Abstract
This article explores the debate around testimony and its place within a culture of memory vis-à-vis other kinds of discourses (especially the literary) as they pertain to a book that has garnered significant media and critical attention in Brazil, K. by Bernardo Kucinski. Based on real events, the author draws from his memories of those times, often writing about his own direct experience, but deploying a range of literary strategies to tell the story. In addition, the book provides an opportunity to insert Brazil into the discussion of the role of testimony in Latin American cultures of memory. The relative absence of testimonies in the country can be attributed to its protracted and controlled transition from dictatorship to democracy and the near thirty-year delay in creating its Comissão Nacional da Verdade, or National Truth Commission. Having gone through multiple editions in various translations and having been featured extensively at national and international literary events, Kucinski’s novel offers a window into Brazil’s memory culture and a basis for comparison with other countries in the region.
Resumo
Abstract
This article explores the debate around testimony and its place within a culture of memory vis-à-vis other kinds of discourses (especially the literary) as they pertain to a book that has garnered significant media and critical attention in Brazil, K. by Bernardo Kucinski. Based on real events, the author draws from his memories of those times, often writing about his own direct experience, but deploying a range of literary strategies to tell the story. In addition, the book provides an opportunity to insert Brazil into the discussion of the role of testimony in Latin American cultures of memory. The relative absence of testimonies in the country can be attributed to its protracted and controlled transition from dictatorship to democracy and the near thirty-year delay in creating its Comissão Nacional da Verdade, or National Truth Commission. Having gone through multiple editions in various translations and having been featured extensively at national and international literary events, Kucinski’s novel offers a window into Brazil’s memory culture and a basis for comparison with other countries in the region.
- © 2016 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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