Reflejos del Imaginario Social Juvenil en Tiempos de Pandemia Representado en el libro El Ángel de la Peste de Santiago Vizcaino

Abstract

Abstract: This essay examines how the social imaginary of youth during the pandemic is reflected in Santiago Vizcaíno s book *El Ángel de la Peste* (The Angel of the Plague). Following the global outbreak of COVID-19, the Ecuadorian government placed the entire population under quarantine, declaring a health emergency and a state of exception. These measures were implemented to mitigate the unfolding crisis. The study s central thesis posits that the author s narrative frames the pandemic not merely as an account of a health event, but as a representation of the contemporary social imaginary of young people in the face of a pandemic. Methodologically, the essay is structured in three parts: historical contextualization; a description of narrative, symbolic, and literary elements; and, finally, an analysis of the representations and social imaginaries of the disease as embodied by the characters. The essay concludes by demonstrating how literature and art serve as a critical and pedagogical record of emerging social events and phenomena, and how this shapes and influences one's worldview.