THE READING OF THE CATOBLEPAS

Abstract

Considering the order of publication of the works of Vargas Llosa, a reader could recognize the essential characteristics that make up or outline his poetry. However, in many cases, the interpretation one makes of a novel, for example, does not end only with the autonomous reading of this. The content expands on when some aspects of this work are recognized in a subsequent publication. It is in this way how the realistic spaces, the roles that some characters play, the most used narrative techniques and, especially, the presence of characters who reappear in more than one work require the consideration of previous works for further reading. Thus intertextual and intratextual relationships are woven in his literary corpus.

In 2006, I defended my Master’s thesis entitled The Real Catoblepas. Intertextual Relationships in the Works of Mario Vargas Llosa. I took the mythical figure of the being that feeds on itself paraphrasing the author who explains the origin of the stories told in his books. My adaptation of this image is related to how the works of Vargas Llosa are nourished (in an interpretive sense) by the work itself to develop interpretations of the reader from these intertextual relationships. The theory of 2006 is applied in this paper to the novel El héroe discreto (The Discrete Hero) published in 2013.