![]() This article explores theoretical-methodological challenges in researching the formation of collective memory in the wake of dictatorship. Oscar Wao thus suggests that in claiming literature’s power to heal the past, we (like Yunior) privilege our own desire for resolution over the lived realities of survivors, for whom the working through of trauma is an ongoing and incomplete process. This graphic counter-narrative illustrates that ending the Trujillato’s hold on Dominicans is impossible-that certain traumas cannot be healed once and for all. Furthermore, by referencing specific comic book series, the artwork accompanying the 2007 Riverhead edition of the novel generates a counter-narrative critiquing Yunior’s project. The novel suggests that in refusing to allow testimony to speak for itself, Yunior (and by extension metatestimonio as a genre) replicates the discursive practices of the regime it denounces. Although Junot Díaz’s narrator Yunior gathers testimony from multiple survivors of the Trujillo regime, he mediates their experiences through his own authorial voice. ![]() Metatestimonio bears figurative witness to historical atrocities and interrogates who is or is not allowed to speak of such events. This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial fiction and of the tendency to overstate literature’s power to heal cultural traumas. This terror, which haunts Dominicans long after the official end of the Trujillato, problematizes both lived experiences and narratives of the nation. The Trujillato, characterized by innumerable episodes of violence, including the massacre of approximately 30,000 Haitians in 1937 to secure the border with Haiti, created an atmosphere of sheer terror. Trujillo shaped his own 'era' by modeling the spirit and identity of the Dominican Republic around his vanity, fantasies of dominion, and obsessions with the notion of a homogenous Dominican nation. – Junot Diaz � In one of her most acclaimed novels, In the Time of the Butterflies, Dominican-American Julia Alvarez explores the Trujillato, the terrible chapter in the history of the Dominican Republic when dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo held absolute power over the country during both his official presidency and unofficial rule that together lasted from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. ![]() And when I write a book or a story, I too am the only one speaking, no matter how I hide myself behind my characters. If it wasn't for our longing for these things, I doubt the novel or the short-story would exist in its current form Just remember: in dictatorships, only one person is really allowed to speak. ![]() We all dream dreams of unity, of purity we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves. ![]()
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