Writing Displacement, Demythologizing Violence: Discourses of Violence in Contemporary Colombia and Laura Restrepo’s La multitud errante

Abstract

This article explores and analyses the representation of violence in contemporary Colombian culture. Violence has come to characterize Colombian society since the onset of the current armed conflict, with devastating consequences for its population. Within this context, the following article examines tendencies in contemporary literary representations of violence, with a focus on La multitud errante (2001) by Laura Restrepo, one of Colombia’s foremost writers. It begins with an outline of the origins and evolution of violence in Colombia in the twentieth century, and draws links with the contemporary crisis. It then goes on to explore the ways in which violence in contemporary Colombian society has been narrativized in political, media, and cultural discourses before focusing on Restrepo’s text to reveal a recent shift in cultural representations of violence. Framing the analysis with regard to recent narratological and cultural studies of the discourse of violence, notably those of Sara Cobb, Yeny Serrano, and Juana Suárez, this article argues that Restrepo offers new tools for understanding the origins and impact of Colombia’s now endemic violence. It demonstrates how Restrepo shifts the focus of representation away from a contemporary cultural trend that mythologizes violence and its actors to emphasize the stories of its victims.