Back to the Future: Salvador Allende's Steampunk Chile

Resumen

Jorge Baradit’s 2008 steampunk novel Synco asks us to imagine that Pinochet’s coup had not only failed but that Pinochet and Allende had forged a curious political alliance subtended by a complex metaphysical system of esoteric doctrines and practices. I argue in this paper that Baradit’s work of alternative history invites us rethink the coordinates of the contemporary political field in Chile, hinting that contemporary science fiction and steampunk narrative may provide us with an important supplement to more traditional testimonial narratives.