Description
- Abstract:
- My dissertation explores how historical narrative has become central to contemporary Peruvian literature, analyzing its function and significance in political, cultural, and literary debates on representations of Peruvian modernity. I argue that, rather than repeating approaches to a so-called European-indigenous identity, the new historical narrative offers a reinterpretation of Andean subjectivity that seeks identity as well as transformation, and affirms tradition while expressing universal understanding.By studying the rewriting of colonial past in contemporary short fiction and novels that focus on sixteenth to eighteenth-century Cuzco, I demonstrate that mestizo identity, indigenous agency, and cultural convergence are fundamental elements that shape historical rethinking of Peruvian modernity. Chapter 1 deals with the reinterpretation of mestizo identity in works such as Guillermo Niño de Guzmán's El tesoro de los sueños (1995), Luis Enrique Tord's Sol de los soles (1998), Selenco Vega's "El mestizo de Las Alpujarras" (2007), and Miguel Guti érrez's Poderes secretos (1995). I demonstrate that the iconic figure of the Inca Garcilaso (1539-1616) represented in these works portrays a mestizo subjectivity defined as conflict as well as political change. Chapter 2 offers a reformulation of "Andean utopian" discourses that highlight the importance of Andean tradition in political change in Luis Nieto Degregori's "Hijos del Supay" and "Reina del Perú" (1994), Enrique Rosas Paravicino's Muchas lunas en Machu Picchu (2006), and Ángel Avendaño's Túpaq Amaru: los días del tiempo profético (2006). In Chapter 3, I discuss how Fietta Jarque's Yo me perdono (1998) updates mestizaje and "Andean utopia" discourses as a way to propose a subject who, although grounding his identity in the Andean world, seeks convergence and plurality, and, thus, universalism.I establish that by examining mestizaje and "Andean utopia" discourses, these works articulate historical narration, memory, and interpretation as key elements for historical understanding. I subsequently suggest that memory and history demand an interpretative dimension for comprehension of the past. My dissertation thus speaks to current concerns about historical memory in the aftermath of political violence in Peru (1980-2000).
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2011)
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Citation
Matta Jara, Natalia T.,
"Historia y modernidad en el Perú: mestizaje y utopía andina en la narrativa histórica contemporánea"
(2011).
Hispanic Studies Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0C53J4R
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Hispanic Studies Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Hispanic Studies department....