Chilean science fiction: reception, circulation and internationalization of the early works by Hugo Correa

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, academic studies and science fiction specialists undertook a renewed study of Chilean science fiction, highlighting the crucial contribution of Hugo Correa to the development of the genre. However, the literary and editorial obstacles that Correa had to overcome in order to publish and disseminate his writings, both in Chile and abroad, were scarcely explored. Through a documentary analysis, this article examines the early literary production by Correa to sustain that what promoted the international circulation and valorization of his works was not the edition of his award-winning novels, but the publication of his stories in foreign Science Fiction journals and anthologies, and also, that the translation into other languages was a fundamental condition for his recognition as a science fiction author.