La Flor de Papel (The Paper Flower) is a small bookstore located in Lastarria, a neighborhood in Santiago, the capital of Chile. This is the second of three posts on small, independent bookstores. The first in the series is here.
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La Flor de Papel
This is predominately a Spanish language bookstore. But the storekeeper spoke English and we chatted briefly about my visit to Chile and this blog.
They stocked a total of about three shelves of English language books, mostly popular fictions, such as Agatha Christie murder mysteries.
I do wish I could read in more languages when you know there is an abundance of ideas and feelings between the pages, waiting to be discovered.
While the store is small, the books are organized into multiple sections like a browsing library. Only one copy of each book is displayed to save space. They even have books for children on lower shelves (so that they can browse) and manga.
Each section is labeled clearly on the shelves, and a surprising number of subjects are present.
Displayed first and foremost are literary books in the sections: Chilean Fiction (Narrativa chilena), Chilean History (Historia de Chile), and Chilean Poetry (Poesia chilena).
It is worth noting that Chile went through a period of military dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet after a coup d’etat in 1973. The military junta burned general sociological literature and books they considered subversive, i.e., books that did not fit their ideology. In addition, such books were withdrawn from the shelves of bookstores and libraries. Chile is now a stable democracy that has experienced a significant expansion of political rights and civil liberties since the return of civilian rule in 1990.
I wandered if this kind of small independent bookstore could have survived in the 70’s under an atmosphere of authoritarian political suppression. I cannot help but think about the Hong Kong bookstore Mount Zero covered in our previous post – Farewell… Mount Zero. It will be closing at the end of March 2024 due to what appears to be continued bureaucratic harassment fueled by anonymous complaints.
Also displayed prominently are Spanish translations of many international titles (in the section Narrativa traducida), for example, ¿Sueñan los androides con ovejas electricas? (Do androids dream of electric sheep?) by Philip K Dick, and works by Haruki Murakami.
Art for Sale
On one side of the main room, there is an alcove where work by an artist are displayed for sale.
Among the books on display are a series of what seems like graphic version of well-known works by Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway and Dino Buzzati. It was interesting to see a Spanish version of “Trust” (“Fortuna“) by Hernan Diaz – an Argentinian who wrote the English language novel in New York, which was listed as one of 10 best book of 2022 by New York Times and Washington Post.
Libros En Inglés
Above the counter are a number of notable translation of English books: “The Human Body” (El Cuerpo Humano) by Bill Bryson, “Ideas” by Peter Watson, tomes about the Beatles and Paul McCartney, and Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” (El Señor de los Anillos).
I bought the 1984 pin as a souvenir.
I was curious if bilingual versions of poems by Gabriela Mistral (Nobel Prize 1945, Literature) or Pablo Neruda (Nobel Prize 1971, Literature) exist. Unfortunately, no. There was a boxed set – “Recados Completos” by Gabriela Mistral (just below the Paul McCartney “Letras”).
La Flor de Papel is a gem, shining at Merced 344, Santiago. They also have a decent store online – here.
Now you know where to find a decent collection of Spanish literary books in the Southern hemisphere. Long live the small independent bookstores.
Don’t miss the other indie bookstores – Mount Zero in Hong Kong and Wardah Books in Singapore.