Performing the Family Portrait in Marcelo Bertuccio's Señora, esposa, niña y j oven desde lejos

Abstract

Marcelo Bertuccio's play Senora, esposa, nina y joven desde lejos (1998) offers a glimpse at unwieldy memory politics in postdictatorial Argentina through a somber portrayal of family relationships and intergenerational transmission fifteen years after the end of the last dictatorship (1976-1983). The playwright shifts perspective to a new generation to investigate competing memory discourses and the diverse modes of representation that have evolved to express the legacy of disappearance in the national imaginary since the end of the dictatorship. This article borrows from theory on photography, memory studies, and human rights to analyze the effects of unresolved mourning on notions of family identity in postdictatorial Argentina. (BW)