The Concept of Death in the Work of José Marí­a Arguedas and his Relationship to “lo Real Maravilloso”

Abstract

The article examines the vision of death proposed in the work of the Peruvian writer José Marí­a Arguedas, specifically in the analysis of the story “La agoní­a de Rasu-Ñiti” (1962), and its relationship with the approach to “lo real maravilloso”. The methodology of the work consisted in a revision done by various scholars who delved into the topic of the Arguedian aesthetic, that led to the exploration of the mentioned story, proposing a reading that takes into account the literary and cultural aspects of its singular perspective. The structure of the article begs a brief contextualization of the concept of death from the perspective of the Latin American “real maravilloso”. Following must be a focus on the description and exemplification of death in the aforementioned story. It should be noted the intention behind proposing the story in question is to demonstrate it as a arepresentative example of the vision of death in Arguedas”™ narrative. Finally, it is concluded that “La agoní­a de Rasu-Ñiti”, thanks to the perception of death that it exhibits, shows several features that approach Arguedas to the continental movement called “lo Real Maravilloso”.