Vilma Victoria Arguedas Ponce: A truth in the life of José María Arguedas and a revealing collection of letters

Abstract

In the mid-1990s, Vilma Victoria Arguedas Ponce publicly revealed that her biological father was the prominent novelist and intellectual José María Arguedas. Despite the disbelief and skepticism of many, the revelation substantially altered notions explaining the unique and complex personality of our most outstanding indigenist writer; notions hitherto accepted as certainties. The disclosure was supported by, among other documents, forty-nine hand-written letters from Jose María Arguedas to Vilma Catalina Ponce Martínez. The letters attest to their long relationship in the Andean village of Apata, Valley of Mantaro, and to the birth of their daughter. The present work is an approach to the content of the collection of letters, and has a dual purpose: first, to establish a basis for updating the biography of José María Arguedas, considering the important and previously unknown revelation; and second, to offer an initial analysis of some of the most relevant themes in the collection.