The Problem of Deideologized Subject and the Placeless Santiago in Mala onda by Alberto Fuguet

Abstract

Mala onda, Alberto Fuguet's first novel, has a special importance in Chilean literature of the nineties, in the sense that it was the emblematic work of that Chilean writer who criticized 'Macondism' in the literary field of Latin America. Along with some Latin American writers of that time, such as Jorge Volpi or Sergio Gómez, Fuguet was considered a depoliticized Latin American writer. However, there have not been enough studies that paid attention to the political or ideological aspects of this novel. In this article we will demonstrate that Fuguet's neo-individualism would have been a sociocultural result, the reason of which, with respect to the modern history of Chile, was the neoliberal military dictatorship. Furthermore, depoliticization may be a concept that is too broad and ambiguous to specify the problem. In this sense, the present study focuses on the way of describing the subjects without ideologies in Mala Onda. At the same time, the placelessness of public spaces is reviewed, with the theoretical approach of Edward Relph. Through the analysis, the aim is to find a criterion to evaluate the sense of the privateness and the individualism in this novel.