November was beginning when Sietch Ediciones announced on its social media that renowned screenwriter Pablo Illanes was adding a novel to its literary catalog. The news caught the attention of readers and the press alike, as while this isn't Illanes' first foray into literature, or even horror, it is the first time he's made a complete novel in this genre available.
Creator of such successful and iconic soap operas as Machos , Adrenalina , Perdona Nuestros Sins , Fuera de Control , Alguien Te Mira , and Demente (to name just a few), as well as being the mind behind Prófugos , the Chilean series financed by HBO, Pablo Illanes is one of the most important screenwriters on the local scene . His works not only achieved ratings hits, but also changed the way soap operas are made and watched, often moving away from melodrama and delivering stories that are framed within the police thriller .
In 2000, having already risen to fame with Adrenalina and shortly after Fuera de control , she published her first novel, Una mujer brutal . This was followed by Fragilidad in 2004 and Los amantes caníbales in 2015. But there is another literary milestone that interests us and it occurred in 2013, when Illanes participated in a horror anthology published by Ediciones B, Machetazos: todos mueren , with the story Los maracos . That anthology, along with her entire body of work, has an impact on the novel that is soon to be published under the Sietch label for those who are attentive enough and for those who know her career.
Cataclysm is the book with which Pablo Illanes returns to literature. A horrifying story that will shock readers and remind us of what the earth and its humans hide deep within.
What remains after the end
If there's one adverse context par excellence in fiction, it's the post-apocalyptic one. It doesn't matter how the "apocalypse" occurred or why: what's left behind is usually so bad that it's natural for the survivors to wish they'd died in the midst of the disaster.
That's precisely what happens in Cataclysm . The event that triggers it all? An earthquake.
Because, of course, as residents of a seismic country, we Chileans live in constant fear that at any moment an earthquake could strike, capable of leveling everything. That happened on February 27, 2010, on March 3, 1985, and between May 21 and 22 (because no, the Valdivia earthquake wasn't just one, there were three), the latter exceeding magnitude 9. Such was the magnitude of the quake that it is considered one of the largest on record worldwide.
Now imagine a magnitude 12 earthquake. Yes, magnitude 12. More than two magnitudes higher than what is considered the largest cataclysm in our recorded history.
That's exactly what happens in Cataclysm .
Through Inés , the protagonist and narrator of this story, we learn about the exact moment of the earthquake that changed everything forever. The screams, the deaths, the confusion, the horror. And as if that weren't enough, as we delve into Inés's memories and present, we discover what emerged after the disaster: how she survives with three companions, with whom she lives in different luxury hotels in eastern Santiago; what they face every time they go out; what creatures were released by the cracks the earthquake opened in the earth; the effect suffered by the corpses; and what other survivors have become.
Because this brought more than just the destruction caused by the earthquake; what that earthquake did was unleash hell.
Being a woman at the end of the world
Pablo Illanes's fiction is full of interesting female characters , not always because they fall within the common definition of "strong women," but because they are layered and very realistic . In fact, the women he tends to create (or who feature prominently in his fiction) are often fragile in appearance, or are trapped within a bubble created by their social class and economic well-being.
This is the case with several characters in the soap operas she has written, such as in Demente (Demente ) or Alguien te mira (Someone is looking at you) or ¿Dónde está Elisa (Where is Elisa?). That is, until she takes them out of their comfort zone : whether because one of their children is kidnapped or the antagonist character orbits them and puts them in danger, sooner or later they must leave that bubble and prove that they are not fragile . Perhaps that is why her women stand out, even in the midst of contexts where patriarchy predominates at the plot level, as in Perdona Nuestros Sins (Perdona Nuestros Sins) or Machos (Machos ).
For all these reasons, it's no surprise that he chose a woman to star in and narrate Cataclysm . Inés is a character who fits several of the traits that define his other creations: an upper-class woman with a comfortable (but not always happy) life before the turning point, a conservative upbringing, and devoted to her family . From patriarchal and even classist prejudices, she seems far from capable of surviving a disaster of the magnitude of the one that occurs in this book (although we never really know who is and who isn't, until the moment arrives).
But Inés not only survives the earthquake, she stays alive afterward, overcoming obstacle after obstacle. What's more, she doesn't do it alone; other women like her accompany her: Vicky , Tere , and Nacha . Together, they face all the dangers that the context in which they are immersed holds in the best way they can, not always managing to emerge unscathed.
Outside the hotels they use as shelter, horrifying creatures await them, as well as other renegade survivors, willing to do anything to satisfy their appetites.
Cataclysm reminds us of an enduring truth about horror: the worst thing about the end of the world is surviving it, and no monster can outdo a human with nothing left to lose . And it does so over the course of 190 pages of constant suspense.
The best of the script translated into prose
Although both are created through writing, screenwriting and literature have formatting and production characteristics that make them very distinct . Perhaps the biggest difference (or the one we're most interested in discussing at this time) concerns the intermediaries: although a screenwriter is a fundamental part of creating an audiovisual work, there are so many steps between the screenwriter and the product presented to the public that the text often becomes diluted.
The same doesn't happen in literature. No matter how many edits a work undergoes between the first draft and the printed version, the dialogue between author and reader is much more direct .
Furthermore, in literature, there are no limits except the writer's imagination and skill. No production budget is required. For a magnitude 12 earthquake to occur, all you have to do is imagine it and put it in writing. The rest is up to the reader.
When you read Cataclysm , you can glimpse Pablo Illanes the screenwriter in the almost palpable visual descriptions. You can also see it in the dialogue. Or in the agility of the narrative, which never lets up. But it's undeniable that in this novel, the author feels free to write whatever he wants, because there are no intermediaries or limits .
Pablo Illanes writes everything the paper can hold, and paper can hold a lot. The purest terror, the gruesome, painful, nauseating scenes. Thanks to that, Cataclysm is a novel that lives up to its title: it doesn't leave the reader indifferent, but on the contrary, it shakes and affects the reader.
With that imprint, this novel not only joins the Sietch Ediciones catalogue and the career of its author, but also the best of the horror genre in Chile .
Review and analysis: Aileen Pinto
