2 ?b90

106
the son depicts the father's desperate attempts to integrate him into
normal rhythms of breathing and behaviour, attempts which are later re-
vealed in detail. The sperm represents the father's natural vigour and
good health, expressed in his active life, a way of life which he tries
to impose on a more contemplative (but not necessarily homosexual) soul.
Santi suspects that the final leave-taking of the blemishes is described
in a significant way: "Las ronchas habian abandonado aquel cuerpo como
Erinnias, como hermanas negras mal peinadas ...
" (IP 15). He points out
that the Erinnias were "las Furiaso Eumenides, cuya funci6n, entre otras,
era la de castigar a los parricidas, " and compares this occurrence with
another which takes place after Cemi has overheard the story of Dolffa
Augusta's disinterred father: "Esa noche volvieron las pesadillas a cabal-
gar de nuevo las Erinnias" (1., 196).
15
There may well be an element
of withdrawal from Josd Eugenio and all he represents revealed in the
child's dreams, which will be examined presently. I feel that much more
evidence is required before what Santi calls the "teoria del texto" can
be accepted: "una po4tica de la oscuridad sem9ntica como la dificultad
de la transfiguraci6n del hijo en el padre, de la copia imperfecta en el
original, de la repetici6n en la presencia-en-si, y de la imposibilidad de
que los dos pueden coincidir en a1916n espacio o momento. " 16
According
to this idea, Paradiso would be a novel dedicated to showing how the past
and present cannot usefully interact, even to the extent of deliberate
I
misquotation within the text to illustrate the point. There would be a
cycle of replacement and renewal which one could trace throughout the
novel,, a point well worth considering as we proceed.
Returning to the dismal scenes Baldovinia has hastened to beg more
advice from Zoar and Truni. Truni has thrown a sheet over her head, thus
enhancing her previous similarity to a nun or priests draped in robes.
The distressed Baldovinia is like "una disciplinante del siglo XVI" and