prieto mimic stratagems

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Revista de estudios hispnicos, 19:3 (1985:oct.) p.61

RENE PRIETO

Min1etic Stratagen1s: The Unreliable Narratorin Latin An1erican Literature

No narrator or central intelligence or observer is s mply con-vincing: he is convincingly decent or n1ean, brilliant or stupid,inforn1ed, ignorant or n1uddled. Since there are few such quali-ties that even the n1ost tolerant of us can observe in full neutra-lity, we usually find our en1otional and intellectual reactions tohin as a character affecting our reactions to the events he relates.

-Wayne Booth, The Rhetoric o f FictionIN THE TRADITIONAL NOVEL THE AUTHOR MAKESthe reader believe in a fiction which is presented as plausibleby virtue of its portrayal as a coherent systen1 n1in1icking life.The narrator of these novels usually introduces, develops andoften con1n1ents upon the relation of events. He n ay well dis-approve of the run of affairs but, traditionally, he does notdiscredit it. Suggesting that the narrative events are unfoundedwould, it seen1s, obliterate all verisin1ilitude, annul the minlet-ic illusion and challenge the very concept of the novel as anacceptable fiction. And yet, narrative contradiction as wellas the figure of a slippery narrator who brandishes irresolutionas his shibboleth proliferate in conten1porary literature. WayneBooth, for one, feels that the widespread n1argin of indecisionso typical of n1odern prose defines a tendency to n ove closerto life itself than was ever atten1pted by earlier fiction and

Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning CompanyCopyright (c) Washington University


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6 Rene Prietoto leave the reader to choose for hin1self, (to) force hin toface each decision as the hero faces it. 1In Latin An1erica, offering choice to the reader has becon1e

a pet device of the n1any writers who deploy the art of anlbi-guity. In fact, three authors-Jorge Luis Borges, Juan CarlosOnetti and Severo Sarduy- have all but codified a literaryn1ode on the basis of what could well be tern1ed narrative hes-itancy or paradign1atic indecision. 2 Their techniques are sosubversively conceived, n1oreover, that few pause to considertheir n1ost in1n1ediate effect on reader response.To begin with, in works such as Borges' Ten1a del Traidory del Heroe, 3 Juan Carlos Onetti's Para una tumb sin nom-

bre and Severo Sarduy's Cobra 5 verisin1ilitude as well as con-sistency (whether ethical, chronological or spatial) have beenabrogated. In other words, in these transforn1ational worksthe narrative subject is n1ultiforn1 and the strean1 of events anl-biguous or even whin1sical.

If characters and events are not consistent with then1selvesit follows that notions of truth and n in esis ostensibly sen1inalto the art of the novel are being relinquished or at best quali-fied. In fact, to reclain1 and refurbish Coleridge's well knownexpression, we suspend our belief, as well we n1ight, in theface of a discourse which is consistently faltering, of a narratorwho conspicuously discredits the run of events. 6 But suspen-sion of belief should be seen, in this instance, as a liberatingexperience freeing the reader fron1 the blind faith inspired byreliable narrators of n1ore traditional literature. In place oftrust, the critical reader of faltering fiction develops a height-ened awareness of the act of writing. This awareness is in turnan1ply catered to by authors-such as Borges, Onetti and Sarduy-who portray writing as a conspicuous process and invitenew developn1ents in the dynan1ics of literary response.Discussing this dynan1ic Norn1an Holland explains how werelax the n1on1ent we understand that we are dealing with un-reality in a text. It is at this n1on1ent, he argues, that we agreeto suspend our disbelief and in a way to respond to the un-reality as though it were real. 7 But what Borges, Onetti and

Sarduy are doing is exactly the opposite. Their intention isneither to lull nor to relax but rather to actively convince of



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Min1etic Stratagen1s 63the unreliable unreality of a narrative discourse which is inevery way construction, n1anipulation, artifice. And yet it ap-pears that not despite but exactly because of their efforts tosuspend our belief we continue to be n1esn1erized by fictionwhich exacts neither identification nor con1n1itn1ent but ratherfascination with the craft of writing and pleasure in the act ofreading.

Such con1plex and binding attachn1ent to texts which areat best capricious warrants closer study and con1pels us to exan1ine the dynan1ics of this type of literary response. I proposeto look at Borges' short story, Onetti's novella and Sarduy'snovel with the view of detern1ining what n1echanisn1s are usedto set up an unreliable text in which the narrative events areeither retracted, contradicted or even scoffed at by the narratorhin1self. I don't intend this analysis to be an end unto itself,n1oreover, but rather part of a discussion of n1ore fundan1entalconcerns. Since these three authors underscore the fact thatwhat we read is beguiling craft, a literary process and not aportrait of reality, I wish, above all, to suggest reasons for thebinding fascination exerted by their n1essage.A discussion of contradictory events in narrative discoursen1ust focus., unavoidably., on the figure of an unreliable narrator whose fallibility is responsible for the hesitancy of then1essage. In fiction., and by definition, the first person narratorprevaricates while sparking off what Kate Han1burger refersto as das Fingierte, the feigned. 8 According to Han1burger,the concept of the feigned ... designates that place in the systen of literature where the first person narrative is to be found ;this concept., she adds., designates son1ething pretended, in i-tated, son1ething inauthentic and non-genuine, whereas that

of fiction (''das Fictive ) designates the n1ode of being of thatwhich is not real: of illusion, sen1blance, drean1, play. 9Borges, Onetti and Sarduy all conceive their literary alchen y in tern1s of such a first person narrator who highlights fron1the beginning the fact that his tale is son1ething inauthentic,a n1essage in which the reader should not blindly believe. Forexan1ple, the narrator of Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe (asecondary-participant narrator con1parable to Nick Carrawayin Fitzgerald's The Great GatsbJ ) clain1s to in1agine the plot



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64 Rene Prietoof the tale-in-process: he in1aginado este argun1ento, que escribire tal vez (p. 127). However, his knowledge is incon1plete:Faltan porn1enores, rectificaciones, ajustes (p. 127). It is par-adoxical, n1oreover, that Kilpatrick, the protagonist of thisavowedly in1agined tale, should be presented as a historicalfigure: Se aproxin1a la fecha del prin1er centenario de su nluerte (p. 128) and that his existence should be substantiated

through an association with established docun1ents (what Barthes refers to as the Code of Literature and the Code of History ): Io Kilpatrick .. cuyo non1bre ilustra los versos de Browning y de Hugo (p. 127) and later., Kilpatrick ... a sen1ejanzade Moises and, ... tan1bien Julio Cesar .. (p. 128). Nevertheless, as early as the second paragraph., the narrator discreditsthe historic aspects of the tale with a studied arbitrariness: Laacci6n transcurre en un pais oprin1ido y tenaz: Polonia, Irlanda, la republica de Venecia, algun estado sudan1ericano o balcanico ... (p. 127). To confound n1atters even n1ore, after thisstudied arbitrariness the narrative discourse reaffirn1s its ap-pearance of reality with a present participle entered as a correction of the present indicative in the preceding sentence: Laacci6n transcurre en un pais oprin1ido ... the narrator thenrectifies: Ha transcurrido., n1ejor dicho ... {p 127). The textglides, once again, fron1 unconditional subjectivity to historicalconviction.In Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe history counterbalancesfiction, paradox casts doubts on historical fact and the seesaw

of an1biguity is further pron1oted with yet another type of art-ful dodging: a shifting narrator describes a kaleidoscopic pro-tagonist. The reader is first led to believe that the hero of thenarrative is also a traitor: Nolan ejecut6 su tarea: anunci6en pleno conclave que el traidor era el n1isn1o Kilpatrick (p.130). Subsequently, however, it is strongly suggested that thetraitor is also a hero. When conden1ned to die his only requestis that su castigo no perjudicara a la patria (p. 130). He notonly yearns for his own death ( un balazo anhelado entr6 enel pecho del traidor y del heroe (p. 131 )), but n1ay well haveconspired to bring it about in order to galvanize his peopleinto action.There are no certainties in Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe ;



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Min1etic Stratagen1s 65as we attend to narrators who clain1 they don't have all thefacts and to a tale which contradicts itself, we assist in the elaboration of a text-in-process, La acci6n transcurre en un paisoprin1ido y tenaz: Polonia, Irlanda, la republica de Venecia,algun estado sudan1ericano o balcanico .. (p. 127) and further,Digan1os (para con1odidad narrativa) Irlanda; digan1os 1824(p. 127). The tin1e and place of the action are established; however the criterion for establishing then1 has been narrativeconvenience.

In the traditional text, in order to preserve the appearanceof truth, authors hide the seen1ingly unn1otivated choices oftheir narrative topography. Borges reveals then1 and revels inthis revelation. In fact, to reveal is as n1uch the subject of thistale as to conceal. But we should note that what is being revealed- in this instance is how the story was written (i.e., whycertain ethical, then1atic and chronological choices were n1ade).What is being concealed, on the other hand, is what is traditionally revealed-that is to say, the enign1a of the story. Thetruth is that, at the end of Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe,Kilpatrick's role is n1ore an1biguous than ever. Resolution issin1ply not part of Borges' schen1e.

What does play a n1ajor role in this schen1e and is undoubtedly the n1ost original feature of Borges' conception is the interplay between verisin1ilitude and fallibility. Each narrativesegn1ent in Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe is fully credibleand con1plies with the canons of n in etic literature. What n il-itates against our willingness to believe is the fact that eachsegn1ent discredits (by contradicting it) the ones that precedeand follow it. The hero one n1on1ent turns out to be a traitorthe next; the action set in Poland could just as well be set inIreland and occur either al pron1ediar or then again, al enlpezar el siglo XIX (p. 141). Such artful indecision calls intobeing a series of versions and, in1plicitly, gives the reader theillusion of choice.It is this illusion, in fact, which turns out to be the n1ost salient feature in the unreliable narration not only of Borgesbut of Onetti and Sarduy as well.For exan1ple, in Para una tumba sin nombre the action develops as a twisted (and unresolved) tangle of enign1as set forth



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66 Rene Prietoquite unlike the mystery of Ten1a del Traidor y del Heroe.While Borges clearly postulates (without resolving) the enign1aof his story (i.e., is Kilpatrick a traitor or a hero?), Onetti refuses to be explicit about the tin1e, place and characters of hisown for several pages; he introduces the reader to a text in n1idstrean1 and n1akes no explanatory concessions; he avoids prop-er nouns and clear descriptions, substitutes characters for oneanother and freely sprinkles the narrative with co-ordinatingand subordinating conjunctions in order to paint a world inwhich the illusion of choice is cunningly suggested. For exan1-ple, in the first pages of Para una tumb sin nombre the narrator repeatedly uses the vaguest noun in the Spanish language,cosa, joined to a definite article, in order to refer to eventsunknown to the reader: Se nos ofreci6 el privilegio de ver Iacosa desde un principio .. (p. 67) and, es n1ejor, n as arnlonioso, que Ia cosa en1piece de noche ... (p. 67). What the thingalluded to in these quotes n1ight be ren1ains obscure, however.

When after a few pages the veil of an1biguity is deceptivelyren1oved, a first person narrator, the Doctor, opens the doorto a character, Jorge Malabia, who tells his own story. Fron1the start, the dialogic relationship between these two voicessets the stage for the tale as a n1alleable object, available toboth. Jorge tells the Doctor: La historia puedo contarselaen dos o tres n1inutos y entonces usted, sobre ella, construyesu historia y tal vez ... (p. 96). Not surprisingly, what the readerconfronts in the course of this dialogue turns out to be differentversions of one (and therefore not the san1e) tale: Rita, an exnlaid in the Malabia household, walks around the train station in Buenos Aires with a goat tied to a rope, asking passersby for n1oney to reach the house of a fictitious relative. Ritais not sin1ply an object in the tale, n1oreover. She is an activeparticipant capable of forn1ulating her own version of her ownstory and casting with it more than a shadow of a doubt onJorge's fictionalized account of the events as he sees then1, or,n1ore exactly, as he chooses to tell then1. Each teller of talesin Onetti's story produces his own version of Rita's adventurewhile contradicting the fiction of others. All tales in Para unatumb sin nombre conspicuously invented, turn out to be talltales forn1ulated on the basis of the san1e structural elements:



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Min1etic Stratagen1s 67Rita, a goat and a train station. Only the n1anner in which theseelen1ents are arranged along a syntagn1atic chain is entirelycontingent upon he who tells the story. All is relative in Onetti's tale, and the protagonists are distinctly aware of this relativity as Jorge's observation n1akes an1ply evident: Puedoestar equivocado, he suggests, cuando creo que n1i historiaes infinitan1ente n1as in1portante que la historia (p. 96).

To con1plicate n1atters further, Onetti substitutes the characters for one another until the reader loses all track of whodid what to whon1. For exan1ple, Jorge discredits his own storyby suggesting that the won1an in the tale he told was not Ritabut her cousin: No era Rita, he argues., era una pariente., unaprin1a ...otra n1ujer y casi otra historia .. Quiero decir que estan1ujer sin non1bre desplaz6 a Rita, se convirti6 en ella .. (p.121 . Finally orge hin1self, who had been one of Rita's keptn1en, con1pletely identifies with her previous lover: Pero elno era otra cosa; creia ser An1brosio, estoy seguro., el hon1breque invent6 el chivo. Y con1o An1brosio habia vivido n1esesexplotando a Rita ..Jorge tenia que hacer lo n1isn1o vagar yexplotar .. (pp. 137-138).Refurbishing events and substituting characters for one another are n1erely two n1eans to an end-producing an1biguitywhich is fully executed through the use of coordinating andsubordinating conjunctions. By n1eans of then1 Rita's identityis postulated as variable ( Si era an1ante, si nos casan1os ensecreto, si era hern1ana en1putecida (p. 78) as her destiny: ladej6 desnuda en un can1ino., la tiro al rio, le dio una paliza in1-perdonable, o sin1plen1ente desapareci6 ... (p. 91). Such paradign1atic indecision fosters the illusion that the tale we readis son1ething in process of elaboration, an illusion furtheredwhen the narrator in1plies that the events being told are a lastn1inute conundrun1 which he is trying out on the reader. InPara una tumb sin nombre one of the best exan1ples of thistype of newfledged tale evolves as the Doctor reconstructs theevents of Rita and An1brosio's life:

Entonces, en seguida o n1eses despues, apareci6 An1brosio. El perfeccionador entr6 en Ia vida de Ia n1ujer como un candidato, bastante bueno a distancia. U sando con cautela los pocos elen1entos



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68 Rene Prietodisponibles puede ser reconstruido con1o un mozo de corta estatura, robusto, lac6nico, peludo. Puede ser in1aginado n1as que lac6nico .. p. 105).

In this instance, the present tense ( puede ser ) as well as thecoordinating conjunction ( o ) work together to produce afeeling of uncertainty and even confusion in the reader. Butthe Doctor not only forn1ulates the tale fron1 the narrative bitsand pieces he has heard; in addition, and in1n1ediately after,he casts doubts on the probity of his own discourse by n1eansof the in1perfect subjunctive (and its connotation of what n1ighthave been): con1o si persistiera en la afiosa tentativa de crearun idion1a, el unico en que le seria posible expresar las ideasque aun no se le habian ocurrido (p. 05).

One would think that such doubts cast on the story beingtold, such confutation and cunning indecision would forcethe reader if not to reject the different narrative versions, atleast to question then1 and probably to favor one an1ong then1.But this is not the case. Think though he n1ight. the readercannot detern1ine the outcon1e of the tale; the narrator's choiceand our own are in fact illusions. Onetti beguiles by presenting alternatives as though they were available when, in fact,the specious freedon1 in the relation of events is nothing butwile, a series of narrative postures. Not resolving the enign1abut actually offering the illusion of choice becon1es the sub-ject and object of this novella. Deciphering as a n1eans of readerly satisfaction-the ultin1ate resolution-becon1es substituted in this instance for the ever-developing puzzle, for then1ultitude of alternatives presented to the reader as an invitation to participate which is, after all, the n1ost prin1ary pleasure of the text.Pleasure in the process of fiction (in the n1echanics of bothwriting and reading) and not n1erely pleasure in the outcon1eof this process is undeniably one of the things Borges, Onettiand Sarduy are n1ost concerned with. Sarduy, for one, conceives Cobra as a pyran1id of words in which the story line islan1pooned and ultin1ately debunked in favor of the descriptive craftsn1anship, the verbal ornan1ent which becon1es theend of its own n1eans. Fron1 the beginning, this novel develops



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Min1etic Stratagen1s 9as a series of vignettes pilloried by a disapproving narratorwho scoffs at the relation of events and pokes fun at any reader capable of believing it.

On page 17, for exan1ple, we are introduced to an Indiann1ake-up n1an, Eustaquio, quien iba decorando las divas consus arabescos teta por teta ... " But in the following section,under the heading, La escritura es el arte de recrear Ia realidad, the Indian's description, and, by extension" the first ''fiction, are discredited. No ha llegado el artifice hin1alayo, conlo se dijo, alhajadito y pestiferante" sino con un recien plancharlo y viril traje cruzado color cren1a" (p. 17). Yet again, inthe next section, prefaced with No. La escritura es el arte derestituir la Historia, the n1ake-up n1an and Hin1alayan dandyis portrayed in a variety of guises: habia anin1ado una escuela de lucha en Benares .. " (p. 19), and" Fue contrabandistade n1arfil en los rastros judios de Copenhague, Bruselas y Anlsterdanl .. " (p. 20). Later still, we learn that the Senora, oneof the protagonists, habia descubierto al indio entre los vapores de un bafio turco, en los suburbios de Marsella (p. 20).

Not satisfied with n1ere indecision to confound and an1usethe reader, the narrator (and in1plied author) rends asunderthe ren1aining shreds of a rapidly waning n1in1etic illusion toinsult the one character who scoffs at his whin1sicality. Yo(que estoy en el publico): Callese o la sa co del capitulo (p.26), he tells the Senora before proceeding to unriddle the identity of the Indian n1ake-up n1an:

El indio tiene que ser con1o en su prin1era version. Y de hecho asies. iS61o un tarado pudo tragarse la a todas luces ap6crifa historieta del pugilista que, de buenas a prin1eras, aparece en un cuadro flan1enco y renuncia a su fuerza de n1acho de pelo en pechonada n1enos que para encasquetarse un bonete verde y ponerse atraficar florines Van1os hon1bre (pp. 26-27).

Instead of casting doubts on all relations of events as doBorges and Onetti, Sarduy openly approves and sustains oneversion of the n1any offered to the reader: El indio tiene queser con1o en su prin1era version. Y de hecho asi es." However,different though their approach n1ay be in this instance, theirnarrative ain1 turns out to be one and the san1e. All three au-



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70 Rene Prietothors offer a series of in1plied options-later to be disparagedor denied-which con1e to stand on their own as verbal ornanlent, as decoration for its own sake. It is not their concernto reach a conclusion which enlightens the reader. What nlat-ters is to skillfully weave the n1eans to an end which is nevera clarification. The edifice of words which in and of itself holdsthe attention of the reader becon1es a substitute for the exe-gesis; the fan of faltering fiction learns to live without answersand thrive on the questions.

Sarduy, n1ore than any other writer in Latin An1erica, wieldsa seen1ingly gratuitous verbal display which bestows in turnits n1esn1erizing effect upon the suspecting reader. He n1akesadjectives out of proper nouns ( Benvenistina, Lacaniana ),coins words, agglutinates then1 and ladders then1 down thepage in lists which in no way seen to further the then1atic de-velopnlent of his novel.

To the circun1spect reader, however, even such a seen1inglygratuitous display can reveal the keystone of Sarduy's work.All of obra is conceived on the basis of contradictions (suchas life/ death ; yin/ yang ) fron1 which growth unrenlitting-ly results. The fact that contradiction results in evolution ex-plains why neither characters nor events have uniforn1ity. In-stead, the entire narrative developn1ent is conceived as a con-tinum mo ile and all protagonists are portrayed in perpetualtransforn1ation. Not that this evolution brings with it a nega-tion of the previous personae, however. Sarduy transforn1swithout discarding and all incarnations coexist in the pagesof his novel.

Cobra, the protagonist, is a transvestite., a castrato, n1ale,fen1ale, and square root of itself (Pup). She, he, it is portrayedas the star of the Theatre of Living Puppets., as the fifth wheelin a n1otorcycle gang, as a living doll, a corpse., a religious neo-phyte. Taking its inspiration fron1 what Sarduy hin1self hasdescribed as una India de pacotil la, forn1 in this novel illus-trates notions of n1utability and in1pern1anence characteristicof Hindu philosophy. In obra even the linguistic sign is incontinuous transforn1ation., as the nan1e of the Indian nlake-up n1an, Eustaquio, cle rly indicates. The Senora had seenhin1 first in a Turkish bath house in Marseilles. She had been



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Min1etic Stratagen1s 7n1ost in1pressed by his overwheln1ing proportions, which n1adeher think of Ganesha, the elephant god. The sen1antic networkbeing what it is in Sarduy's systen1, the well-endowed charn1sof the Indian protagonist are soon after referred to as a unatron1pa. And when the entire court of the Theatre of LivingPuppets literally succun1bs to his charn1s, the Sefiora exclain1sin despair: Dios n1io-a esta casa la ha perdido Ia tron1pade Eustaquio.Sen1antic an1bivalence typifies not only the narrative eventsin obra but also and above all, the protagonist's own nan1e.(En1ir Rodriguez Monegal has shown how Cobra contains-when seen as an anagran1-a long list of signifieds whichinclude Copenhague, Brussels, An1sterdan1, the sacred snakeof India, a Dutch school of painting and the Spanish verb -brar. )12 But the path Sarduy follows to an1bivalence is verydifferent fron1 the one taken by Borges and Onetti.

In Borges's story the ostensibly on1niscient narrator discredits the narrative events as he forn1ulates a story which hedescribes as incon1plete. The events then1selves (nan1ely Kilpatrick's behavior) at tin1es corroborate and at tin1es contradict the narrator's belief that the hero is really a traitor. If Borges offers two ways to perceive narrative events, Onetti oneups hin by presenting three versions of one t l e ~ furthern1ore,neither fiction is sustained and no efforts are n1ade to convincethe reader. Finally, in Cobra, equivocation and an1bivalenceresult fron1 the plurivalence of words and the Protean natureof the characters. The narrator in Sarduy's novel does n1akechoices (as in the case of Eustaquio's identity, for exan1ple)but these are shown to be as durable as Cobra's perpetuallyevolving sex. In fact, as we reach the conclusion of this novel,the protagonist has evolved through so n1any n1ishaps andtransforn1ations that Sarduy has n1ore than n1ade his point:reading is an ongoing process and the pleasure it provides isnot only contingent upon enlightenn1ent or clarification butalso, and just as n1uch, on fluctuation and variety. As untriedas this narrative principle n ay seen to son1e, it should be notedthat the notion of transforn1ation which is the traden1ark ofSarduy's novels hinges on the very elen1ents of revelation andsurprise which readers expect fron1 the conclusion of n1ore



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72 Rene Prietotraditional fiction. The difference is that in n1ore conventionalworks revelation is used to clarify whereas Sarduy en1ploysit to startle and an1use. It is a fact, nonetheless, that works ofboth types fran1e their appeal and shape their response on thebasis of the san1e n1echanisn1s, differently deployed. Sarduy.,Borges and Onetti are also aware that, today, what is beingtold is not half as in1portant as the n1anner in which it is writ-ten: the n1ediun1 is the n1essage and the ongoing indecision oftheirs engages the reader in a dynan1ic process in which beingstartled throughout takes the place of a revelatory finale.Clearly, unreliable narration does not signal the den1ise ofthe conclusion as revelation. It does offer an alternative which,by virtue of its originality, den1ands different attitudes fron1the reader. Borges, Onetti and Sarduy open our eyes to theprocess of fiction without ever disclosing the nature of theirn1ystery as they parcel out throughout the text the elen1entof surprise conventionally reserved for the ending. Insteadof gullible consun1ers, their readers are artfully transforn1edinto critical participants., given the illusion of choice, taughtto question and becon1e., in every way, n1inisters of their owninspiration.Southern Methodist UniversityDallas Texas

NOTES1 Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric ofFiction (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago

Press, 1961 , p. 293.2 Throughout this article I use paradign1atic in the sense Hjeln1slev

gives to the tern1, that is, belonging to the axis of selection rather than tothat of con1bination, the syntagn1atic axis.

3 Jorge Luis Borges, Ten1a del traidor y del heroe in Ficciones (Bue-nos Aires: En1ece Editores, 1956). All subsequent parenthetical page refer-ences are to this edition.4. Juan Carlos Onetti, Para una tumb sin nombre (Barcelona: Edi-torial Seix Barral, S.A., 1980). All subsequent parenthetical page referencesare to this edition.

5 Severo Sarduy, Cobra (Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudan1ericana, 1972).All subsequent parenthetical page nun1bers are to this edition.

Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning CompanyCopyright (c) Washing ton University


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Min1etic Stratagen1s 736 I an1 referring here to Coleridge's observation about the willing sus

pension of disbelief' experienced by any reader of fiction. One of the criticsto discuss it, N orn1an Holland, argues that we do not reality-test in fiction as we do in everyday life because we have ceased to feel we are sepa-rate fron1 external reality and, ''to son1e extent, we fuse with the literarywork. Norn1an N. Holland, The Dynamics o.f Literary Response (NewYork: W.W. Norton and Con1pany. Inc . 1975), p. 80.

7 Holland, p. 68.8 Kate Han1burger, The Logic o.f Literature trans. Marilyn J. Rose

(Bloon1ington: Indiana University Press. 1973). p 313.9 Han1burger, p. 313.10. These are two of the cultural codes which Barthes includes under

the heading Voix de la Science and uses to elucidate the narrative con1-plexity of Balzac's short story, Sarrasine. Roland Barthes, Z (Paris:Editions du Seuil, 1970).

11 On pages 48-9, for exan1ple.12. En1ir Rodriguez MonegaL Las n1etan1orfosis del texto in Severo

Sarduy (Madrid: Editorial Fundan1entos. 1976).

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