Approach to the Thought of Fernando Vallejo through the Reading of ‘El Desbarrancadero’

The article aims to interpret (and to some extent comment on) some of Fernando Vallejo's thoughts contained in his novel El Desbarrancadero. The Colombian author's text includes deep reflections on essential issues of human existence and their fundamental circumstances.

Throughout the pages of El Desbarrancadero, ideas about life are exposed in their most critical aspect, masterfully described by Vallejo. They are subjects that often –though they are all well-known– are nevertheless little commented, due to what some might call a certain conceptual hardness and rigor. The author of Medellin is characterized by his freedom in saying what he thinks. That frankness (after all, courage), and that depth and literary beauty at the same time, make El Desbarrancadero one of the most important philosophical novels ever written in Spanish.