2 ?b90

341
el timbre" (1,589). All is now clear, the room uncluttered and the co-
louting of Oppiano Licario's clothes seems to symbolize harmonyt as Souza
explains:
Black represents the chaos that precedes organized creati-
vity, that isq the initial stage of the creative process.
And white can be the purification of these forces through
the imposition of guidance and form. The two colours
form a quality i Y9 which white (the shirt) is the upper and
superior
force.
The new rhythm which sounds is for Cemi alone: estilo hesicAsticol that is,
to equilibrio animico" (Iq 589). in place of estilo sistAltico or "las pasio-
nes tumultuosas" (1.589). Yet the actual initiation of Cemi does not
immediately follow the words "entonces, podemos ya empezar" (1,589).
Lezama is careful to explain the esoteric musical terms as used in his own
context but draws a veil over Cemi's further development
- at least, this
seem to be the case when the thirteenth chapter ends so abruptly. Various
curious characters have been included to show how Cemi makes his choices and
discovershis vocation, virtually becoming Oppiano Licario.
Estilo sistAltico has finally been discarded and Oppiano Licario and
Cemi may now draw ever closer together. They do not fuse entirely until
the last few pages of the novel, but I believe we can take the Oppiano Lica-
rio of time tricks and systems of ideas as Lezama/Cemi. We have seen that
his domestic circumstances are those of Lezama; his little word games re-
flect Alberto's early dabblings in language, but are much more sophisticated.,
a sign of hidden gifts: his mother knows that they are "la iinica alegria
que 61 se habia conquistado" (1.591). He entertains his mother and sis-
ter with strange quotations: "En el momento en que le sirvieron agua exclam6:
Aguada de pasa. jeros. La madre pens6: si ademAs de pedir agua nos evoca un
pueblo, nos da una alegria. QuizA9 pens(S la hermana, la criada no lo en-
tienda y su i1nica reacci6n cuando se irrita es que ensordece por tres dias"
(1., 592). This incident reveals the hidden dangers of Oppiano Licario's