THE DIARY GENRE AND NATIONAL LITERATURE IN JULIO RAMÓN RIBEYRO’S LA TENTACIÓN DEL FRACASO

Berrocal K.C. · Metafora (2026) · DOI: 10.36286/mrlad.v3i6.280

Resumen

This article analyzes Julio Ramón Ribeyro’s published diary, La tentación del fracaso (1992-1995), as a singular intervention in Peruvian literature. The central hypothesis of this text is that Ribeyro’s recognition of a void in the diary tradition allows him to occupy a vacant position in Peruvian literature: that of the diarist. Therefore, he turns to the tradition of the modern diary to find certain models, styles, and forms of self-representation that allow him to draw parallels or differences. In a literary field where the novel was the consecratory genre for a Latin American writer in the 1960s and 70s, Ribeyro finds in the diary a distinct and unique avenue of exploration, in which he also thematizes his failed attempts at other genres (novel, autobiography). For this analysis, I will primarily draw on Alberto Giordano’s concept of the writer’s diary, which allows me to connect the act of publishing the diary with the relationship between life and literary context. This will be complemented by Roland Barthes’s ideas on transforming the diary into a work of art, a significant concern for Ribeyro. To delve deeper into the discussions of the period, I will also draw on Claudia Gilman’s ideas about the novel in the 1960s and 70s, among other authors. In this way, we will see how Ribeyro emerges as a voracious reader of diaries and becomes a diarist himself.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos