Bearing Witness through Fiction

In her article, "Bearing Witness through Fiction," Carolina Rocha explores the ways in which three Argentine writers grappled with their roles as public intellectuals and witnesses to acts of terror, undeniable violence, and human rights abuses during the most recent military dictatorship. By examining three narrative texts written from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s Aquí pasan cosas raras (Strange Things Happen Here) (1975) by Luisa Valenzuela, La casa y el viento (The House and the Wind) (1984) by Hector Tizón, and El árbol de la gitana (The Tree and the Gypsy) (1997) by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz, she argues that because of the public role assigned to writers, their accounts could not be disengaged from a tense sociopolitical reality. Hence, Valenzuela, Tizón, and Dujovne Ortiz provide a testimony of their bearing witness to the political turmoil of the late 1970s blending it with and in their fiction. Rocha focuses on the crucial role played by fictional narrative in bearing witness to catastrophic events. Carolina Rocha, "Bearing Witness through Fiction" page 2 of 9 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 9.1 (2007): Thematic Issue, Representing Humanity in an Age of Terror. Ed. Sophia A. McClennen and Henry James Morello