The Intellectual’s Criminal Discourse in Our Lady of the Assassins by Fernando Vallejo

Abstract

A new narrative genre has emerged on the Colombian literary scene, one comprised of novels portraying the violence that, like a shadow, accompanies the production and traffic of drugs. Some critics have baptized the genre as sicaresca, while others prefer the term narcorrealismo.1 The common thread among these novels is the exploration of the violence committed by sicarios, or killers for hire, who were initially recruited by drug traffickers as a weapon and shield against government judicial forces and who soon became common currency within reach of all who were able to purchase the physical elimination of other individuals. This new genre includes works such as La virgen de los sicarios (1994) by Fernando Vallejo, Rosario Tijeras (1999) by Jorge Franco, Hijos de la Nieve (2000) by Jose Libardo Porras, Sangre ajena (2000) by Arturo Alape, and Gustavo Alvarez Gardeazabal's Comandante Paraiso (2002), to name a few recent titles. In spite of the diverse topics and techniques explored in these works, what they do have in common is the examination of a disarticulated national community resulting from violence.2 Predictably, the ' ' sicaresca has elicited diverse responses from literary critics as well as the public. On one end of the spectrum, many have celebrated its realistic portrayal of a unique and

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