2 ?b90

65
The woman/manatee continues her transformation into a sea creature,
from "mujer boqueante" (1,68). The undertones of an orgy are now
allowed to come to the surface: now, "la piel se le habia doblado, cosi-
do y encerrado, como para hacerse resistente a los batazos que por la
borda la pegaban los marineros de la Cruz del Sur" (1,68). Of these
sailors, Gimbernat de GonzAlez has said: "En el comienzo del camino
entre la casa y los yerbazales la mujer, 'nuevo manatl' enfrenta el
primer choque con el asombro de los marineros de la conquista. , 13
This is the probable identity of the sailors, who are introduced to
remind the reader that we are dealing with Cuba, before looking for
other complementary explanations of the beatings. If indeed the move-
ments of the manatee towards darkness are connected with the creative,
nocturnal Orphic rites, then we should note Lezama's description of
these rites in "Introduccift a los vasos 6rficos":
Se alejan los peregrinos de la ciudad por el puente de
Sisifo, rodeado de las mäs antiguas tumbas. Los simbolos
de Sisifo y de los descensos infernales son im-
puestos por los bosques de los alrededores de Atenas
Arrancan los efebos ramas de los ärboles, co-
mienzan a golpear a las doncellas para incitarles a
las apariencias mäs germinativas (11,858-9).
The desired effect of any orgy is the enhancement of the possibilities
of creation, according to M. Eliade:
The orgyis asymbolic re-entry into chaos, into the
primordial and undifferentiated state. It re-enacts
the"confusion", the totality before the Creation, the
cosmic Night, the cosmogonic egg ...
to recover
the
original wholeness out of which sprang dif4erentiated
life, and from which the cosmos emerged.
Lezama has combined the idea of the orgiastic ritual beatings with that
of the struggle between Be ing and Existence which results in the pro-
duction of the image in "Introduccift a un sistema po6tico":