Hernán Valdés Abollo (1934 – 15 February 2023) was a Chilean writer and poet. He was best known for (1974), a testimonial account of his imprisonment and torture at the Tejas Verdes prison camp following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. The book was the first published testimony of its kind about the repression of the military dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet, and became one of the best-known literary accounts of political imprisonment under the regime.
Valdés was also the author of the novels Cuerpo creciente (1966), Zoom (1971), A partir del fin (1981), La historia subyacente (1984) and Tango en el desierto (2011), as well as the memoir Fantasmas literarios (2005), for which he received the Altazor Award for Literary Essay in 2006.
Early life and literary career Valdés was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1934. He belonged to the generation of Chilean writers commonly known as the Generation of 1950. He began his literary career as a poet, publishing Poesía de salmos in 1954 and Apariciones y desapariciones in 1964. His first novel, Cuerpo creciente, was published in 1966 and received the Santiago Municipal Literature Award for fiction in 1967.
He studied film in Prague in 1963 and 1964 and subsequently lived for several years in Paris. In 1970 he returned to Chile by sea; Pablo Neruda was traveling on the same ship, and Valdés brought with him the manuscript of his second novel, Zoom. The novel was published in Mexico in 1971 by Siglo XXI Editores.
In Chile, Valdés worked as an editor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile's Centro de Estudios de la Realidad Nacional (CEREN), directed by sociologist Manuel Antonio Garretón. He was also involved in the literary milieu of Santiago and was among the writers invited to the Taller de Escritores de la Universidad Católica, established in 1969.
Zoom, published during the government of the Popular Unity coalition, was Valdés's last book published before his exile. The novel uses cinematic techniques to move between different periods and settings, including his experiences studying film in Czechoslovakia, a romantic relationship, and literary life in Santiago in the 1950s.
Arrest, torture and exile On 12 February 1974, several armed civilian-clothed agents entered Valdés's apartment in Santiago while searching for Miguel Enríquez, leader of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Valdés said that he did not know anyone from the MIR, but was nevertheless arrested. The following day he was taken to the Tejas Verdes prison camp in Llolleo, where he was detained and tortured for approximately one month.
After his release, Valdés sought asylum at the Swedish embassy in Santiago. In May 1974 he reached Barcelona, where he began writing Tejas Verdes a few days after his arrival. The experience of his imprisonment became the basis of the book, which Valdés wrote as a first-person account of the routine of detention and torture under the dictatorship.
Tejas Verdes was published in Spain by Ariel in 1974. It was subsequently translated into several languages and circulated in Europe; its first Chilean edition was published by LOM in 1996, more than two decades after the original Spanish edition. Memoria Chilena identifies the book as part of the testimonial literature produced by Chilean writers in exile after the 1973 coup and describes it as an account of the detention and torture camps operated by the dictatorship.
Literary work in exile After Tejas Verdes, Valdés returned to fiction. His novel A partir del fin, published in Mexico by Era in 1981, dealt with the 1973 coup and the political and intellectual environment of the Popular Unity period. It was later republished in Chile, including editions by LOM and Alfaguara. Literary criticism has placed the novel among the Chilean exile literature dealing with the coup and its aftermath.
La historia subyacente was first published in German in 1984 and subsequently appeared in a revised Spanish-language edition published by LOM in Santiago in 2007.
Valdés lived for extended periods in Spain and England before settling in Kassel, Germany, in 1980. He continued writing in exile and published Tango en el desierto in 2011.
His memoir Fantasmas literarios was published in 2005. The book revisited the literary and cultural milieu of Santiago in the 1950s and 1960s, including Valdés's relationships with writers, editors, artists and intellectuals of the period. It won the Altazor Award for Literary Essay in 2006.
In 2022, RIL Editores published Reunión de versos, an anthology of poetry written between 1964 and 2018, bringing together poems from different stages of Valdés's career, including previously unpublished material.
Death Valdés died in Kassel, Germany, on 15 February 2023, at the age of 89. Following his death, Chilean literary publications highlighted the continuing importance of Tejas Verdes, as well as his novels and memoirs, to Chilean literature.
Awards Santiago Municipal Literature Award for Cuerpo creciente (1967) Altazor Award for Literary Essay for Fantasmas literarios (2006)
Works Poetry Poesía de salmos (1954) Apariciones y desapariciones (1964) Reunión de versos (2022)
Novels Cuerpo creciente (1966) Zoom (1971) A partir del fin (1981) La historia subyacente (1984; originally published in German; revised Spanish edition, 2007) Tango en el desierto (2011)
Testimonial and essayistic works (1974) Fantasmas literarios (2005)
See also Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–90) Chilean literature
References