(review)

Abstract

MLR, 96. , 200I MLR, 96. , 200I by stating the several genres Borges uses, and also deconstructs, in his narrative. Those genres are, according to Alvarez, the essay, the book review, and neofantasticliteraturein general. He followsthisbriefsummarywith an overviewof the main components of the narrativediscoursein the two collections, Ficciones and El Aleph.Rather than repeat previous analysis, this time around Alvarez first defines the discursive strategy under scrutiny such as, for example, the 'narratorialidad homodiegetica' or 'heterodiegetica'(p. 208), or the 'omnisciencia e inconfiabilidad narratorial'(p. 209), in orderto considerits presence in the differentstories.In this fashion Alvarez finds, among other discursive strategies: the genre the stories appropriate;the role of the author; his foreknowledge and omniscience, or lack thereof;the severaldifferentlevels of the narrativediscourse(previouslydefined in the introduction as 'prediegesis', 'prodiegesis', 'diegesis', 'metadiegesis', 'metametadiegesis ', 'posdiegesis', and 'subtextos' (pp. 6-8)); the relations between discourse and plot ('sincroniay cronotopia narrativas'(p. 2I2)); the metafiction; the deconstruction of the stories; the inter- and intra-textuality;the 'metalepsis', 'analepsis'and 'prolepsis';the role of the reader;the film techniques;and the topic of travelin time. With regard to the plot or 'historia' of the stories, in his conclusion Alvarez definestwo thematicgroups. One is relatedto the metafictionalitygeneratedby the self-referentialcharacterof some stories,that is, the fiction is more about itselfthan about other matters 'out there'. The second thematic group corresponds to the fictionalitythat the referentialcharacterof the theme bringsabout. In otherwords, theplot fictionalizesa theme otherthan the storyitself,acquiringa transitivequality not found in the first thematic group. Examples of the fictional (transitive) 'genomitos' are the labyrinth, the double, theological-religiouscriticism, thematic heterogeneity, and the criticismof realityand of history.Non-transitive'genomitos' are, for instance, the semiosis of the author and of the reader, the branching off of the story and of the narrative discourse, the questioning of a chronological lineal order, the intertextuality,or the narratorialindeterminacypresent in some stories. Alvarez's analysisreveals that Borges's collections are dominated by the transitive themes associatedwith fictionality. According to Alvarez, Borges's narratives are based not only in the thematic 'genomitos' they present, but also upon two other aesthetic principles: the semiotization ('semiotizacion' (p. 237)) and an absolute creative freedom vis-a-vis the Hispanic American literary tradition. These narrative innovations and principles , together with Borges'snew way of recreatingthe Spanish prose, contribute to give the Argentinean a prominent place in twentieth-century literature. The notes and bibliographies that complete Alvarez's volume make this a very useful researchtool, besidesbeing an excellent analysisof Borges'sworks. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY, APPLETON, WI GUSTAVO FARES MundoNuevo: Culturayguerrafriaenla decadadel60. By MARIAEUGENIA MUDROVCIC. BuenosAires:BeatrizViterba Editora. 1997. 187pp. ?1 6.95. In the cultural 'cold war' debates and polemics that raged in Latin America in the I96os, the focal point was inevitably that of the Cuban Revolution. In opposition, covertor explicit, to the Revolution'sseminalculturalmagazine, CasadelasAmericas, there emerged in I966 a new literary magazine, or rather 'revista de cultura' (Mudrovcicemphasizesthe importantdistinction)Mundo Juevo,founded in Parisby the eminent Uruguayan scholar and critic Emir Rodriguez Monegal. Even before the new magazine's inception, an epistolary polemic was under way between by stating the several genres Borges uses, and also deconstructs, in his narrative. Those genres are, according to Alvarez, the essay, the book review, and neofantasticliteraturein general. He followsthisbriefsummarywith an overviewof the main components of the narrativediscoursein the two collections, Ficciones and El Aleph.Rather than repeat previous analysis, this time around Alvarez first defines the discursive strategy under scrutiny such as, for example, the 'narratorialidad homodiegetica' or 'heterodiegetica'(p. 208), or the 'omnisciencia e inconfiabilidad narratorial'(p. 209), in orderto considerits presence in the differentstories.In this fashion Alvarez finds, among other discursive strategies: the genre the stories appropriate;the role of the author; his foreknowledge and omniscience, or lack thereof;the severaldifferentlevels of the narrativediscourse(previouslydefined in the introduction as 'prediegesis', 'prodiegesis', 'diegesis', 'metadiegesis', 'metametadiegesis ', 'posdiegesis', and 'subtextos' (pp. 6-8)); the relations between discourse and plot ('sincroniay cronotopia narrativas'(p. 2I2)); the metafiction; the deconstruction of the stories; the inter- and intra-textuality;the 'metalepsis', 'analepsis'and 'prolepsis';the role of the reader;the film techniques;and the topic of travelin time. With regard to the plot or 'historia' of the stories, in his...