Reading, working class and poverty in Nicomedes Guzmán’s los hombres oscuros (1939)

Abstract

This article analyses reading as a practice in Los hombres oscuros (1939), a novel by Chilean writer Nicomedes Guzmán as well as it establishes a comparison about what was considered as appropriate readings for male workers among Catholic Church, Chilean elites and other political leaders. In addition to these ideas, we highlight how in Guzmán’s novel print culture has an important role in working class’s daily life not only as books and press but also as an important material for housing construction. Finally, we argue that this unconventional use of press has become a distinctive attribute of both, what is call aesthetics of poverty and main character’s, Pablo, reading practice.