Latrines, Whirlpools, and Voids: The Metafictional Mode of Juan sin tierra

Abstract

A recent development in literature is the direct influence of theory on the creative artists. Traditionally, theory has followed art. Critics have tended to develop and modify their poetics as a reaction to new artistic techniques that have rendered infecund the previous school of criticism. With the influence of linguistics on literary theory, however, the relationship between theory and practice has, in some cases, been reversed; the creative works have become direct applications of the poetics of structuralism, semiotics, and deconstruction. One of the clearest examples in Spanish literature of the direct influence of the new criticism on the creative work is Juan Goytisolo's latest novel, Juan sin Tierra.