ALLEGORY OF THE NATIONAL IN CARNIVALESQUE CLUE IN THE “NIGHT FOUR” OF UMBRAL BY JUAN EMAR

Abstract

Our goal is to demonstrate that the narrative fragment “Noche cuatro” (Night four) in Umbral by Juan Emar is an allegory of the origins of the nation. The fragment built a reading community –the chronotope of the reading room– who meets to listen and comment on the story “La Virgen de la Hortaliza” (The Virgen of Vegetables), story that deploys a critical reflection on the national genealogical matrices. These matrices are ideologemes of bigotry and chauvinism, which at the same time operate in the diegesis as builders of grotesque stereotypes of citizen subjectivity. This fragment shows the defeat of the configuration of the nation inserted into the proyect of fellowship among Latin American nations (Bolivarian dream). In the specific case of Chile, Emar carnivalizes in “Noche cuatro” (Night four) the avatars of the alliance between Church and State.