Violence, gender, and memory in Carlos Franz’s El desierto (2005)

Abstract

This article examines changes in the representation of dictatorial violence and female victims of human rights violations in Carlos Franz’s novel El desierto (2005). In order to do so, it first examines how notions of victimhood, gendered violence and justice challenge the idea of women as the sacrificial victims of state-led violence or their communities. It also shows how images of victimised women, as mournful subjects, are replaced by more reflective victims, who attempt to understand violence and patriarchal oppression, rather than merely remembering it in a grieving fashion. This article also explores some of the problems that emerge when a male author writes a story of a female victim of human rights violations. Finally, this study focuses on content and form to show how some of the elements in the texts might reinforce patriarchal male fantasies and the co-option of women’s voices in the aftermath of conflict.