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Translating a Son of Shining Path

Quick Summary

  • 闯辞蝉茅 Carlos 础驳眉别谤辞鈥檚 Los Rendidos in English for the first time
  • This was no easy task for Michael J. Lazzara and Charles F. Walker
  • Ag眉ero writes at once as a historian, human rights activist, child
Book cover and two headshots
Editors and translators: Michael J. Lazzara, left, and Charles F. Walker.
  • The Surrendered: Reflections by a Son of Shining Path
  • By 闯辞蝉茅 Carlos Ag眉ero; edited and translated by 嘿嘿视频 faculty members Michael J. Lazzara, professor of Latin American literature and cultural studies, and Charles F. Walker, professor of history
  • The book includes a glossary and timeline, plus the editors' interview with the author

嘿嘿视频鈥 Michael J. Lazzara and Charles F. Walker offer the first English translation of 闯辞蝉茅 Carlos 础驳眉别谤辞鈥檚 Los Rendidos, published in Spanish in 2015, a bestseller that contributed to renewed discussion of Peru鈥檚 鈥渋nternal armed conflict鈥 between the Shining Path and the government, 1980-2000.

He writes as the son of parents who, while he was growing up, fought for the Shining Path and, as a result, eventually were imprisoned and executed.

鈥淎 historian and anthropologist by training and also a gifted poet, 闯辞蝉茅 Carlos has spent much of his life exploring why his mother and father supported this hard-line Maoist party and how we are to understand or approach issues such as violence, guilt, forgiveness and memory,鈥 Lazzara and Walker wrote in their introduction.

Los Rendidos and a 2012 memoir by Lurgio Gavil谩n S谩nchez, who had been a child soldier, 鈥渃ontributed to wide-ranging discussions in Peru about the Shining Path movement, the role of children in the war, and much more.鈥

鈥淣ot everyone, however, received 础驳眉别谤辞鈥檚 book with sympathy or enthusiasm,鈥 Lazzara and Walker wrote. 鈥淗e has frequently been called a terrorist in print and on television.鈥

Supporters of Shining Path have also been critical, according to Lazzara and Walker, who cited a Shining Path author, Miguel Qorawa, who called Los rendidos part of a mission to 鈥渃onfirm the official story of the internal war ... to corroborate the state鈥檚 version.鈥

The book, however, does just the opposite, Lazzara and Walker wrote. 鈥淕iven the conflicting perspectives and controversies that surround Ag眉ero, it鈥檚 abundantly clear that what happened during the war and how those events should be remembered and interpreted are still hot-button issues in Peru.鈥

Translating the book was no easy task, Lazzara and Walker wrote. 鈥淭he author intentionally speaks in a fragmented way, fueled by doubt more than certainty. ... The register of his voice shifts constantly: He speaks at once as a historian, as a human rights activist, as someone who worked for the truth commission, and as a child who played a role in some of Shining Path鈥檚 operations.

鈥淭hrough it all, the I struggles to appear on the page, to know itself, to write an identity.


The 嘿嘿视频 Books Blog, a project of News and Media Relations, announces newly published books by faculty and staff authors, and also includes posts about book-related events around campus. Contact the books blog by email.

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