Abstract
On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910-1999), this article explores his permanent search for new forms of literary self-representation. Throughout his career, the concern to capture life through fiction led Torrente away from the traditional paths of realism, to radical new conceptions of literary representation based on authenticity and subjectivity (as developed in Don Juan and Dafne y ensuenos). His increasing irrationalism resulted in an effort to re-think the limits of verisimilitude and the persuasive power of words. These experiments with truth and fiction are analysed as they appear in several of Torrente writings, especially Yo no soy yo, evidentemente, a parodical homage to Fernando Pessoa.
Highlights
On the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910-1999), this article explores his permanent search for new forms of literary self-representation
Throughout his career, the concern to capture life through fiction led Torrente away from the traditional paths of realism, to radical new conceptions of literary representation based on authenticity and subjectivity
His increasing irrationalism resulted in an effort to re-think the limits of verisimilitude and the persuasive power of words
Summary
Resulta un tópico imprescindible señalar hasta qué punto la prolífica prosa de Torrente Ballester desplegó a lo largo de su zigzagueante carrera unas complicadas relaciones con el realismo y la fantasía. Aquí nos interesarán los que ya habíamos mencionado: Don Juan (1963, que incluimos aquí por ser una excepción al tono de la primera etapa y avanzar todos los grandes temas de la segunda)[9], Fragmentos de Apocalipsis (1977), fantasía clásica más propio de la primera etapa de Torrente; sin embargo debe tenerse en cuenta que dicha obra, por más que no encontrara editor hasta 1983, fue en realidad escrita y ultimada hacia 1950. Como señala Emilie Guyard, la importancia del este libro dentro de la producción de Torrente Ballester no debe ser subestimada pues «en la medida en que Torrente deja de escribir novelas de fantasía después de 1987, podemos legítimamente considerar Yo no soy yo, evidentemente como el último, y por tanto estratégico, elemento de una larga práctica narrativa y reflexiva de la literatura de fantasía por parte del autor»10. «El enigma del Yo en Yo no soy yo, evidentemente», en Carmen Becerra y Emilie Guyard (eds.), Los juegos de la identidad movediza en la obra de Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, op. cit., pp. 113-123, 113
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