Unearthing Buried Poems for the Future: Myth, History, and Identity in Noche de agua by Sergio Mansilla Torres

Abstract

This article offers an approach to Noche de Agua, by Sergio Mansilla Torres, based on the hypothesis that it can be read as a poetic testimony, a semiotic device capable of reconstructing the time, place, people, and memory of a bygone community in Chiloé, drawing on mythical and historical memory. For this analysis, I draw on critical studies by Óscar Galindo, Juan Mancilla, and Iván Carrasco, and, regarding the mythical perspective, I engage with the studies of Joseph Campbell and Óscar Enrique Muñoz. I also consider studies by Laura Scarano on the concept of the subject situated in and from writing. Finally, Zenaida Suárez offers the insular perspective as a panopticon of “being and inhabiting an island”.