“In the current socio-political climate, he said to himself, committing suicide is absurd and redundant. Better to become an undercover poet.”
Belano narrates about a young gay artist, Lorenzo, who attempted to commit suicide; however, he changes his mind before drowning. The novel which focuses mostly on poets and artists offers how the socio-political dynamic drove young people to art and poetry. Most of the characters choose to express themselves through poetry to either cope or extend their political inclinations. For instance, the politics in Chile before and after the 1973 coup impact the characters differently if its poetry, seeking exile, poetry or death.
“Soto's enemies would have been able to forgive his biting wit, but they could never forgive his indifference. His indifference and his intelligence.”
A teacher to Belano and his peers at the Poetry workshop, Soto was a character admired by his protégé’s and faculty alike. The narrator goes over the specifics of his murder contemplating the motive around it. Soto as an intellectual more than most was an object of envy by the faculty and students alike. While the political climate following the coup brought on extrajudicial murders of individuals who supported the previous government. Belano insists that political inclination could not be the cause of Soto’s death but rather his intellect or his indifferent nature.
