Arguedas and criticism at the crossroads: the table of power or the power of the table over Todas las Sangres.

Abstract

This article reviews the impact the so-called polemic on José María Arguedas’ novel Todas las sangres [All bloods] (1964) has had in literary criticism about Arguedas’ biography and in the study of his narrative. The debate took place in 1965 at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos with the participation of Arguedas, literary critics, and other intellectuals from the Social Sciences. Christian Fernández argues that literary and cultural criticism has given much weight to this polemic and that this has become an impediment in an adequate interpretation on the life and works of José María Arguedas.