Relatos de viajes. Hacia la historia y la memoria

Abstract

Travel literature as a literary genre has a long history in western culture, especially since the eighteenth century; however, it has had a boom in the last few decades due to the multiple contemporary migrations. This article analyses two narrative works of travel literature published in Chile by Cynthia Rimsky (Poste Restante) and Guadalupe Santa Cruz (Quebrada. La cordillera en andas) taking into account some of the most problematic themes of contemporary thought: travelling as a metaphor to represent the culture of our times, uprooting as the world’s destiny, the complex relationship between identity, belonging and home, movement as displacement between an initial home and the perhaps impossible promise of a return, uncertainties as lifestyle when the old certainties have broken and opened way to vague results, the imperative of representing time and space beyond belonging to a unique culture, language or tradition
and, definitely, writing as a journey