Abstract

In the aftermath of the bloody twenty-year internal conflict in Peru, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (ComisiÃ³n de la Verdad y ReconciliaciÃ³n, or CVR) documented the massive human rights violations by Sendero Luminoso and the Peruvian state. The CVR contextualized these abuses by producing a broad historical narrative which has fomented the creation of a new discourse in Peruvian cultural production. This thesis is concerned with how the CVR and the post-conflict search for reconciliation have influenced contemporary Peruvian literature. This paper will focus on the â€˜RedenciÃ³n' trilogy by novelist Alonso Cueto. The three novels explore notions of forgiveness and reconciliation between perpetrators and victims of the conflict. Beginning with La hora azul (2005), the first chapter investigates the reliance on neoliberal reconciliation logic in the CVR (monetary reparations, etc.) as well as the gestures towards affective exchanges. It also explores the ways in which La hora azul stages these reliances within restitution discourse in Peru. In the second chapter, I examine La pasajera (2015) and further explore the ways in which reconciliation is tied to both affect and neoliberal logic. This leads to a discussion on how affect and the free-market work together, rather than as competing systems of exchange and how Cueto emphasizes the proximity of the victim and the perpetrator in the novel. Finally, I conclude by analyzing La viajera del viento (2016). This chapter continues to focus on the proximity of the victim and the perpetrator and how this ethically uncomfortable discourse may actually make way for new modes of forgiveness between victims and perpetrators.

Degree

College and Department

Humanities; Spanish and Portuguese

Rights

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