The dissertation “Ambigüedades éticas y estéticas: La narrativa peruana contemporánea y la violencia política” explores the complex relationship of literature and the recent history of Peru by analyzing ideological positions expressed in three novels, Alonso Cueto’s La hora azul (2005), Santiago Roncagliolo’s Abril rojo (2006), and Daniel Alarcón’s Radio Ciudad Perdida (2007), and in a collection of short stories, Jorge Eduardo Benavides’ La noche de Morgana (2005). This dissertation discusses how these authors employ different literary discourses (detective fiction, literature of the fantastic and the dystopian novel) to recreate artistically the period of internal conflict, as well as the ethical perspectives that each artistic option entails. The analysis continues a long tradition of scholarship in Latin American Literary Studies that examines the way in which history is (re)presented and questioned in literature. By comparing the writings of Peruvian authors based in different cultural areas (Peru, Spain and the United States), this study proposes an original approach to these works which also considers the concept of ‘Peruvian Literature’ (‘National Literature’) in this age of globalization and the ever-expanding Andean diaspora.

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El presente proyecto contiene tres historias paralelas reunidas en una sola novela. En primer lugar, se narra la infancia de Judith, la protagonista principal. En segundo lugar, la línea de investigación liderada por Judith y Sergio Cayetano y por último, los crímenes que surgen por toda la ciudad. La novela tiene como referentes a Chandler, la crudeza de Lemaitre y Larson, aspira alcanzar el suspenso sugerido por Highsmith. El objetivo general de la novela consiste en brindar la posibilidad de ampliar los alcances del género de novela negra, para ello, no solo se recurre al tema de la muerte, sino que además se explora la carencia afectiva, las relaciones disfuncionales y los efectos de la pérdida arraigados en lo inconsciente y manifestados en el yo de los personajes. Además, se pretende empoderar a la mujer a través de la protagonista principal que consigue reinventarse en medio de un contexto violento y discriminador. Aparte de los aspectos teóricos literarios, se recurre a la psicología como ciencia para entender la psicopatología del antagonista y a las entrevistas pactadas con personal de las Fuerzas policiales para otorgarle mayor verosimilitud a la novela. Con respecto al ángulo desde el cual se pretende narrar la historia, se ha elegido un narrador omnisciente como la perspectiva principal, pero en algunos capítulos se pretende cambiar el punto de vista a un narrador protagonista según lo requiera la historia. La novela está organizada en capítulos cortos, alternando descripciones, diálogos directos e indirectos, con un manejo del tiempo lineal, aunque tomando en cuenta saltos cronológicos a modo flash back y racontos.

“The Problem of Immigration and Contemporary Spanish Detective Fiction” examines the viability of the detective genre as a forum to dispute the commonly held perception of contemporary immigration to Spain as a problem. Focusing first on popular series of the Transition and Disenchantment periods that followed the death of Francisco Franco, I identify the detective novel, and in particular the hard-boiled variety on which the Spanish tradition is based, as an ideal space for discussions of otherness. In the 1990s, as large-scale immigration to Spain became an increasing reality, North Africans, Latin Americans, and Eastern Europeans joined minority groups already marginalised within Spain and became the focus of well-known authors such as Jorge Martínez Reverte, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and Andreu Martín and relative newcomers Yolanda Soler Onís, José Javier Abasolo, Lorenzo Silva, and Antonio Lozano. All use the conventions of the detective genre––suspense, pursuit, intrigue––to address misconceptions about immigration and to reveal that the ultimate culprits in these stories are ill-willed traffickers, corrupt security agencies, and the widespread apathy of parts of the Spanish population and its government. Through the twists and turns of their storylines, these politically committed authors show that while immigrants may be forced to inhabit Spain’s underbelly, they are not single-handedly responsible for Spanish society’s perceived demise. My dissertation is informed by a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on media, cultural, socio-anthropological, and postcolonial studies. The connection between crime literature and the mass media is especially intriguing given the latter’s power of influence over the conceptualisation of immigration. The detective texts juxtapose the media of the post-modern electronic information age, which is by definition frontier-less, with a nation designing ever-stronger borders. While analysing the various borders that divide a national and global society in the entangled tale of immigration to Spain, and the discursive roles they play within the codified genre of crime fiction, I argue that these authors use the conventions of their medium to provide internal views of the process of immigration as an alternative to the voyeuristic daily reporting that otherwise threatens to desensitise the Spanish public to the topic altogether.

“The Problem of Immigration and Contemporary Spanish Detective Fiction” examines the viability of the detective genre as a forum to dispute the commonly held perception of contemporary immigration to Spain as a problem. Focusing first on popular series of the Transition and Disenchantment periods that followed the death of Francisco Franco, I identify the detective novel, and in particular the hard-boiled variety on which the Spanish tradition is based, as an ideal space for discussions of otherness. In the 1990s, as large-scale immigration to Spain became an increasing reality, North Africans, Latin Americans, and Eastern Europeans joined minority groups already marginalised within Spain and became the focus of well-known authors such as Jorge Martínez Reverte, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and Andreu Martín and relative newcomers Yolanda Soler Onís, José Javier Abasolo, Lorenzo Silva, and Antonio Lozano. All use the conventions of the detective genre––suspense, pursuit, intrigue––to address misconceptions about immigration and to reveal that the ultimate culprits in these stories are ill-willed traffickers, corrupt security agencies, and the widespread apathy of parts of the Spanish population and its government. Through the twists and turns of their storylines, these politically committed authors show that while immigrants may be forced to inhabit Spain’s underbelly, they are not single-handedly responsible for Spanish society’s perceived demise. My dissertation is informed by a multi-disciplinary approach that draws on media, cultural, socio-anthropological, and postcolonial studies. The connection between crime literature and the mass media is especially intriguing given the latter’s power of influence over the conceptualisation of immigration. The detective texts juxtapose the media of the post-modern electronic information age, which is by definition frontier-less, with a nation designing ever-stronger borders. While analysing the various borders that divide a national and global society in the entangled tale of immigration to Spain, and the discursive roles they play within the codified genre of crime fiction, I argue that these authors use the conventions of their medium to provide internal views of the process of immigration as an alternative to the voyeuristic daily reporting that otherwise threatens to desensitise the Spanish public to the topic altogether.