Poesia y violencia politica Peru 1980-1992

Abstract

Between 1980 and 1992 Peru underwent a bloody internal war characterized by extreme indiscriminate violence. This thesis examines the poetry closely linked---directly or indirectly through mediations---to such political scenario. It analyzes the critical assessment of that process from the point of view of two groups of poets---in both their poems and the way they understood their literary activity: (1) the "three sad tigers" Raiil Mendizabal, Jose Antonio Mazzotti and Eduardo Chirinos; and (2) the Kloaka group, particularly Domingo de Ramos, Roger Santivafiez and Dalmacia Ruiz Rosas. In spite of their differences, the poetic language that interprets the historical and social perspectives adopted by the two groups converged in their expression of marginality vis a vis the official discourse. The six studied authors constitute an important illustration of how the relationship between political violence and poetry can make the language take unprecedented pathways and alter the formai canons in such a way not seen until then in the "official" Peruvian poetry. Rather than being a mere reflection of its context, the poetry of these writers represents a key element of the historical process under which the civil war in Peru took place. It also sets forward rather insightful answers from the perspective of the so called "lettered city" and the Peruvian intelligentsia. According to this thesis, the originality of the poetry of these authors lies in the fact that they became a genuine poetic generation, clearly different from the precedent one of 1960-70. The 1980 generation is characterized by deep disenchantment, anarchy, and auto-immolation, assuming---within its own verbal substance---technical resources such as pastiche, polyphony, double-folded discourse, intersection of historical consciousnesses, dismembering and grammar rupture.