The Peruvian Short Story in the Years of Violence

Abimael Guzmán, Edith Lagos, Osmán Morote, Víctor Polay, Néstor Cerpa and "Feliciano"; the attack on and liberation of the CRAS in Ayacucho, the massacre of eight journalists in Uchuraccay, the killing of subversive inmates in the prisons of Lurigancho and El Frontón, the escape of MRTA members from the Canto Grande prison, armed stoppages, popular tribunals, peasant patrols, the disappearance of nine students and a professor from the Universidad de La Cantuta, car bombs such as the one on Calle Tarata, the capture of Abimael Guzmán and the hostage-taking at the residence of the Japanese ambassador. These are the characters and events that have defined an era of political violence that no Peruvian will be able to forget. The present anthology is a first step toward accounting for the admirable quantity and quality of narrative fiction that has been published to date about the era of political violence. Fortunately, there are many writers who continue to publish about political violence and others who are planning series of novels on this subject.