The Poetics of Negativity as a Form of Seeing Literature: The Witness by Juan José Saer

Abstract

This article reads the novel El entenado by Juan Jose Saer in the light of the ideas of salient representatives of the Frankfurt school, such as Walter Benjamin and Theodor W. Adorno, in order to highlight some aspects that the Argentine writer shares with the forenamed thinkers as far as the concept of “modernity” is concerned. One of the reasons behind this comparative reading is to find out what type of literary metareflexion is articulated in the work of one of the most important contemporary Argentine writers. Having this goal in view, it also brings into discussion Saer’s “La literatura y los nuevos lenguajes”, a piece of theoretical density that complements Saer’s ideas on modernity, as exposed in the novel. In general terms, this contribution approaches the problematic question raised by some voices that belong to the field of literary studies and writers alike concerning the legitimacy and role of literature in present times.