Identity and community of practice in the incident of Samuel Orellana at the Neruda Foundation poetry workshop

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study employed the narrative interview method to examine the incident of Samuel Orellana, a heteronym created in 2003 by two Literature students who invented Orellana to call into question the policies of the Pablo Neruda Foundation poetry workshop, the most prestigious workshop in Chile. More specifically, data were obtained from three sources, including the creators of Orellana (via narrative interviews), publications that mentioned the incident on Twitter in reference to the account name @Estereoscopio_ (profile of one of the creators), and poems written under the Orellana heteronym on Cyber Humanitatis (a Universidad de Chile website). After collecting data following these procedures, we conducted a qualitative case analysis using the ATLAS.ti software, where one code was used as a reference for analysis (i.e. identity): interviews, publications and poems were segmented, codes were assigned to each segment, including comments and annotations (memos). By using this method, we were able to build a relational database from which the programme generated semantic networks, which we then interpreted. This study shows an example of what happens when not all creative identities involved in a creative writing community are allowed to learn and exchange knowledge.