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Abstract

This work intends to examine the cult of ugliness or "invunchismo", an ironic concept fi rstcoined up in the 1920s by the writer Joaquin Edwards Bello, in reference to a Chilean exacerbation of deformation into monstrosity and repulsiveness. According to the author, Chile -or finis mundi- is a country whose apparent moderation masks a reality of cruelty, brutality, and excess. From an uncompromising natural background emerges a tormented creature, still burdened by the "weigh of the night" (a metaphor for the unconscious), yet capable of great resilience and assimilation. Are Chileans still as brutal and tormented as their ancestors? What can account for this harmful tendency towards destruction and devastation of the cities and the natural world? What are the manifestations of ugliness in the daily life of Chileans? These are some of the topics that this work will attempt to review.