Abstract
The article examines the effect of exile on the coming-of-age process in Skármeta’s novel, No pasó nada. Through textual analysis and the application of theories surrounding identity formation, socialization, and the accommodation of the individual into society, the paper demonstrates how exile both complicates and acts as a catalyst in the protagonist’s coming of age. Despite the fact that the novel was published in the second half of the twentieth century, the protagonist follows the classical coming-of-age process depicted in nineteenth-century texts, prior to changes brought about by late capitalism, globalization and the explosion of digital media platforms that allow for mediated contact with, and exploration of a multiplicity of distant others. I argue that the reason for this adherence to the classical coming-of-age process in Skarmeta’s late twentieth-century novel hinges on the fact that its protagonist must undergo his search for a suitable role in society, one that is in tune with his identity, as a member of a community in exile.
Recommended Citation
Faunes, Regina Maria
"Coming of Age and Exile in No pasó nada."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
24.5
(2022):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3165>
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