2 ?b90

105
wish to flee, as from something incomprehensible or evil. Only Baldo-
vinia, in her compassion, controls the impulse, and when she finds the
drops of alcohol and her frenzied massaging to be of no use, she finds
another possible remedy. Holding the lighted candelabra close to the
child's skin to ascertain her degree of success with the "planazo mAgico"
(1., 10) she drops some hot wax: "una gruesa gota de esperma se solidifi-
caba sobre su pecho ...
" (12 10). Seeing that the drops serve to cover
the blotches at least temporarily, she allows more to fall: "Encristaladas,
como debajo de un alabastro., las espirales de ronchas parecian detenerse,
se agrandaban y ya se quedaban alli como detrds de una urna que mostrase
la irritaci6n de los tejidos" (1,10). The blemishes do not disappear2
but they become immobile and appear less widespread until the child moves:
"Al menor movimiento del garzdn, aquella caparazdn de esperma se desmoro-
naba y aparecian nuevas, matinales, agrandadas en su rojo de infierno,
las ronchas ...
" (12 10). Arguing in favour of the existence of "el su-
strato edipico de la novela". E. M. Santl has noted that Josd Cemi lacks
a middle name whilehis father is Eugenio, "el bien nacido. "
12
Assuming
that Josd Eugenio represents "el sentido mismo, el centro, la autoridad,
el orden del discurso, la razdn de ser, " Santi postulates that "Esas
espermas rgotas de cera derretida y liquido seminali provienen de una
vela encendida, de una especie de falo presencial, que ilumina la primera
escena en ausencia del padre y que permite ver bien al que no es
'bien
nacido. ' "13 The references to flight and absence which I have noted would
support this interesting conclusion. As to the nature of the droplets
of sperm or wax, Santi believes them to be "gotas de sabiduria, de sen-
tido pleno, de patria potestad, de Presencia, que ahora se malgastans se
dispersan
... no pueden Ilevar a cabo ninguna in-semi-naci6n. "
14
I too consider this to be the general meaning of the passage, but would go
further by saying that the image of wax/sperm covering the blemishes of