Abstract
Rodrigo Rey Rosa's El material humano (Human Material, 2009) presents itself as the debris of a failed attempt to "novelize" Guatemala's National Police Archive and the Project for its recovery. What I would like to argue in this chapter is that if we take the text at its apparent word we will miss a series of opportunities to make sense both of the book and of the "post-peace" Guatemala that it portrays. To use those opportunities, we need to read El material humano as fiction: not fiction as make-believe, but fiction as a genre that rewards a particular kind of attention, in which invented elements are standard but not essential.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Post-Conflict Literature: Human Rights, Peace, Justice |
| Editors | Chris Andrews, Matt McGuire |
| Place of Publication | U.S. |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Pages | 164-174 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781315689746 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781138916302 |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Rey Rosa, Rodrigo, 1958-
- Guatemalan fiction