Reading Lezama's «Paradiso»

ISBN-13: 9783039107513 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 290 str.

Canaparo, Claudio

Opis

This book focuses on the novel Paradiso of Cuban author Jose Lezama Lima (1910-1976), and in particular on the protagonist Jose Cemi. It examines the development of Cemi according to the three distinct phases detailed by Lezama: the placentario world of family protection, the awakening to the exterior world and the subsequent friendships made, and the eventual encounters with Oppiano Licario. Cemi s progression, and his growing ability to interpret and create texts, is analysed as analogous to the reader s progression through the novel. In this respect, both the reader and Cemi are obliged to interpret the complex symbolism according to interpretative skills acquired from the text itself. In a similar fashion, the connection between Cemi s guide Licario, and the author Lezama is investigated. By exploring these connections between reader and protagonist, author and character, the author of this work suggests a radical and hitherto unexplored approach to the text of Lezama."

Recenzje

«Rowlandson's 'Reading Lezama's 'Paradiso'' will make an excellent companion to readers approaching this great Cuban novel for the first time and will furnish veteran readers of Lezama with rich readings of some passages that previous critics have largely overlooked.» (Gustavo Pellón, Bulletin of Spanish Studies)

Spis treści

Contents: The archetypal child of Lezama's text - 'El Tío Alberto' - Homosexuality and the trio of friends - 'Los agrupamientos de Cemí': perception and creation - Chapter XII of Paradiso: Cemí's first act of poetic creation - The creation of language: the creation of reality - El encuentro con Licario - 'La caída de Licario - la caída del Ícaro' - The funeral night of Licario - the cyclical nature of Paradiso.

O autorze

The Author: William Rowlandson is lecturer of Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He has published articles on Borges, Lezama Lima, Cabrera Infante, and Juan Rulfo. He is also a literary translator.