Geography of Nothing. The Poetry of Malú Urriola

Abstract

This article analyzes the literary writing of Malú Urriola, a Chilean poet ofthe so-called generation of 1990. The value of her poetry, in the framework of studies dedicated to contemporary Chilean poetry, resides in the possibility of studying the profound relationship that is established between death and poetry. To accomplish this, we examine the obsessive presence of the signifiers "death" and "nothing" in Urriola's writing. The results of this analysis contribute, among other aspects, to a reflection on the meaning of inheritance and hospitality in a writing apparently structured by the impossibility of an encounter with the other. The elaboration of this artide required the calling into operation theoretical conceptualizations coming, fundamentally, from contemporary philosophical thought; from the dialogue with specialized criticism; and the use of a methodology centered on the commentary of the poetic text, all of which permit us to establish intertextual relationships and study more profoundly the political and ethical effects of the poetry of Malú Urriola.