Dangerous fictions. An Award-Winning story and its consequences for Uruguay during the goverment of Bordaberry: "El Guardaespaldas" by Nelson Marra

Abstract

This article analyzes, in relation to its production context, the short story El guardaespaldas by Nelson Marra published in 1974 in the section Literarias of the prestigious Weekly Newspaper Marcha of Montevideo. The Uruguayan dictatorship used the dissemination of this work as an excuse to censor that publication. The first part of this article focuses on analyzing and describing the context in which the story was published, and the consequences of that action. The second part analyzes in depth the content of El guardaespaldas and relates it to the historical events on which Marra was based on to write it. It is concluded that its publication was used as an excuse by the de facto government to censor an opposition publication, and that this action had deep effects both for Marra and for the members of Marcha and other Uruguayan media.