Testimony and Autofiction in Dead Girls

Abstract

In the 80s, along with the return to democracy in Argentina, news of some femicides began to be heard. Sometime later, writer Selva Almada will investigate these murders and publish Dead Girls, in 2014, a story that deals not only with violence against women, but also about of social deafness, indifference, and trivialization of these crimes. However, despite this highly controversial theme, whether due to the representation of violence or its naturalization, the writing used manifests a moderate tone. That is, it remains outside of a rhetoric of denunciation or accusation. In light of this, the present study analyzes this meek tone of the work, as a resource and strategy to approach a space from which a solution against gender aggressions could emerge. In other words, an approach to women. For this purpose, reflections from the field of testimonial literature will be used, according to cultural studies (Sklodowska), autofiction (Colonna, Arfuch), and violence against women (Segato).