The slum: sign of waste and site of hybrid writing in Los hombres oscuros by Nicomedes Guzmán

Abstract

The slum is an urban space which has been a polyfacetic sign in Chilean history and culture. Different meanings have been adscribed to the slum in the changing contexts of politics and literature: repugnant waste of the Nation, transgressive site of the uncontrollable, and powerful domain of leftist resistance. Within this historical context, Los hombres oscuros by Nicomedes Guzmán is analyzed as a paradigmatic text of the Generation of 1938 which legitimized the slum through a literary elaboration which, in the case of this novel, utilizes a hybrid writing where elements of "high culture" are combined with cinematographic techniques and expressions of popular culture.