Paper short abstract:

This paper will consider the poetry of Alicia Partnoy as testimonio. She is a survivor of human rights abuses during the Argentine Dirty War and I will consider how she expresses testimony and the ineffability of trauma in the collections "Venganza de la manzana" and "Volando bajito".

Paper long abstract:

Alicia Partnoy is a survivor of kidnapping, unlawful detention and torture in the Argentine Dirty War. After being forced into exile in the USA, she testified about her experiences at the United Nations, Amnesty International and CONADEP (Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas). Partnoy continues to campaign against human rights violations and has been testifying in Argentina at the trials for crimes committed during the dictatorship.

To literary scholars, this writer is perhaps best known for her testimonial narrative in the short stories of "The Little School" / "La Escuelita". My research is focussed on her poetry collections "Venganza de la manzana" (1992) and "Volando bajito" (2005), considering Partnoy's poetry as a writing of resistance against dictatorship and injustice. This paper will seek to demonstrate that her poetry constitutes testimonio, described by Guillermina Walas as 'aquéllo que comunica y hace presente figurativamente las imágenes de un pasado irrevocable, a veces fantasmagórico y terrible que muchos preferirían poder olvidar o que fuera mera ficción, pero que por el contrario estamos en la obligación de reactivar para entender y aprender, para solidarizarnos con nuestros semejantes y emprender alianzas tanto concretas como simbólicas.' I will explore the particular possibilities that poetry offers for the expression of testimony and the ineffability of trauma. I will also analyse how poetic form is used by Partnoy to counteract the loss of voice that her authoritarian captors wished to impose upon her.