What are we going to write about now that there is no war?

Memory and oblivion in Hector Abad Faciolince’s work

Abstract

Based on the description of the official speech in regards to the memory/oblivion continuum concepts and their role in the re-constitution of the past, this paper reviews the part played by the Colombian literature since the period known as The Violence (La Violencia) to present times. It highlights the literary texts created after the Pact of the National Front (Frente Nacional) together with some contemporary ones and it analyzes some excerpts of the novels “Forgotten we’ll be” (El olvido que seremos, 2006) y “Treasons of memory” (Traiciones de la memoria, 2009) by the Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince. Finally, concerning this new historical phase known as “post-conflict”, and based on the acknowledgement of the vulnerability of the memory and the restitutive capacity of the oblivion, this paper proposes an aesthetic of memory as an alternative way to comprehend the Colombian violence.