Truth in the time of fear: Adiós, Ayacucho 's poetics of memory and the Peruvian transitional justice process

The 1986 short novel, Adiós, Ayacucho ( Farewell, Ayacucho ), by Peruvian writer Julio Ortega, can be read as a set of aspirational claims regarding the, at the time, nascent transitional justice discourse. Analyzed against the findings of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cala Buendía, Felipe (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2012
In: International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2012, Volume: 6, Issue: 2, Pages: 344-354
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Summary:The 1986 short novel, Adiós, Ayacucho ( Farewell, Ayacucho ), by Peruvian writer Julio Ortega, can be read as a set of aspirational claims regarding the, at the time, nascent transitional justice discourse. Analyzed against the findings of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the same events it portrays, Ortega's novel opens a productive discussion about the way memory - or, rather, memories - should be constructed in the wake of the armed conflict. As the disjointed narration of a fragmented body's failed quest for whole(some)ness, the text advocates for a decentralized process of memory building. If transitional justice is to attain its fundamental aim of reinstating and enhancing citizenship in the wake of massive human rights violations, the novel seems to argue, it should engulf not only centralized institutional attempts at memory building but also alternative narratives that recognize the plurality of perspectives and voices that plague an inevitably fragmented social body.
ISSN:1752-7724
DOI:10.1093/ijtj/ijr031