2 ?b90

290
shall see. One phrase in particular is of paramount importance:
Aquellas insesibles fibras parecian, dentro de la vasija
de cristal, un drag6n atravesado por una lanza, por un
rayo de luz, por una hebra de energla capaz de destruir
esas minas de cart6n y de carb6n, extendigndose por sus
galerlas como una mano que se va abriendo hasta dejar
inscripciones indescifrables en paredones oscilantes
...
(1,452; my italics).
The sight of an evil, foreign body which has dwelt alongside the heart of his
adored spiritual guide helps Ceml to understand the potential of feminine
influence in his life for good and evil. He could have chosen to be either
Fronesis or Foci6n, but the guidance of his own mother, her ability to ex-
press patriarchal wisdom in the absence of Jos4 Eugenio, has saved him from
self-negation. The evil has been defeated as surely as by a blaw from St.
George's lance; it has been resisted by the light of understanding ("por un
rayo de luz; 1,452) enabling Cemi to be inspired by his own mother without
being suffocated by her archetypal aspect which threatens engulfment in the
unconscious. Both possibilities have been present in Rialta, the arche-
typal
feminine.
Lezama expounds upon the assimilation of the growth by the otherwise
healthy body, drawing a direct analogy with the development of consciousness
in the individual:
De la misma manera, en los cuerpos que logra la imaginaci6n,
hay que destruir el elemento serpiente para dar paso al elemento
drag6n, un organismo que estä hecho para devorarse en
el circulo, tiene que destruirse para que irrumpa una nueva
bestia
(1,453).
...
Here, Lezama presents a succession of images which he uses repeatedly in the
novel; the fight with the dragon destroys the power of the ouroboros, tradi-
tionally depicted as a serpent eating its own tail, so that consciousness
can come to birth. Rialta's body has accomodated the growth, but only by
"destruir el desarollo normal, la simple estabilidad vital, de las m9s