Abstract

The character in the novel Thimor (1932) by Manuel Astica travels across the Pacific determined to find the mythical continent of Lemuria and he recounts in his logbook his questioning of his own moral principles, which were shook up when contrasted with the vital practices of the islanders in their coexistence with nature. The narration advances through the framework of the utopian story to unravel the meaning of this transcendental experience and reveal clues to the events that inspired Astica’s creation: his time in the Chilean Navy and his role in the revolt of the Navy in 1931. In our opinion, his imprisonment after the riot awakens in the author reflections on social inequities that, from the perspective of ecocritical discourse, are framed in a dialectic between well-being and environmental and human exploitation.

Keywords:
utopia; ecocriticism; nature; travel