Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Richard M. Reeve

Source: Hispania, Vol. 49, No. 2 (May, 1966), p. 355
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/337180 .
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 BooKSOFTHEHisPANIC
WoRLD
atravesando por el coloniaje espafiol, Ilega hasta
la 6poca republicana. En sus veinte capitulos
subraya elementos destacados de la historia y de
la tradici6n ecuatorianas.
Humberto Mata, como algunos de los escritores
azuayos, es int6rprete de la poesia quechua.
Traduce el canto indio que surge del alma de la
raza, y al evocar a los hTroes Tuipac Amaru y
Caupolicin, unifica la epopeya americana con
las figuras miximas de su patria: Rumifiahui y
Daquilema.
Ademis de ser la poesia el medio mis apropria-
do para la expresi6n de los sentimientos mis pro-
fundos de la raza y de la cultura de los pueblos,
desde los primeros tiempos tiene una funci6n
social. Los primitivos himnos y cantos servian
para luchar contra las enfermedades y la muerte;
las manifestaciones de protesta social de nuestra
epoca tratan de poner en claro los males que
adolecen las estructuras socio-econ6micas vigentes,
valiendose de la poesia.
En Llactayuyay, el verso se vuelve voz de
denuncia de los elementos negativos del coloniaje
y de la conquista, de los factores antag6nicos
ue se prolongan sobre las estructuras nacionales
e base indoespafiola. En tono menor, sus pala-
bras son un canto de aliento para el espiritu
rebelde del indio que, pese a lo que generalmente
se cree, mantiene su caracter indomable y se
halla en marcha hacia le reivindicaci6n de sus
derechos.
Nos decia un critico, al referirse a CUsar
Vallejo y su poesia: "Debajo de su piel obscura
y seca, debajo de su tristeza y hermetismo, el
hombre aut6ctono estai librando una batalla, y
esa batalla de cuatro siglos, esa lucha del indio
y del conquistador representa el contenido dra-
mitico y dialectico de nuestra America." Este es
el contenido de la epopeya nacional que Mata la
evoca en su canto despojado de lirismo, desnudo
y tragico. La naturaleza no toma parte, son el
blanco y el indio que se encuentran en un pro-
longado campo de lucha.
OFELIAFiLIx ANDERSON
George Washington Univ.
FUENTES,CARLOS,Aura. Mexico: Alacena, 1964.
Paper. 60 pp. +- 6 plates.
Admirers of Mexico's Carlos Fuentes will be
pleased to see that Fuentes' novelette, Aura, is
now in its second edition and once more avail-
able to the North American reading public.
Aura, when first published in 1962, was favor-
ably received by the critics, but was shortly
pushed aside by the overwhelming success of
La muerte de Artemio Cruz which appeared
soon afterwards. Many critics still consider
Aura to be Fuentes' best work to date and this
reviewer is of the opinion that it deserves much
more attention than it has hitherto received.
The word aura conjures up a variety of images.
According to the dictionary it is: a gentle breeze,
favour, applause, popularity, (med.) epileptic,
or a kind of culture. This vagueness harmonizes
successfully with the sinister, nightmarish at-
355
mosphere which closes in upon the reader as the
story progresses. A young impoverished history
teacher answers a want ad placed by the widow
of one of Emperor Maximilian's generals. She is
now 109 years old and wants the general's
memoirs prepared for publication before her
death. The historian agrees to live in the same
house and prepare the manuscript, partially be-
cause of his need for money, but also because
of Aura, the beautiful niece of the widow. As
the days pass, the narrator falls in love with
Aura, who returns his affection. He tries to
persuade her to escape with him from these
depressing surroundings only to discover; to his
abject horror, that Aura does not exist, but is
really the old widow, who by the sheer force
of her will has brought back her youth. Her
last words to him as they embrace are, "Volverd,
Felipe, la traeremos juntos. Deja que recupere
fuerzas y la hare regresar."
Fuentes employs a variety of devices to
describe the strange oppressive atmosphere which
pervades the whole work, a curious combination
of a love and a horror story. Luis Agiiero put it
well when he called Aura a story that Edgar
Allan Poe forgot to write. In all the descriptions
one can witness the sure hand of Carlos Fuentes
in his careful attention to detail. But probably
the stylistic feature which proves most astonish-
ing to the reader is the substitution of the second
person singular for the usual third or first per-
son as the narrative agent: "Lees el anuncio,"
"Recoges tu portafolio," "tui vuelves a dudar de
tus sentidos," "Te pones la camisa." The author's
intent is apparent; the reader and the narrator are
assimilated into one t&i.The reader is not a pas-
sive observer, but a participant. Thus he thinks,
"I read the want ad," "I pick up my briefcase,"
etc. It is difficult to determine precisely Fuentes'
inspiration for this device; however, he must have
been acquainted with the writers of the French
"new novel" often called the "Midnight novel-
ists." One of its members, Michel Butor, used
the vous narrator in his novel La modification
(1957).
Aura differs considerably from Fuentes' three
novels in its lack of social implications and its
greater unity. It is closely related to the stories
of fantasy in his first book, Los dias enmasca-
rados (1954). This unusual novelette is addi-
tional evience to support the claim that Carlos
Fuentes is Mexico's most important young
writer.
Univ. of Illinois RICHARDM. REEVE
ALVAREZ HERNANDEZ, DITINO, S. J., Cartas de
Ruben Dario (Epistolario inddito del poeta con
sus amigos espafioles). Madrid: Taurus Edi-
ciones, 1963. Paper. 238 pp. $3.
Two books of a similar nature concerning the
great poet have preceded this one, Ghiraldo's
El archivo de Ruben Dario and Antonio Oliver's
Este otro Ruben Dario. Undoubtedly this will
not be the last for the materials in the Seminario-
Archivo Rubdn Dario provide many areas for