“El violento oficio de escribir”: el uso político de la crónica en las obras de Rodolfo Walsh y Carlos Monsiváis

The relationship between politics and literature has always been problematic and filled with tension. In this study, I explore how the chronicle, a very elusive and hard to define literary genre on the rise in South America, has been used to try to effect a political change or at least have a political effect. I focus specifically on the techniques and literary strategies employed by two Latin American authors, Rodolfo Walsh (1927-1977), from Argentina, and Carlos Monsiváis (1938-2010), from Mexico, in their political chronicles. This thesis is divided into three parts. The introduction is concerned with defining the chronicle, presenting the concept of the political chronicle and establishing a basis for the analysis of the following two chapters. The first chapter examines three political chronicles of Rodolfo Walsh – Operación masacre (1957), Caso Satanowsky (1958) and ¿Quién mató a Rosendo? (1968), which focus on denouncing criminal acts committed by the Argentinean government – and compares Walsh’s intended goals with the actual achievements of the books. The second chapter is centered on Monsiváis’ book of political chronicles Entrada libre: crónicas de la sociedad que se organiza and explores how Monsiváis uses the genre to narrate the creation of democratic movements in Mexico during the 1980s. In the end, it is clear that the chronicle lends itself very well to political messages due to its basis in fact and its flexibility, which both Walsh and Monsiváis use to their advantage