Disclaimer Intraducible: My Life / Is Based / on a Real Story

The title poem showcases the tensions between the need of survivors to tell our life stories, and the constraints exercised by publishers, translators, scholars, and human rights professionals. Since the killing spree is over in Argentina, I can afford to problematize the process of disseminating our testimonial texts. I will then argue against two common assumptions: that intellectuals give voice to those who do not have one, and that truth should be the central concern for survivors when engaging in the production of testimonial texts. Nurtured by scholars and writers, and comforting to the society at large, both premises can dis-empower survivors while claiming the opposite effect. Through the mirage set by the title poem, I seek to illustrate Gail Wronsky’s assertion that, contrary to Robert Frost’s words, what often gets lost in translation is not poetry, but politics. In the case of highly politicized texts such as testimonios, the risks are magnified. I will conclude by discussing two potentially empowering strategies: a call to an affirmative action position with regards to survivors, and a proposal to continue engaging in alternative forms of research and action that I call co/labor/actions.