La escritura fonoautográfica de Rodolfo Walsh: la grabadora y la disputa por la voz obrera en ¿Quién mató a Rosendo?

Abstract

Most of the literary criticism has pointed out the importance of inscribing the voices of others or giving voice to others in Rodolfo Walsh’s writing. However, the material and technological conditions under which those voices appear in his texts have been scarcely addressed. In this essay I delve into sound studies to explore the uses of the tape recorder in the writing of ¿Quién mató a Rosendo? (1969). I propose the notion of a phonoautographic writing to refer to a textual practice conceived as a transcription of voices. The article analyzes the phonoautographic writing in ¿Quién mató a Rosendo? and explores how the tape recorder allowed Walsh to incorporate and manipulate the voices of his working-class characters. My argument is that Walsh used the tape recorder to register the workers’ voices in order to rearticulate in a personal way the sonic legacy of Peronism in the late 60s, a moment of crisis in the representation of the Argentine labor movement.

Keywords

• Rodolfo Walsh – Argentine Literature – Sound Studies – Tape Recorder – Peronism – Working-class Culture