Untitled - Centre for Comparative Literature - University of Toronto

it further permits an anti-feminist interpretation of the work because Luisa Valenzuela is
the only female fi gure and she takes on this position of the “enemy” of the dictator. This
second part of the text includes instructions for the reader, such as, “creo en la virtud de
leer entre líneas” (198). 14
The notion of pregnancy begins to re-appear in this section of the narrative, but this in
the form of metaphor; the notion of explicit male pregnancy will only appear in the third and
fi nal part. The brujo, according to Luisa Valenzulea is building a pyramid – quite literally
– which she suggests is cliché. However, at one level, the reader ought to recognize
this construction be a creation – a giving birth – for the male; that is, the brujo can create
something and be the father of this metaphorical child (the pyramid). The interpretation of
the pyramid and its construction seems to function well within the text when one considers
Valenzuela’s observation that:
Ya eran como las 11, yo había estado tratando de escribir a pesar de todo,
tratando de imaginar qué estaría tramando el brujo en esos momentos. Me
había venido a la mente la idea de un padre; por más brujo que fuera, eso
de haber nacido de si mismo ¿no? puras fantasías de hombre, sueños de
autosufi ciencia. (206) 15
Luisa Valenzuela has here demonstrated that the construction of the pyramid functions
metaphorically, as well, to represent a womb. That is, the pyramid that the brujo constructs
also protects. The pyramid thus permits the continuation of, “[l]o vamos a meter en el
interior de la pirámide aunque no esté terminado. Ahí va a estar fresquito, así no se
nos insola, no se deshidrata. Además, él dice de la pirámide no le llegan las malas
vibraciones” (156). 16 That is, metaphorically, the reader can “hacer la virtud de leer entre
líneas” (198) 17 and come to understand the pyramid functions as a womb; the brujo thus
creates his own womb in which he can and will be protected.
Finally, the reader arrives at the third part of the novel and returns to the actual novel
of the dictator and not the interior discourse of Luisa Valenzuela; and it is in this section
of the novel that the dictator begins to speak to the reader and is able to penetrate his
or her consciousness. Moreover, this third part of the narrative returns the reader to the
presence of male pregnancy: “Igual reconozco tu extrema feminidad y sé que sos parte
de mí y te voy a hacer un hijo, vamos a hacer un hijo vos y yo, yo y yo. Me haré un
transverse 39