Hernán Valdés (1934 – February 15, 2023) was a Chilean writer, best known for his book ', the first published account of the repression carried out by the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

led by General

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

Biography

As a writer, Valdés began publishing poetry – his first book appeared in 1954 – but he then moved on to prose. His first novel, ''Cuerpo creciente'', saw the light in 1966, and won the

Santiago Municipal Literature Award The Santiago Municipal Literature Award () is one of the oldest and most important literary awards in Chile Created in 1934 by the municipality of Santiago, its first edition awarded the categories of novel, poetry and theater (later to be renamed ...

the following year. Valdés studied film in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in the 1960s. He lived a couple of years in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and in 1970 he returned to Chile by sea.

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

was also traveling on the ship and Valdés brought the originals of his second novel: ''Zoom''. He left in 1971, under the Popular Unity government, and it would be the last work he published in Chile before departing for exile. On 12 February 1974, after Pinochet's

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

, armed civilian agents entered Valdés's apartment in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

in search of Miguel Enríquez, leader of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR). Although they were mistaken – Valdés declared that he did not know anyone from the MIR – he was arrested and admitted the following day to the prison camp of Tejas Verdes (

Llolleo Llolleo, also known as Llo-Lleo, is a town in the commune of San Antonio in the Region of Valparaiso, Chile. It is located 98 km from the capital Santiago and 4 km from the port of San Antonio. The Maipo River, which separates it from t ...

), where he was tortured. Valdés spent a month in Tejas Verdes, and when he was released, he sought asylum at the Swedish embassy. In May of that year he arrived in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and a few days later began to write what would become ''Tejas Verdes: Journal of a Concentration Camp in Chile'', "the best story that exists about the pain of a subject put through military humiliation in the first months of the dictatorship." After his testimonial book – published the same year in Spain, but only be published in Chile 22 years later, in 1996 – Valdés returned to fiction and wrote other novels. ''A partir del fin'', focused on the military coup of 1973, came out in Mexico in 1981 (in Chile, also 22 years later). ''La historia subyacente'', published in German in 1984, appeared in Spanish, in Chile, in 2007. On ''A partir del fin'', María Teresa Cárdenas (''

El Mercurio (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. is owned by El Mercurio S.A.P. (''Sociedad Anónima Periodística'' 'joint stock news company'), which operates a network of ...

'') has said that "if there is any literary justice, it should be recognized as the great novel about the military coup." Hernán Valdés was based in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany, after having lived for a long time in Spain and England.

Awards

for ''Cuerpo creciente'' (1967) *

Altazor Award The Altazor Award of the National Arts or simply Altazor, is a Chilean award which is awarded annually. The winners are chosen by the own creators and performers of the arts. They were established in 1958, but were not awarded until 1999. The a ...

, Essay category for ''Fantasmas literarios'' (2006)

Works

* ''Poesía de salmos'', 1954 * ''Apariciones y Desapariciones'', poetry, 1964 * ''Cuerpo creciente'', novel, 1966 * ''Zoom'', novel, 1971 * ''A partir del fin'', novel, Era, Mexico, 1981 (LOM, Santiago, 2004) * ', testimonial, Ariel, Barcelona, 1974 ( LOM, Santiago, 1996; Taurus Chile, 2012) * ''La historia subyacente'', novel, published in German in 1984; in Spanish, put out in a revised edition by Valdés, LOM, Santiago, 2007 * ''Fantasmas literarios'', essay, Aguilar, Santiago, 2005; new addition, expanded and revised: Taurus, 2018 * ''Tango en el desierto'', novel, Alfaguara, Santiago, 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Hernan 1934 births 1970s missing person cases 20th-century Chilean male writers 20th-century Chilean poets Chilean essayists Chilean exiles Chilean expatriates in Germany Chilean male poets 20th-century Chilean novelists Chilean torture victims Enforced disappearances in Chile Formerly missing people German-language writers 2023 deaths Missing person cases in Chile Chilean male novelists 21st-century Chilean novelists 21st-century Chilean poets 21st-century Chilean male writers

Biography

See also

Awards

Works

References