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To Tell the Story John Beverley Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth. U of Minnesota P $18.95
Reviewed by Hugh Hazelton
Testimonial writing is a relatively new genre that has had an enormous impact on the definition and meaning of literature in Latin America during the past several decades, and John Beverley is one of its clearest and most succinct proponents. This collection of four essays, the first of which was originally published in 1989 and the last in 2001, works toward a definition of testimonial writing and offers an overview of the genre, searching for its roots in Latin American and other literatures. It also delves into a detailed discussion and analysis of probably the best-known testimonial work to date, I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman of Guatemala. Together with other specialists in Latin American literature such as Elzbieta Sklodowska and Doris Sommers, Beverley, who teaches Hispanic literature at...