Clandestine in Chile: García Márquez’s Journey Into a Filmmaker’s Secret Return

Gabriel García Márquez turned to a real-life story of exile and homecoming in Clandestine in Chile, a nonfiction book published in 1986.

The celebrated Colombian writer’s account follows Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littín, who secretly returned to his homeland in 1985 after spending twelve years in exile.

Littín’s return is the central event of the book, bringing the experience of a filmmaker back in his own country into the focus of Márquez’s nonfiction writing.

Rather than building an imagined world, Márquez recounts an actual journey. The book offers readers a different side of the author, with a clandestine homecoming at the heart of its narrative.