Poetry after the end of the world: Nicanor Parra, the military dictatorship and the antipoetry of the Apocalypse

Abstract

This essay aims at the investigation of the relation between the antipoetic works of Chilean poet Nicanor Parra (1914-2018) and the issue of the end of the world, through a reading of his literary production in the years of 1970-80. Going through the problems faced by his poetry in this period, we discuss the relation between Parra’s antipoetry and the historical moment of the military coup d’état in Chile, in 1973, arriving at he political transformation that takes place by the 80’s, into what will be called ‘ecopoetry’. The lyrical subject’s funeral, that was announced since the early antipoems, in the 50’s, is taken to its last consequences in face of the threat of climatic and nuclear catastrophes in which the late 20th century dwells. Also the religious discourse as a response to the military dictatorship and the ecological crisis represents an interesting point in the author’s trajectory.