El retorno de lo excluido. La construcción de Juan Moreira como héroe popular en la literatura argentina.

Although Eduardo Gutiérrez's folletin of Juan Moreira (1879–1880) was crucial in establishing the gaucho as an icon of popular opposition to state violence and of popular demands for inclusion, the popular nature of Juan Moreira himself remains a matter of debate. This article examines two different positions regarding the literary construction of social and cultural memory of Juan Moreira as a popular hero. It goes on to analyse the crystallization of the gaucho as a figure with the right to clash with the legality that excludes him. Lastly, as the return of those who were excluded would force a rearticulation of social relations, the article proposes that the essential structure of gauchesca literature – the story of the harassed gaucho who confronts the pólice – would return in Argentinean culture were it ever necessary to press the opening of new social horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]