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Abstract
“Rosa, I Disowned You” (2008) and “Disclaimer Intraducible” (2009) complement and extend Alicia Partnoy’s groundbreaking scholarly work on testimonio, serving as points of departure for meta-analysis of the nature of the genre and the constraints that human rights workers, translators, publishers, and readers still impose on survivors’ storytelling.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 An earlier version of this essay appeared in Nance, Ethics of Witness.
2 Partnoy, The Little School, 11–18.
3 Alvarez, “Lesson in Survival,” 9.
4 Lejeune, On Autobiography, 12–14.
5 Taylor, Disappearing Acts, 166.
6 In addition to serving as the title of Partnoy’s story collection, the Little School is also the name she uses for the camp in which she was held.
7 Partnoy, The Little School, 42.
8 Partnoy, The Little School, 41.
9 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 253.
10 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 253.
11 Fludernik, “Introduction,” 290.
12 Dobkowski, “Living For,” 69.
13 Timerman reports on the Argentine junta’s attempts to extend the Holocaust in Prisoner without a Name.
14 Partnoy, The Little School, 61.
15 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 253.
16 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 253.
17 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 253–254. “Since the restoration of democracy in 1983,” Filippini reports, Argentina “offers an important example of the positive results of both domestic efforts and international advocacy to achieve justice for past crimes against humanity. Due to its recent and ongoing success in the prosecution of human rights criminals, it is arguable that Argentina has one of the best records of transitional justice in the world. It has fostered transitional justice developments in the region, and offers critical insights for other communities struggling with the past which are following Argentina’s efforts with deep interest” (“Criminal Prosecutions,” 1).
18 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
19 Partnoy, The Little School, 27.
20 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
21 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
22 In “The Goose Girl,” a princess sets out to a kingdom where she is to be married. As she leaves, her mother, the Queen, cuts her own finger and catches three drops of blood in a handkerchief to serve as a protective talisman for her daughter. On the journey, an evil maid forces the princess to trade places, compelling her to swear an oath not to tell anyone in the royal court her true identity. At this, the drops of blood on the cloth lament that if her mother knew, it would break her heart. When they arrive in court, the maid sends the true princess to herd geese and has her beloved horse beheaded. A servant boy hears the severed head of the horse repeating: “If your mother only knew, her heart would surely break in two.” He informs the King, who circumvents the princess’s oath by having her tell her story not to a person, but to a stove. Listening at the other end of the chimney pipe, the King discovers the crime. He restores the princess to her royal status and metes out justice to the maid. For one version of this traditional tale, see Brothers Grimm, “The Goose Girl.”
23 Partnoy, The Little School, 83.
24 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
25 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
26 Hayakawa et al., “Thinking More.”
27 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254–255.
28 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 255.
29 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 255.
30 Atlas Obscura, “Fearless Girl Statue.”
31 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 255.
32 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 254.
33 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 255.
34 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 255.
35 Biography.com, “Mata Hari Biography.”
36 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 256.
37 Lifton, The Nazi Doctors, 422.
38 Taylor, Disappearing Acts, 170.
39 Taylor, Disappearing Acts, 170–171.
40 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 256. “Ninotchka” may refer to Ninotchka Rosca, a Filipina activist and writer who, like Partnoy, had been a political prisoner. For more about Rosca, see Watson, “Stories of the State.”
41 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 256.
42 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 256.
43 Partnoy, “Rosa, I Disowned You,” 256.
44 Taylor, Disappearing Acts, 171.
45 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16.
46 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16.
47 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16.
48 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16.
49 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16.
50 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 16–17.
51 Qtdin Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 14.
52 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 19.
53 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 19.
54 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 19.
55 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 20.
56 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 20.
57 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 17.
58 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 17.
59 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 17. In Can Literature Promote Justice? I explore the many ways in which testimonio has both challenged academic criticism and been constrained by it, resulting in tensions that would come to a head, though not a resolution, at the end of the twentieth century with the Rigoberta Menchú controversy. Ethics of Witness extends that analysis to twenty-first-century developments in testimonial narrative and criticism.
60 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 20.
61 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 20–21.
62 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 21.
63 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 21.
64 Brothers Grimm, “The Goose Girl.”
65 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 23.
66 Partnoy, “Disclaimer Intraducible,” 23.