Fuenzalida de Nona Fernández: reuniendo piezas perdidas

Abstract

In Fuenzalida (2012), by Chilean writer Nona Fernandez, the protagonist embarks on a quest to reconstruct her father’s life and a period of her country’s history. In the novel, the protagonist accesses both histories through other people s memories and stories. This reassembling entails simultaneously rethinking her private history and the History of Chile. This article proposes a reading on family histories and the meaning of memory, which is indebted to transmitted stories. Like a game of mirrors, in this novel fiction and history combine to give a twist to a well-known topic in Latin American literature.