Julián lópez’s Una muchacha muy bella: breaking the Autofictional Pact and re-configuring remembering

Abstract:Previous scholarship has situated Julián López as a member of Argentina’s “second-generation” authors due to the autofictional nature of his novel Una muchacha muy bella (2013). This article proposes to redefine this work in relation to testimonial literature and explore how this fictionalized account of disappearance can overcome several of Beatriz Sarlo’s objections to testimonios. Freed from genre specific expectations, Una muchacha muy bella can help us to understand several critical issues in post-dictatorship Argentina. Considering the notion of “complacency” defined by Michael Lazzara and Andrew Rajca’s ideas about what types of subjects are visible in human rights discourse, I argue that the novel offers a critique of those who have benefited economically as a result of state terror as well as incorporates marginalized characters that go beyond the binary notions of heroes and victims prevalent in “nunca más” rhetoric.