The artistic realism of Fernando Santivan's La hechizada

Abstract

This article studies Fernando Santiván's story La hechizada, a naturalistic nouvelle set in the Chilean countryside which tells the story of an impossible love. Our interest is to highlight the outstanding artistic level achieved within the limited form of this nouvelle, its markedly scenic character, and the conflictive relationship between man and life in the countryside. The relationship of this work to the principles of the "New World" movement (mundonovismo) of the early twentieth century is also brought to bear in the interpretation of the story.