Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala

One of the paths that postcolonial criticism has taken in discussions of literary discourse in Latin America, is the one that questions the status of the written testimony of individuals belonging to subaltern groups. Its main exponent was the text written by Elisabeth Burgos, Me llamo Rigoberta Men...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mónica Quijano
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TELEMME - UMR 6570 2014-09-01
Series:Amnis
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2215
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841551096106975232
author Mónica Quijano
author_facet Mónica Quijano
author_sort Mónica Quijano
collection DOAJ
description One of the paths that postcolonial criticism has taken in discussions of literary discourse in Latin America, is the one that questions the status of the written testimony of individuals belonging to subaltern groups. Its main exponent was the text written by Elisabeth Burgos, Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú, y así me nación la conciencia (1983), where the Venezuelan anthropologist transcribed Menchú's testimony about the injustice suffered by Guatemalan peasant communities during the second half of twentieth century. This discussion allowed to question the legitimacy of literary discourse, seen as heir of colonialism. First, because it imposed writing as the only legitimate means for the transmission of knowledge and aesthetic practices. Second, because the intellectual elites appropriated this discourse, which left out all speech not belonging to the tradition created by these circles. It is from this discussion that I propose to analyze the literary response to these criticisms, through three novels written by Central American authors: Señores bajo lo árboles o Breve relación de la destrucción del indio de Roberto Morales, Insensatez de Horacio Castellanos Moya and El material humano de Rodrigo Rey Rosa. These writers suggested, by working with the archive (oral or written), a means of aesthetic reflection of what happened in the recent history of Guatemala and the possibility that the writer can "speak" in the place of another, in this case, the victims of the civil war that occurred between 1966 and 1982.
format Article
id doaj-art-c40f4628af1a4e6fa90917f12695b4b3
institution Kabale University
issn 1764-7193
language English
publishDate 2014-09-01
publisher TELEMME - UMR 6570
record_format Article
series Amnis
spelling doaj-art-c40f4628af1a4e6fa90917f12695b4b32025-01-09T16:31:57ZengTELEMME - UMR 6570Amnis1764-71932014-09-011310.4000/amnis.2215Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au GuatemalaMónica QuijanoOne of the paths that postcolonial criticism has taken in discussions of literary discourse in Latin America, is the one that questions the status of the written testimony of individuals belonging to subaltern groups. Its main exponent was the text written by Elisabeth Burgos, Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú, y así me nación la conciencia (1983), where the Venezuelan anthropologist transcribed Menchú's testimony about the injustice suffered by Guatemalan peasant communities during the second half of twentieth century. This discussion allowed to question the legitimacy of literary discourse, seen as heir of colonialism. First, because it imposed writing as the only legitimate means for the transmission of knowledge and aesthetic practices. Second, because the intellectual elites appropriated this discourse, which left out all speech not belonging to the tradition created by these circles. It is from this discussion that I propose to analyze the literary response to these criticisms, through three novels written by Central American authors: Señores bajo lo árboles o Breve relación de la destrucción del indio de Roberto Morales, Insensatez de Horacio Castellanos Moya and El material humano de Rodrigo Rey Rosa. These writers suggested, by working with the archive (oral or written), a means of aesthetic reflection of what happened in the recent history of Guatemala and the possibility that the writer can "speak" in the place of another, in this case, the victims of the civil war that occurred between 1966 and 1982.https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2215GuatemalaPostcolonialTestimony
spellingShingle Mónica Quijano
Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
Amnis
Guatemala
Postcolonial
Testimony
title Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
title_full Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
title_fullStr Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
title_full_unstemmed Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
title_short Postcolonialité et archive : le cas du roman de l’après-guerre et l’héritage du conflit armé au Guatemala
title_sort postcolonialite et archive le cas du roman de l apres guerre et l heritage du conflit arme au guatemala
topic Guatemala
Postcolonial
Testimony
url https://journals.openedition.org/amnis/2215
work_keys_str_mv AT monicaquijano postcolonialiteetarchivelecasduromandelapresguerreetlheritageduconflitarmeauguatemala