José María Arguedas and the Concept of Experience

Abstract

This article analyzes the concept of experience in the work of José María Arguedas, proposing a chronology for a better understanding. Arguedas’s reflection on experience, which started parallel to his literary career at age 27 and accompanied all his future work, defined his intellectual trajectory as a folklorist and ethnologist as well as his explorations on the language of the novel. This article demonstrates that the
conceptual dimension of experience was a key component in the composition of his posthumous novel, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo.