In: HeLix - Dossiers zur romanischen Literaturwissenschaft, 5 (2012), pp. 145-162

Abstract

Fictional treatments of the Falklands War tend to subvert the typical “Nationalist Story” ( “el Gran Relato Argentino”) by deconstructing the nationalist myths that serve to create a common identity. By undermining the “epic narrative,” these works question the “war hero” figure, who embodies the country’s values. In place of the war hero, these works present instead rogues and anti-heroes. Carlos Gamerro’s Las Islas, however, goes further, mixing farce in with war drama. In this sense, the novel also formulates the possibility of deconstructing the traditional heroes, the protagonists of the epics, replacing it not with an empty space but with the depiction of a new kind of heroism, one that emerges from the farce and attempts to rewrite the image of the Argentine soldiers that fought in the war.