Being and belonging. Trajectory management in Ricardo Palma

We consider discourse as practice in an attempt to understand/explain some characteristics of R. Palma's Tradiciones peruanas (Peruvian Traditions) from a perspective that brings the social agent back by constructing the place in which it originates and pointing out the active role it fulfils by means of what we call "the agent's competence and trajectory management". Emerging from an adverse and marginalizing background, Palma administers his resources, fundamentally his education and his convinient relationships with those who hold power. He inscribes his production where history and literature intersect; however, he defends the historical validity of his Traditions at the same time his prestige growths, while as criticism worsens, he highlights his popular origin and his links with fiction. As he lacks specific qualities that add to his reputation in the presence of specialist peers, he attempts resources which could enable him to capture the acceptance of non-specialist readers.