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Meridional. Chilean Journal of Latin American Studies is pleased to invite you to participate in the dossier “Relevance of Latin American Marxism: Thinking from, with, and beyond Michael Löwy’s work”, which consists in our 21st volume, to be published in October 2023. 

After the long night: Contemporary Paraguayan narrative

Authors

  • Daniel Noemi Voionmaa Northeastern University
No. 6 (2016): Abril
https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-4862.2016.40099

Abstract

Recent Paraguayan narrative shows a close and explicit relationship between literature and its surrounding socio-political reaity. Notably, the use of history as a recourse, specifically traumatic historical moments such as wars and dictatorships, is central to the novels of the last decades. This article presents three different but complementary perspectives that show how Paraguayan narrative has addressed its own history, and the ways in which this approach has progressed in recent years to reflect a greater opening and more explicit criticism. First, I analyze two instances of the so-called Historical Novel: Caballero written by Rodríguez Alcalá during the last years of Stroessner’s dictatorship, and Un viento negro by González Delvalle, published in 2012. Secondly, I study two novels by Augusto Roa Bastos (probably the most famous of all Paraguayan writers), that have been labeled novels of “exile after the exile”: El Fiscal and Contravida. Here I focus on the difference between writings inside and outside Paraguay, noting that this distinction characterizes much of the country’s literary production during the 20th century. Finally, I briefly examine three novels –one written in the 1980s, and the other two at the beginning of this century– that seem not to make any reference to the dictatorship or to any war. I argue, however, that they do so surreptitiously, while conforming to relevant tendencies in recent Paraguayan literary production.

Keywords:

Contemporary Paraguayan narrative, transition to democracy, historical novel

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How to Cite
Noemi Voionmaa, D. (2016). After the long night: Contemporary Paraguayan narrative. Meridional. Revista Chilena De Estudios Latinoamericanos, (6), pp–. 67. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-4862.2016.40099
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Meridional. Revista Chilena de Estudios Latinoamericanos
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
Universidad de Chile
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