Stollwerk or Bulwark
David Meets Goliath and the Continuation of the Testimonio Debate
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4500826 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Georg M Gugelberger (University of California, Riverside, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 47-52 |
| Publication date | 1999-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Latin American Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0094582x9902600605 |
| OpenAlex | W2095450444 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 3 |
I began gingerly feeling my way into1 David Stoll's Rigoberta Menchu' and the Story ofAll Poor Guatemalans (1998) after having read an excerpt in the literary journal Brick (Stoll, 1997), responses to it, and the by now (in)famous piece in the New York Times (Rohter, 1998) and others, the most recent probably being the one in The Nation (Grandin and Goldman, 1999). When I finally received a copy of the book I attempted an Arabic reading of it, from the bibliography to the beginning. At first I was impressed by the bibliography, but it was quickly revealed as a catalogue of substantial lacunae: Stoll does list my recent book on the testimonio debate, The Real Thing: Testimonial Discourse and Latin America (1996), for instance, but all too soon it becomes apparent that he is familiar only with the collection's earlier essays. He indicates almost complete lack of awareness of the critical discussions of the third testimonio phase (represented by Alberto Morairas, Gareth Williams, Jorge Sanjines, and others). One can easily draw the conclusion that Stoll is resistant to literary theory despite contemporary anthropology's increasing dependence on it. He lists the Latin American Perspectives issue on testimonio, Voices of the Voiceless, but unfortunately overlooks its second part, with its brief yet emotional piece by a student whose response to a reading of Rigoberta Menchu's testimonio indicates the enormous power of this literary text. Regrettably, it is this kind of response that from now on will be less likely because of Stoll's intervention. Most of the essays in the special issue of Revista de Critica Literaria Latinoamericana (1992) are also not cited, although the issue as such is properly listed. What good, one may ask, is a bibliography when the text indicates that the compiler has obviously not read the books included in it? These lacunae are quite telling, for through them it becomes obvious that the academic who attacks the scholarship of others regarding the con
Art · Art history · Epistemology · Feeling · Latin Americans · Linguistics · Literature · Power (physics) · Reading (process) · Testimonial · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Latin American Literature Studies · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2025 (21) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |