El testimonio de las cosas: la migración andina en Hombres de mar, de Óscar Colchado Lucio

Abstract

This articles highlights the political project present in the construction of the current Andean narrative of Peru, which, in addition to establishing a constant dialogue with tradition, points to the always tensional and traumatic encounter between the Andes and the West. Around the 1980s, a group of Andean writers has assumed this socialcultural role based on their migrant status, with productions that recreate scenarios, characters, themes, languages, visions and positions of such dynamic horizon. This is the case of Óscar Colchado Lucio, short story writer and novelist in the Peruvian Andes. His work Hombres de mar, a narrative that thematizes Andean migration and fishing exploitation in Chimbote, in the 1970s, is the basis for the relections below. In his extensive novel, Colchado Lucio manages complex universes, such as union activity, prostitution, political moves, student experienceand drug trafficking, among others. However, the narrative basis is not only supported by the historical- social context , but also by the relationships established in a chaotic enviromment. In this scenario, many Quechua-speaking migrants from the sierra demonstrate their slow appropriation of the Spanish language and of the urban center.