Silva and Durand: Two novels and just one Frontier

Abstract

This is a study of two Chilean novels with a common subject but different time settings. While both novels are centered on the Frontier, the so called Araucanía south of the Biobío River, they diverge in two aspects: first, their historical contexts (colonial and modern) and, second, the different literary narrative they are ascribed to. The work by V. D. Silva has nationalist and populist overtones, while Frontera, by Luis Durand, be longs to the "criollista" movement founded by Mariano Latorre. At any rate, these two narratives show clearly the persistence of the indigenous issue whose origin dates back to colonial times and which grew deeper during the creation of the republic.