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The Rhetoric of Torture in Guatemalan Literature, 1975-1985

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The Rhetoric of Torture in Guatemalan Literature, 1975-1985 University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies Hispanic Studies 2012 SPECTERS OF THE UNSPEAKABLE: THE RHETORIC OF TORTURE IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, 1975-1985 William Jarrod Brown University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Brown, William Jarrod, "SPECTERS OF THE UNSPEAKABLE: THE RHETORIC OF TORTURE IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, 1975-1985" (2012). Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies. 8. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/hisp_etds/8 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Hispanic Studies at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained and attached hereto needed written permission statements(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine). I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless a preapproved embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s dissertation including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. William Jarrod Brown, Student Dr. Susan Carvalho, Major Professor Dr. Susan Larson, Director of Graduate Studies SPECTERS OF THE UNSPEAKABLE: THE RHETORIC OF TORTURE IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, 1975-1985 ____________________________________ DISSERTATION ____________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Wm. Jarrod Brown Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Susan Carvalho, Professor of Hispanic Studies Lexington, Kentucky 2012 Copyright © Wm. Jarrod Brown 2012 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION SPECTERS OF THE UNSPEAKABLE: THE RHETORIC OF TORTURE IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, 1975-1985 This dissertation examines the ways in which torture was imagined and narrated in Guatemalan literature during the Internal Armed Conflict. For nearly four decades, Guatemala suffered one of the longest and most violent wars in Latin America. During that time, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people were tortured at the hands of the Guatemalan military. Torture, as suggested by Ariel Dorman, is most fundamentally “a crime committed against the imagination” (8), disrupting and often dissolving the boundaries between fact and fiction, the real and the unreal. The Introduction and Chapter One of this study explore the destabilization of this boundary by examining the historical and theoretical context for torture in Guatemala. The ubiquity and normality of torture was so terrible that, for many, it became “unspeakable”—an atrocity that defied language. Chapters Two through Four study three different literary modes of countering the state’s rhetoric of torture, probing the possibility of narrating torture despite its seemingly unsayable nature. Examining works by Rigoberta Menchú (chapter two), Marco Antonio Flores and Arturo Arias (chapter three), and Rodrigo Rey Rosa (chapter four), and aided by current theories and studies of torture, this dissertation investigates the ways in which these Guatemalan authors have sought not only to re-present torture, but also to explore and sometimes question the possibility of bearing witness to that torture in literature. KEYWORDS: Torture, Silence, Guatemala, Violence, Haunting. Wm. Jarrod Brown Student’s Signature October 1, 2012__________________ Date SPECTERS OF THE UNSPEAKABLE: THE RHETORIC OF TORTURE IN GUATEMALAN LITERATURE, 1975-1985 By Wm. Jarrod Brown Dr. Susan Carvalho Director of Dissertation Dr. Susan Larson Director of Graduate Studies Date Acknowledgements My debts are many. I would like to begin by thanking my entire Dissertation Committee for their continued encouragement—and occasional prodding—throughout the writing process. To Enrico Mario Santí, for his multiple readings of the final work and for urging me to follow the ghosts. To Yanira Paz for her constant support, both in my research and my teaching, and for reminding me of the importance of words. To Ana Secor for helping me to think through the intricate networks of power and violence, and for emboldening me to aspire for perfection. I would like to give particular thanks to my dissertation advisor, Susan Carvalho, for her unfailing support and insight, and for her critical eye. I am and will always be infinitely indebted to her for her constant companionship on this journey. I also want to gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Department of Hispanic Studies and the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Kentucky, both of which provided support in the form of travel grants for research in Guatemala. My time in Guatemala would not have been nearly as fruitful without the guidance and recommendations of the Asociación para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales en Guatemala (AVANCSO) and the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (CIRMA). Finally, I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to my family and friends, without whom I would not have begun, let alone survived, life as a grad student. To my grandparents, who discouraged half-measures, and who would have been proud to see their grandson with a “real” PhD. To my father, who taught me the value of hard work. To my mother, who instilled patience, and who inspired me to hope, even iii when all hope seemed lost. To my undergraduate advisor, Rick Axtell, for his passion for justice, and for encouraging me to be always curious. To my friends and companions throughout the numerous—and seemingly endless—stages of my graduate career, for their encouragement and comradery, which have been vital to both my scholastic and my personal wellbeing. To Gustavo, Isaac, and Luís, for their wonderful distractions, and for providing a refuge from the rigors of academic life. Finally, to my wife, Skila, who reminded me to breathe, and without whom none of this would have been possible. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Chapter One: Introduction: Specters of the Unspeakable ....................................................1 ‘Un vacío colmado’: Violence and the Unspeakable in Guatemala ............................ 6 Literary Silence: Language and the Non-Symbolic .................................................. 11 The Silent Non-Symbolic of Torture: Plan and Chapter Distribution ....................... 16 Chapter Two: A Rhetoric of Fear: The Shadowy Nature of Torture as Spectacle ............24 In the Land of ‘Even’ ................................................................................................. 27 The Rhetoric of Torture: Pain, Escalation, and the “Logic of Choice” ..................... 32 Massacres: The Public Spectacle of Torture in Guatemala ....................................... 46 Rumors and the Specter of Torture ............................................................................ 58 Speaking “Silence”: Bearing Witness to the Impossibility of Bearing Witness ....... 70 Chapter Three: A Rhetoric of Certainty: Re-Presentations of Torture in I, Rigoberta Menchú ...............................................................................................................................80 The Controversies Surrounding I, Rigoberta Menchú ............................................... 84 Recollecting Torture .................................................................................................. 99 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 123 Chapter Four: A Rhetoric of Uncertainty: Eroticizing Torture in the Guatemalan New Novel ................................................................................................................................125 The Founding Text of the Guatemalan New Novel ................................................ 138 Loss and Language: The Flight into Nothingness ................................................... 143 The Negative Epistemic Value of Pain .................................................................... 150 Specters of Torture: Arturo Arias’ Después de las bombas ...................................
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