The Ideological Evolution of Rodolfo Walsh through Operación Masacre’s Editions

Abstract

This paper is divided into two sections; in the first, the use of two genres –originally foreign to canonical literature– is analyzed in the novel Operación Masacre (1957) by the Argentine writer Rodolfo Walsh: the so-called “non-fiction” and the police genre. The denunciation project based on its production context –Argentina after Revolución Libertadora (1955)– conditions the use of these genres due to their suitability to link fiction and political reality. But the complaint does not stay the same throughout the different editions of the book, the evolution of which is in line with other socio-political changes in the country. Specifically, the approach of the left to Peronism generates an attraction in intellectuals who, like Walsh, see in Perón’s doctrine a political resistance against the injustices of the State. For this reason, in the second part of the work, this evolution is examined in Operación Masacre’s paratexts since they reveal Walsh’s approach to Peronism and give a new meaning to the denunciation of his novel.

Keywords

• operación masacre
• rodolfo walsh
• género policial
• no ficción
• peronismo