Solo en la oscuridad by Ramón Díaz Eterovic: Literature on Drug Trafficking before Narco-Literature

Abstract

Before the boom of so-called narcoliterature initiated by the release of the Colombian novel La virgen de los sicarios (Fernando Vallejo, 1994), the Chilean writer, Ramón Díaz Eterovic, published Solo en la oscuridad (1992), a novel that may be read as a precursor to this literary phenomenon, given the narratological characteristics highlighted by recent research into the genre. Prior to the abundance of narcoliterary texts, Díaz Eterovic already exhibited some of their traits: aesthetic traqueta, feminine victims and the description of the transnational networks spawned by drug trafficking. Nevertheless, the novel’s deviation from the model validates its ethical dimension: drug traffickers are not romanticized, but rather are represented as ruthless criminals and, despite the fact that the detective is disillusioned with the political system, an assurance in the existence of honest people prevails. These elements, therefore, position the work as an antecedent of narco-narrative, while at the same time differentiating it by its critical stance towards the phenomenon of drug trafficking.