2 ?b90

103
Cemi's own work. However we can trace the progress of Jos4 Cemf through
childhood towards poetic awareness with great accuracy. As Ortega has
said, in a most interesting article, "toda la novela vendria a ser el
debate y el descubrimiento de un cauce que conduce al hallazgo y formu-
laci6n de una concepci6n de la realidad a partir de la poesfa. "
8
The
theme of the spiritual journey has been noted by G. P6rez Firmat, who
sees many parallels with Dante's Divina Commedia, not least the Italian
title common to the novel and the third section. He compares the habits
of the two protagonists:
like Dante he[Cemi3 is
...
continuously a wayfarer,
un caminante. As a child he is seen walking home from
school; during his days as a university student he ha-
bitually strolls through El Prado
....
As in
the
Divina Commedia, the act of walking bec q mes a metaphor
for the spiritual journey of the soul.
Josd Cemi is the focal point in the novel around which everything else
revolves, awaiting his attention. He is an image of Lezama: "cemi, un
idolo, una imagen. "
10
The early chapters of Paradiso (1-7) reveal
how Ceml' is chosen for the quest.
In the opening pages of the novel, the reader finds Cemi floundering
in the midst of a crisis, with only the ministrations of anxious servants
to assist him. The descriptions of the asthma attack are interspersed
with others of the house and the inhabitants are named in connection with
the rooms they occupy. As a result, we can deduce that the victim of
the attack, a five year old boy, is Jos6 Cemi, but during the crisis he is
referred to only as niTio, criatural garz6n, muchacho; he is an anonymous
being, fighting for his life. At the tender age of five years, Cemi is
already marked out as different by his irregular breathing and his mys-
terious ronchas: "Mie7ntras las ronchas recuperaban todo el cuerpo, el jadeo
indicaba que el asma le dejaba tanto aire por dentro a la criatura, que
parecia que iba a acertar con la salida de los poros. " (1,6) His major