In War and in Peace: Representations of Men of Violence in Salvadoran Literature

Abstract

Since Martínez’ coup (1931) Salvadoran history has been marked by extreme violence, mostly been perpetrated by men, local and foreign. And if with the end of the Civil War (1980–1992) hope was raised that a peaceful future lay ahead, reality has turned out to be different: not only has violence continued to blight the nation's life but it often appears even more senseless than before. Not surprisingly, then, portrayals of men of violence are central to the work of many Salvadoran writers. Drawing on the work of two leading writers, this paper examines how, in novels written and published during and after the Civil War, respectively, each depicts particular types of the ‘men of violence’ who have terrorized the nation for so long. Who are these men, where do they come from, what motivates them? These are the kind of questions the authors ask, but are there any obvious answers to be found? As a secondary objective, the paper seeks to assess the extent to which Connell's influential concept of hegemonic masculinity can be imported discursively from the social sciences to help us understand the issues involved.