The first translated book of Baldomero Lillo considered the greatest representative of the naturalism movement in Chile, "Toprağın altında" (compilation of "Sub sole" and "Sub terra"), was introduced for the first time by the Chilean Ambassador Rodrigo Arcos at the "Encounter of Ibero-American Literature" event held in Istanbul in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Türkiye and Istanbul Cervantes Institute.
While reading this book, which consists of 16 short stories, gifted to me by Ambassador Arcos, I noticed that it is challenging to digest the themes as much as the stories are short. In each story, the "worker landscapes" grotesquely depict the societal power of coal mining in Chile, touching hearts, sending shivers down the spine and even bringing tears to the eyes.
These stories adhere closely to every feature of the naturalist doctrine, a literary movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gaining prominence as a response to the romantic and transcendentalist movements that preceded it. It is characterized by a deterministic worldview, where human beings are portrayed as helpless victims of their environment and heredity.
When reading the first story, I recalled American naturalist Stephen Crane's short story "The Open Boat," which harrows the experience of four men stranded at sea in a small boat after their ship sank. Crane's rhetoric of nature's determinism and its indifference toward humanity can be traced almost identically in Lillo.
"If I am going to be drowned – if I am going to be drowned – if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees?" said one of the characters in Crane's story – as a vehement protest against fate. According to him, fate acts according to its wishes and is indifferent to human existence.
On the other hand, the plight of little children being forced to work as miners underground in the stories took me to William Blake's "The Chimney Sweeper" poem, resonates with the dirty-faced children sweeping chimneys, consoling themselves with the idea that the suffering in this life will be rewarded in the afterlife.
Baldomero Lillo's stories, having absorbed the works of Emile Zola and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, mercilessly depict the miserable conditions of the coal miners in Lota, the center of coal mining, where he was born. These conditions are not only miserable in terms of the work itself but also portray the wretched state of humanity in the face of nature.
The processes of urbanization and industrialism in Chile compelled a mass of farm laborers to move to urban areas and work in the mines. Yet, this created an endless and vicious cycle where people physically and psychologically faded day by day. For Lillo, it was such a place that the grim reaper waited at the gates of the pit. For this "The mine never freed those whom it caught," describes Lillo.
The workers, whose lives are ruined for meager wages, have no other source of income besides working here. For this, working in the coal mines becomes a cursed legacy passed down from father to son. As soon as children are able to work, around the ages of 8-9, they descend into this dark world to contribute to the household economy.
In Lillo's stories, this dark world is portrayed as a hellish reality, a true hell on Earth. The corpses of those who die here cannot be found because it is believed that the devil has taken possession of them. It is even thought that a person working in the mines, blind but performing incredibly, is a devil. The place known as "El Chiflon del Diablo" or "The Devil's Blast," though now a tourist attraction, was named after the devil's lair.
This is why Lillo's narratives confront the reader with a narrative that is both seriously oppressive and suffocating in the atmosphere. The stories are built on the foundation of workers being exploited by a brutal system, inhumane working conditions and hours, and the degrading and violent behavior of foremen. For Lillo, the distinction between "animal and human" completely disappears down below, making reading these stories set in darkness quite challenging.
Baldomero Lillo's portrayal of this world as a simulation of hell on Earth is fueled by his own sorrows. Therefore, the depth of the pains transcends to the reader, becoming a shared anguish of those living in this world, as well as the reader.
For instance, in the story "Gate No.12," we witness a child abandoned to the mine by his father, a reflection opposite to the biblical tale of Abraham sacrificing Isaac. The child is left in the darkness, otherwise, the child was already destined to experience the same fate as his father, working in the mines for nothing.
On the other hand, throughout the stories, foremen casually discuss deceased miners from accidents or other reasons as if they were insignificant objects. The place of someone who died last week is quickly replaced, and thoughts swiftly turn to the person who will take their place.
In the story "Invalids," this situation is depicted through symbolism involving a horse. The horse, which has served people in the pit for years, has physically deteriorated to the point of roaming the excavation site in a grotesque image. Eventually, they throw the horse into a pit because it won't serve any purpose anymore. This is the ultimate fate of the miners at the end of the day. They are there as long as they are useful; otherwise, they become worthless objects in this merciless system.
In another story, after a foreman who used to mistreat the workers dies in an explosion, the miners still shoulder his body out of the mine.
However, what touched me the most was the description of a cockfight. These roosters, cheered on with saliva dripping from their owners' mouths, symbolize the lives of the miners spent in coal, smoke and darkness. The cockfights represent the struggles endured by the miners in this harsh and symbolic world.
Baldomero Lillo's work, where he deeply amplifies the voices of the poor and suffering, is a significant opportunity to be translated into Turkish. Additionally, it is crucial for English translations to increase in the literature for possible scholarly works. Reading the book itself requires considerable resilience, in my opinion.
In this world where Lillo ruthlessly weaves the webs of fate, observing the inadequacy and powerlessness of individuals against it prompts one to ponder on many aspects of life.
