Del dictado2.3.74-115.pdf

“On dictation” analyses the mode of productionof one of the “best achievement” of CentralAmerican testimonial novel: Miguel Mármol.The Events of 1932 in El Salvador (1972) byRoque Dalton. Against the predicaments oftestimonial criticism -a complete dictation orcompilation of the entire text in a few weeksin Prague (1966)- the essay asserts theexigency to develop a rigorous research onliterary historiography. It recovers the earlyeditions of the text (1971 in Havana and SanSalvador), and the original notebook (1966,courtesy of the family). Thanks to these twomissing links, the essay claims that the writingof the “truth-novel” implies a long process offive or six years of work. During this period,the poet complements the scarce oral datawith a serious historical research, along withhis own literary creativity. The passage fromthe notebook (1966) to the biography (1972)is analogous to the conversion of “field notes”into a “monograph” in classical anthropology.The essay situates the testimonial novel in theCentral American cultural production. Itexamines its theoretical reception andcanonization as a paradigmatic text of the genrein the USA, and reconstructs its internal history.“On dictation” studies the literary compositionof Miguel Mármol -a hidden dialogue with sourcesof the “enemy”, in particular with the book ofJorge Schlesinger (1946), and with belateddocuments closer to the Salvadoran CommunistParty (PCS)- as well as its poetic inflation, theauthor's own creativity. It also analyses in detailthe author's intentionality that transforms the“field notes” into the conventional format oftestimonial novel. The author takes this decisionbased upon the ethical character of the informant,member of the Central Committee of the PCS.A Marxist ethics dictates the obliteration of anynative voice, and perceives the repressive eventsas an “anticommunist massacre”. With theoblivion of natives, the biography also eliminatesany question of gender. At last, the essay observesseveral procedures of ficcionalization, and thetransformation of an irregular and brokenchronology into a rigid, linear time, according tothe requirements of testimonial literary design.