Jara’s love for Chile and the people is what drove him to speak against the regime, ultimately causing his death by the “hell” in Santiago through the violence of the military. The impact of his death is important to Chilean history showing the transformation of Chile under Pinochet’s rule.