Impure Memory, Imperfect Justice: A Comparison of Post-Repression Fiction Across the South Atlantic

This dissertation examines literary representations of---and interventions in---the conflicts between memory, justice, and national reconciliation after authoritarian regimes. I compare fiction written during the democratic transitions following apartheid in South Africa and the military dictatorships in Chile and Argentina in the late 20th century. In my analysis, I consider not only how post-dictatorship fiction approaches historically traumatic events, but also what these novels contribute, both to collective memory and to our understanding of the individual and social dimensions of settling accounts with traumatic recent pasts. The novels studied in depth are: Tony Eprile's The Persistence of Memory (South Africa, 2004), Gillian Slovo's Red Dust (South Africa, 2000), Maria Teresa Andruetto's Lengua madre (Argentina, 2010), Patricio Pron's El espiritu de mis padres sigue subiendo en la lluvia (Argentina, 2011), and Carlos Franz's El desierto (Chile, 2005).;My analysis is developed within two complementary theoretical frameworks: collective memory (especially by Maurice Halbwachs and Pierre Nora), and human rights and their intersections with literature (by Andreas Huyssen, Joseph Slaughter, and Sophia McClennen, among others). Thus, my study investigates the relationships between history, memory, and literature from an ethical perspective provided by human rights studies. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).