THE PCP-SHINING PATH CHAPTER IN THE NARRATIVE OF MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

This article addresses four narrative texts by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa related to the violence experienced in Peru in the context of the war between Shining Path and the State: the novels Historia de Mayta and Lituma en los Andes, and the documents Informe de Uchuraccay and Historia de una matanza. The reading I undertake begins by problematizing the theoretical assumptions put forward by the writer in La verdad de las mentiras regarding the "truth" of literature and its independence from reality. From this critical standpoint, I propose that his theories are not only problematic in themselves when it comes to narrating violence, but that they do not coincide with the cultural practices of his readers, which is why debates ignite in the ideological arena and the question of referentiality becomes a political struggle.