Testimony and subalternity in Central American literature

Abstract

Testimonial literature has become a prominent genre in the last fifty years. The etymological origin of the word can be found in legal literature, not fiction. The concept refers to a witness who has personally experienced certain events that occurred in a particular country or region. In this context, this article analyzes three testimonial works from Central American literature, in which the authors reveal their experiences of different sociopolitical conflicts in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. These conflicts are presented from the perspective of the other or the subaltern, through the reconstruction of events narrated by eyewitnesses. The methodology employed is based on a qualitative, hermeneutic approach applied to the literary works studied.