During the last decade, the publication of magazines and anthologies of literary-journalistic chronicles, has been on the sharp increase, which has encouraged quite a few critics to speak of a "new boom in Latin American literature." In this context, this article takes a panoramic view on the development of this genre in Chile during this century, identifying its main exponents and their relevant characteristics. Along with this, we compare the current journalistic-literary chronicle with the historical precedent chronicle (foundational, manners and modernist), establishing their continuities and ruptures in order to define the specificity of the contemporary chronicle. Finally, we propose criteria for adequate analysis of this 'new chronic', considered as basic and generic hybridity both their discipline, as their functionality within contemporary society.