The Visual and the Sonorous Metaphors as Aesthetic Expressions of Disappearance and Death in the Colombian Novel

Abstract

This article proposes to review, in a corpus of recently published Colombian novels, the writing strategies that give density and meaning to allegorical characters of those killed and disappeared by the Colombian political violence. The inquiry is in particular, about the sound and visual metaphors in order to trace the innovation of literary language when making visible, with a clear ethical intention, the fateful reality of the Colombian society. In direct dialogue with critical studies related to our central theme, we seek to understand the latent concern in the novels about the treatment of pain and the dignity of those who have fallen under the weight of terror. The review and comparison between the customary aesthetic forms and those proposed by the novelists we are concerned with in this article reveals an aesthetic shift in the way the intangible consequences of the conflict are signified. It is now the "metaphors of the vanquished" that take on greater proportion in the writing. The suffering character becomes a symbol of a change in the everyday imaginary of traditional political forms and ideals of nationhood. Likewise, the literary view of the national past and present tests our understanding of the country's history, as well as questioning the sensibility of the contemporary subject increasingly accustomed to expressions of atrocious violence.