Framing the Square: Cinematic Procedures and Visual Regimes in Diamela Eltit's Lumpérica

Abstract

This article examines how Diamela Eltit's Lumpérica (1983) constructs a regime of visibility through the spatial organisation of the public square that structures the novel. While criticism has often emphasised the text's linguistic fragmentation and performative dimensions, less attention has been paid to the visual procedures through which perception is organised within the urban scene. The article argues that, in the context of Chilean dictatorship and its reorganisation of public space, the plaza functions as a visual dispositif in which bodies are exposed, positioned and rendered legible under conditions of intensified illumination. Through close reading of scenes structured by cinematic framing, projection and visual correction, the article shows how Eltit turns visibility into a technology of order within the urban space of dictatorship-era Chile.