The community of men alone: Mónica Sanders by Salvador Reyes

Abstract

The novel Mónica Sanders (1951) by Salvador Reyes (1889-1970) has, as a historical subtext, on the one hand, the Valparaíso’s economic decline after Wall Street Crash in 1929; and, on the other hand, the strong Quintay’s whaling industry during 1940s. Through the concepts of space, imaginaries and community, the current research highlights a series of oppositions and ambivalences that shape the ideological structure of the novel. The English community prevails in the city space, represented by means of a decadent imaginary and embodied in the female character of Mónica Sanders. Whereas, in the maritime space, a Nordic community grows under an imaginary of masculine vitality, related to the avant-garde topic of “become wild”. So, a territorial-evaluative map is being drawn up (with its implications on gender and nationality) of the different sectors and subjects of Valparaíso, and at least two ways of thinking about the community