Novel
Zurzulita
Not translated into English
Mariano Latorre · 1920
Synopsis
The novel is set in the village of Huerta de Maule, in what is now the commune of San Javier. After his father's death, Mateo Elorduy, a young man from the city, comes there to rebuild his life on an estate his father had received in payment of a debt, knowing himself ill equipped for the hardness of country life, according to the editor of the critical edition. According to Memoria Chilena, he lives there a love story with a schoolteacher, Milla; the title refers to a bird of the region.
Context
The book, the author's first novel, appeared in 1920 with a prologue by Carlos Silva Vildósola. Reception was slow, according to Memoria Chilena: a critic at El Mercurio saw in it only “a gallery of pictures, a museum”, while others praised it. Critics have since regarded it as the most representative novel of its period, and Magda Arce wrote to the author that he had unintentionally founded a school, criollismo. A critical edition appeared in Santiago in 2021.
Who it is for
A novel of the Chilean countryside, in Spanish, reissued in a critical edition; no translation found.
Prizes and reception
For Magda Arce, the first novel of its kind in Chile, with characters from the common people whom the author does not stylise.
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