2 ?b90

127
been made. Related so closely to the sacred and spiritual, Rialta will
naturally expand her influence to fill the void in her son's life, until
she becomes indispensible to his poetic world.
Death is no stranger to Jos6 Cemi; it stalks around his bed during
every asthma attack, while the child floats dreamily in the vapours of
soporific herbal remedies. He is no doubt familiar with the memories
of Andresito and old Cambita,, not to mention three of his grandparents,
all held dear and oft-lamented by those remaining. The various incidents
in the child's life catalogued by Lezama between the dream of the return
to the womb and the death of Josd Eugenio are all, each in its own way,
experiences by which Cemi is compelled to formulate images; almost all
are images of death.
Rodrigez Monegal proffers a list of important experiences in Cemi's
development "desde la muerte y resurrecci6n incesante que se produce con
los frecuentes ataques de asma de la nifrez" and including "toda esa su-
cesi6n de instantes de revelaci6n, iluminaci6ng visitaci6n de lo sobre-
natural que acompallan su desarollo. "
45
He abandons his task,, admit-
ting that the very presence of any event in the novel guarantees its
significance to Cemi. The novel is composed of precious formative
moments. Ortega regards the novel in a similar light: Cemi's life is
"una serie de iniciaciones -en el proceso de aprendizaje- C ...
J adquieren
una resonancia de destino casi religioso, presidido por la coincidencia
de un oficiante - el padre, la madre, el tio Alberto., los amigos, Licario -
46
The child is willing to learn from everything he is able to ab-
sorbývia his senses., but almost all the incidents are beyond his under-
standing at the time he perceives them. He tends to stumble from one
to another, somewhat blindly. In rapid succession we are presented with:
an interview between father and son, with the son's confusion of the terms
bachiller and amolador; the heroism of the father before his men, faced