8 - Cola de lagartija

Summary

Fact and Fiction

Cola de lagartija is quite different from the other novels studied here in the sense that, rather than being purely a work of fiction, it is a work whose central protagonists are based on true historical characters. The identity of these characters and the relationship or play between them and their fictional counterparts will be explored in different parts of this chapter.

The novel, echoing Hay que sonreír, is divided into three sections, and as is the case with the earlier novel, these sections and their titles are crucial to an understanding of the work. I shall therefore outline what I consider to be the main thrust of each section; and follow that with a mainly psychoanalytical reading which, to my mind, proves to be the most fruitful way of approaching this text.

Roman-à-Clef

The terrible violence that reigned in Argentina in the latter part of the 1970s is a theme to which Valenzuela returns constantly from the publication of Aquí pasan cosas raras (1975) [Strange Things Happen Here] onwards. It is a theme of which she said in an interview with Albalú Angel (1984: 5–6):

He tenido una gran conciencia política, una especie de despertar político con mi trabajo: en el momento de la gran violencia en Argentina, cuando empezó la Triple A, y después pasamos a la dictadura militar; y ahí empecé a escribir cosas politizadas, como Aquí pasan cosas raras. Era tan fuerte tan fuerte, que la tenés que hablar … yo creo que las cosas hay que decirlas.

[I developed a political conscience, a kind of political awakening with my work: at the time of great violence in Argentina, when the Triple A started, and later we went on to the military dictatorship; at that point my writing became political, like Aquí pasan cosas raras. It was so, so strong that you had to talk about it … I believe that you have to talk about things].

But while, for example, the theme is approached very much from the point of view of the victims of the violence in the collections of short stories Aquí pasan cosas raras, in Cambio de armas (1982) (Other Weapons), and in the novel Como en la guerra (1977) (He who searches), Cola de lagartija approaches the subject from a different perspective.