In Argentina, the violence of the recent past has become the central analysis of History and Collective Memory. The crimes and human rights violations that occurred during the last dictatorship (1976-1983) have been the object of dispute. The “two demons” theory that derived from the report of the “National Commission of the Disappeared” assigned equal responsibility to the two parties involved in the conflict: the dictatorship and the militant opposition. The theory positioned Argentinean society as a spectator or victim of the violence. Since the return of democracy in 1983, Argentinean social discourse has shown fluctuations in the conflictive relationship between History and Collective Memory regarding this traumatic time period. The literary discourse, as an integrated part of the social discourse, shares common arguments and topics which are inscribed and transformed in post dictatorship literary texts. This dissertation analyses the fictional representation of History and Collective Memory in four Argentinean novels published between 1995 and 2002: Dos veces junio (2002) by Martín Kohan, El secreto y las voces (2002) by Carlos Gamerro, Ni muerto has perdido tu nombre (2002) and Villa (1995) by Luis Gusmán. I argue that these novels present the necessary equilibrium between the two narrations of the past. By introducing narrating voices outside the dual format of victims and victimizers, the characters seem to extend responsibility for what had happened to other groups of individuals. These novels also introduce the children of the disappeared, who want to recover their “incomplete” family identity. I assert that these characters bring into question the theory of the “two demons”. They signal that there are other protagonists of the crimes: the witnesses who kept silent for many years. The question of social responsibility during the last dictatorship is embedded in the representation of the conflictive relationship between Collective Memory and History. Impunity for the human rights violations intertwines the four novels by highlighting the omission, silence and cowardly attitudes possessed by the characters. Those who witnessed the crimes that erased many identities, and remained silent, share part of the responsibility.

In Argentina, the violence of the recent past has become the central analysis of History and Collective Memory. The crimes and human rights violations that occurred during the last dictatorship (1976-1983) have been the object of dispute. The “two demons” theory that derived from the report of the “National Commission of the Disappeared” assigned equal responsibility to the two parties involved in the conflict: the dictatorship and the militant opposition. The theory positioned Argentinean society as a spectator or victim of the violence. Since the return of democracy in 1983, Argentinean social discourse has shown fluctuations in the conflictive relationship between History and Collective Memory regarding this traumatic time period. The literary discourse, as an integrated part of the social discourse, shares common arguments and topics which are inscribed and transformed in post dictatorship literary texts. This dissertation analyses the fictional representation of History and Collective Memory in four Argentinean novels published between 1995 and 2002: Dos veces junio (2002) by Martín Kohan, El secreto y las voces (2002) by Carlos Gamerro, Ni muerto has perdido tu nombre (2002) and Villa (1995) by Luis Gusmán. I argue that these novels present the necessary equilibrium between the two narrations of the past. By introducing narrating voices outside the dual format of victims and victimizers, the characters seem to extend responsibility for what had happened to other groups of individuals. These novels also introduce the children of the disappeared, who want to recover their “incomplete” family identity. I assert that these characters bring into question the theory of the “two demons”. They signal that there are other protagonists of the crimes: the witnesses who kept silent for many years. The question of social responsibility during the last dictatorship is embedded in the representation of the conflictive relationship between Collective Memory and History. Impunity for the human rights violations intertwines the four novels by highlighting the omission, silence and cowardly attitudes possessed by the characters. Those who witnessed the crimes that erased many identities, and remained silent, share part of the responsibility.

Esta dissertação propõe uma leitura crítica do romance Libro de navíos y borrascas, do escritor argentino Daniel Moyano, publicado em 1983. Tal leitura se constrói a partir do desenvolvimento de perspectivas de análise que levam em conta, por um lado, o caráter alegórico da narrativa e, por outro, a singularidade da enunciação de seu narrador, sendo a experiência do exílio o eixo articulador de nossa abordagem crítica. A teoria de Walter Benjamin sobre alegoria e narração e as relações entre enunciação e subjetividade, pensadas a partir das reflexões de Benveniste, Ricardo Piglia e Giorgio Agamben, nos fornecem alguns dos embasamentos teóricos mais fundamentais no traçado de uma reflexão acerca de como a relação entre linguagem e experiência configura a narrativa de Libro de navíos y borrascas como uma ficção do exílio. Na tentativa de contribuir para a consolidação de uma fortuna crítica da obra de Daniel Moyano, um autor pouco estudado tanto na Argentina como no Brasil, nosso estudo parte de fatores estéticos e históricos que dizem respeito ao contexto de produção do romance, bem como a determinadas concepções de seu autor acerca da escrita literária e às perspectivas críticas que se dedicaram à ficção argentina dos anos 1980, produzida sob o último regime militar vivido por aquele país. / This dissertation proposes a critical reading of the Argentinean writer Daniel Moyanos novel Libro de navíos y borrascas, published in 1983. Such reading is built on the development of perspectives of analysis that consider, on the one hand, the narratives allegorical characteristics, and on the other hand, its narrator enunciation uniqueness, where the exile experience is the articulating axis of our critical approach. Walter Benjamins theory on allegory and narration, as well as the relations between enunciation and subjectivity, considered from Benvenistes, Ricardo Piglias and Giorgio Agambens reflections, provide us some of the most fundamental theoretical foundation on the outline of a reflection on how language and experience define Libro de navíos y borrascass narrative as an exile fiction. In an attempt to contribute towards consolidating the critical fortune of Daniel Moyanos work, a scarcely studied author both in Argentina and Brazil, our study considers aesthetical and historical factors regarding the novels context of production, as well as certain conceptions of its author about literary writing and critical perspectives that dedicated themselves to the 1980s Argentinean fiction, produced under the latest military regime lived by that country.

Esta dissertação propõe uma leitura crítica do romance Libro de navíos y borrascas, do escritor argentino Daniel Moyano, publicado em 1983. Tal leitura se constrói a partir do desenvolvimento de perspectivas de análise que levam em conta, por um lado, o caráter alegórico da narrativa e, por outro, a singularidade da enunciação de seu narrador, sendo a experiência do exílio o eixo articulador de nossa abordagem crítica. A teoria de Walter Benjamin sobre alegoria e narração e as relações entre enunciação e subjetividade, pensadas a partir das reflexões de Benveniste, Ricardo Piglia e Giorgio Agamben, nos fornecem alguns dos embasamentos teóricos mais fundamentais no traçado de uma reflexão acerca de como a relação entre linguagem e experiência configura a narrativa de Libro de navíos y borrascas como uma ficção do exílio. Na tentativa de contribuir para a consolidação de uma fortuna crítica da obra de Daniel Moyano, um autor pouco estudado tanto na Argentina como no Brasil, nosso estudo parte de fatores estéticos e históricos que dizem respeito ao contexto de produção do romance, bem como a determinadas concepções de seu autor acerca da escrita literária e às perspectivas críticas que se dedicaram à ficção argentina dos anos 1980, produzida sob o último regime militar vivido por aquele país. / This dissertation proposes a critical reading of the Argentinean writer Daniel Moyanos novel Libro de navíos y borrascas, published in 1983. Such reading is built on the development of perspectives of analysis that consider, on the one hand, the narratives allegorical characteristics, and on the other hand, its narrator enunciation uniqueness, where the exile experience is the articulating axis of our critical approach. Walter Benjamins theory on allegory and narration, as well as the relations between enunciation and subjectivity, considered from Benvenistes, Ricardo Piglias and Giorgio Agambens reflections, provide us some of the most fundamental theoretical foundation on the outline of a reflection on how language and experience define Libro de navíos y borrascass narrative as an exile fiction. In an attempt to contribute towards consolidating the critical fortune of Daniel Moyanos work, a scarcely studied author both in Argentina and Brazil, our study considers aesthetical and historical factors regarding the novels context of production, as well as certain conceptions of its author about literary writing and critical perspectives that dedicated themselves to the 1980s Argentinean fiction, produced under the latest military regime lived by that country.