2 ?b90

37
wishes to lift them out of their historicai contexts and give them immu-
nity to Time:
No basta que la imagen actde sobre lo temporal hist6rico,
para que se engendre una era imaginaria, es decir, para.
que el reino po6tico se instaure. Ni es tan s6lo que
la causalidad metaf6rica Ilegue a hacerse viviente, por
personas donde la fabulaci6n uni6 lo real con lo invisible,
Ee. g. certain kings3
... sino que esas eras imaginarias
tienen que surgir en grandes fondos temporales,
ya milenios, ya situaciones excepcionales, que se hacen
arquetipicas ...
" (11,832-3).
There is no doubt that Dbffa Augusta is represented as the great matriarch,
with the help of images which lend a sense of magnificence to quite ordi-
nary tasks such as cooking traditional dishes. However the writer's
primary concern in giving this impression is for the spiritual nobility
of the characters out of whose midst the young poet Josd Cemi is to emerge.
The background of such a personage must include many types of culture, an
awareness of the rest of the world, an assimilation of all that has gone
before. The very strong influence of his cultured and magestic grand-
mother will be instrumental in achieving this. The royal images under-
line the fact that the criollo family is in a unique position culturally,
as J. J. Arrom has said: "criollo, en lengua espa: n-ola, es un termino que
designa distinciones de carActer cultural. Los criollos somos los que,
sea cual sea el color de nuestra piel, nos hemos criado de este lado del
charco y hablamos y pensamos en espa? 1ol con sutiles matices americanos. " 24
In other words,, the criollo has access to both European and Latin Ameri-
can cultures.
Lezama's treatment of Rialta follows the pattern already established
for Jos6 Eugenio. Having introduced two generations of each side of tle
family,, the Olayas and Cemis, and described the Colonel at work, Lezama
proceeds to delve into the past of the Olaya family, beginning with Rialta.
She is described in a manner which is totally in keeping with Lezama's