Restoring presence, reconstructing history: Investigative narratives by Argentine women writers

Abstract

Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1976-1983, and underwent a period of intense political repression. This dissertation examines how three Argentine women writers--Edna Pozzi, Martha Gavensky, and Matilde Sanchez--approach the problem of reconstructing history in the aftermath of the military dictatorship from both a feminine and feminist perspective. Three novels published after the return to democratic rule are analyzed: El lento rostro de la inocencia (1983) by Edna Pozzi, Martin o el Juego de la Oca (1986) by Martha Gavensky, and El Dock (1993) by Matilde Sanchez. The purpose of this research is to show how these works, framed as investigative narratives constructed around female absence, constitute gendered histories of the Proceso de Reorganizacion Nacional (Proceso) and the "Dirty War". The conspicuous absence of the central female subject in these novels evokes multiple levels of silence and absenting of the feminine in patriarchal society and the authoritarian state. It is suggested that these endeavor to reinscribe a multiplicity of female experiences into national history, writing against the masculinist historical tradition that has systematically "disappeared" the feminine.