‘Los que se fueron y los que se quedaron’: History, Exile and Censorship in Ricardo Piglia's Respiración artificial and Manuel Puig's Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas

Author： Rea Lauren

Publisher： Routledge Ltd

ISSN： 1475-3820

Source： Bulletin of Spanish Studies, Vol.89, Iss.3, 2012-05, pp. : 415-433

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

Ricardo Piglia's Respiración artificial and Manuel Puig's Maldicióneterna a quien lea estaspáginas were both published in 1980 during military rule in Argentina and both are examples of resistance to the dictatorship through literature. However, whilst Piglia's novel was published within Argentina, Puig's novel was written in exile and published outside Argentina. Whilst exile afforded Puig the opportunity to write freely without the constraints of censorship, his authority to write a novel of the dictatorship is questioned as he did not experience life under the regime. In contrast, Piglia's work is heralded as an example of authentic resistance as his heavily coded novel successfully evaded the censors. By comparing the strategies of resistance in these two novels, this article seeks to challenge the categorization of the novel of the dictatorship along the dividing line of exile. Whilst both novels reveal different perspectives on the theme of exile, they share a common sensitivity to the ethical problems of narrating the dictatorship. Both novels adopt strategies of censorship in order to avoiding complicity with the regime and this self-censorship emerges as a shared act of resistance.