What books can I read before a trip to Chile?

Chile has offered the world of literature some great names, starting of course with the poet Pablo Neruda, Nobel Prize for Literature, whose houses you can visit in Valparaiso and Santiago.

His life as a diplomat introduced him to the world before he embarked on a political career in Chile during the golden age of the Communist Party. Antipode recommends Le Chant Général (1950), which traces a piece of Latin American history, particularly that of oppressed populations.

Luis Sepulveda then, politically committed to Allende then persecuted and exiled after the coup d'état. We recommend the inevitable The Old Man Who Reads Love Novels (1989), or the more recent Patagonia Express (1996) or The Roses of Atacama (2001) more related to Chile.

Isabelle Allende, a Chilean writer with an important work whose Ines of my soul, a biography of a young person of the 16th century participating in the conquest of Chile by the Spaniards, is a good introduction to discover Chile. She has also written many books for children
The following authors are also worth mentioning: Roberto Bolaño, Gabriela Mistral or Antonio Skarmeta.

Other style of literature: travel guides.