Overview
Un arrojado debut literario sobre la escena queer del Chile de los años setenta.
Uno de los mejores libros de 2025 (La Tercera).
«Asistimos en esta novela al nacimiento de un virtuoso barroco, que podría insertarse en la mejor literatura queer cubana del siglo XX, encarnada aquí en la crueldad gris de la sensibilidad chilena». —Rita Indiana
«Una serpiente deambula por las calles de Santiago», se dice al comienzo de esta novela que hace del desborde y del callejeo su espíritu. Baltazar, el protagonista, es un atractivo prostituto que recorre plazas y bares a fines de la década del sesenta y comienzos de los setenta buscando clientes. No le faltan. Dos de ellos, jóvenes como él, pertenecen a sectores sociales y políticos enfrentados, pero coinciden en el deseo que los quema y que los lleva al mundo de Baltazar, la noche, los cines triple equis, las fiestas interminables y los cabarets donde se encuentran personajes de todo tipo.
Pero el convulso presente político de Chile permea las relaciones, las conversaciones y los planes, arrojando una sombra espesa y dolorosa sobre el porvenir. Alfredo Andonie, en su primera y arrojada novela, presenta este relato a través de una escritura que no es ajena a los impulsos sensuales de sus personajes, una escritura serpenteante, erótica, que apoyada en una sólida estructura ofrece el fresco de un tiempo alucinante, embriagador.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
A bold literary debut about the queer scene in Chile in the 1970s.
One of the best books of 2025 (La Tercera).
"In this novel, we witness the birth of a baroque virtuoso, that could be included among the best Cuban queer literature of the 20th century, embodied here in the gray cruelty of Chilean sensibility." —Rita Indiana
"A snake wanders the streets of Santiago," says the opening line of this novel, which embodies the spirit of excess and wandering. Baltazar, the protagonist, is an attractive male prostitute who roams the squares and bars in the late 1960s and early 1970s looking for clients. He has no shortage of them. Two of them, young men like him, belong to opposing social and political sectors, but they share a desire that burns within them and draws them into Baltazar's world of nightlife, triple-X movies, endless parties, and cabarets where all kinds of characters gather.
But Chile's turbulent political present permeates relationships, conversations, and plans, casting a thick and painful shadow over the future. Alfredo Andonie, in his first and daring novel, presents this story through a type of writing that is not alien to the sensual impulses of his characters, a serpentine-like erotic writing that, supported by a solid structure, offers a fresco of a hallucinatory, intoxicating time.
Uno de los mejores libros de 2025 (La Tercera).
«Asistimos en esta novela al nacimiento de un virtuoso barroco, que podría insertarse en la mejor literatura queer cubana del siglo XX, encarnada aquí en la crueldad gris de la sensibilidad chilena». —Rita Indiana
«Una serpiente deambula por las calles de Santiago», se dice al comienzo de esta novela que hace del desborde y del callejeo su espíritu. Baltazar, el protagonista, es un atractivo prostituto que recorre plazas y bares a fines de la década del sesenta y comienzos de los setenta buscando clientes. No le faltan. Dos de ellos, jóvenes como él, pertenecen a sectores sociales y políticos enfrentados, pero coinciden en el deseo que los quema y que los lleva al mundo de Baltazar, la noche, los cines triple equis, las fiestas interminables y los cabarets donde se encuentran personajes de todo tipo.
Pero el convulso presente político de Chile permea las relaciones, las conversaciones y los planes, arrojando una sombra espesa y dolorosa sobre el porvenir. Alfredo Andonie, en su primera y arrojada novela, presenta este relato a través de una escritura que no es ajena a los impulsos sensuales de sus personajes, una escritura serpenteante, erótica, que apoyada en una sólida estructura ofrece el fresco de un tiempo alucinante, embriagador.
ENGLISH DESCRIPTION
A bold literary debut about the queer scene in Chile in the 1970s.
One of the best books of 2025 (La Tercera).
"In this novel, we witness the birth of a baroque virtuoso, that could be included among the best Cuban queer literature of the 20th century, embodied here in the gray cruelty of Chilean sensibility." —Rita Indiana
"A snake wanders the streets of Santiago," says the opening line of this novel, which embodies the spirit of excess and wandering. Baltazar, the protagonist, is an attractive male prostitute who roams the squares and bars in the late 1960s and early 1970s looking for clients. He has no shortage of them. Two of them, young men like him, belong to opposing social and political sectors, but they share a desire that burns within them and draws them into Baltazar's world of nightlife, triple-X movies, endless parties, and cabarets where all kinds of characters gather.
But Chile's turbulent political present permeates relationships, conversations, and plans, casting a thick and painful shadow over the future. Alfredo Andonie, in his first and daring novel, presents this story through a type of writing that is not alien to the sensual impulses of his characters, a serpentine-like erotic writing that, supported by a solid structure, offers a fresco of a hallucinatory, intoxicating time.
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