An Event without Witnesses: Memory and Trauma in Juan Gabriel Vásquez's Las reputaciones

Abstract

Las reputaciones (2013), by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, narrates the sexual abuse of a girl. Unlike some critics, this essay highlights the centrality of this child abuse and other intertextual elements as essential for the understanding of the novel. Based on studies on trauma and memory, I argue that this event of child abuse is a traumatic one without witnesses because of the girl's inability to witness to herself, her fragmented memories, and the silence surrounding the event. Thus, Las reputaciones invites a profound reflection on things forgotten, trauma, memory, and silence.