THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.1 Shoes and Mirrors: Images of Doubling The Avatar in Panamaprognosticate the way things will be, making physically and temporallydistant phenomena visible to the beholder as is the case in AndersonImbert’s novel Fuga; it may possibly illustrate the way things should orshould not be (“Suicidio”); and in its role as an instrument of thefantastic, it is able to show that which exists purely within the mirror orthe writer’s imagination – the desired or longed for (“La sombra”). 8 Theramifications for the double here are patent: the subject may witnesswhat they desire. 9Looking-Glass Literature and the Loss of LikenessLooking-glass literature is littered with the loss or lack of one’sreflection which was inspired by the fantastic genre whose literarymodel is Stoker’s Count Dracula. 10 E.T.A Hoffmann’s “A New Year’sEve Adventure”, Guy de Maupassant’s “Le horla”, and EnriqueJaramillo Levi's “Los anteojos” are all cases in point. 11 “A New Year’sEve Adventure” demonstrates the narration of two or more stories whichat first seem different but upon closer inspection prove to be the samestory told on different levels. These tiers usually correspond to daily andfantasy life which are so intermingled that the boundaries areundefined. 12 Hoffmann takes intertextuality to new heights as heincorporates Adelbert von Chamisso’s fictional character of PeterSchlemihl into his own “The Story of the Lost Reflection”, whichrecounts the woes of Erasmus Spikher who is seduced intosurrendering his reflection to his beloved in the name of newfound love.After learning his love, Guiletta, is not what she seems and thenrealising that he is unable to retrieve his mirror image, Spikher teams upwith Schlemihl who in von Chamisso’s story sells his soul to the Devil.However unlike Spikher he remains owner of his reflection. 13 Thepurpose of their partnership is to exist symbiotically in the interests of8 Grabes 39.9 Grabes 126.10 Romero Pérez also makes this point when analysing “Los anteojos”. See La miradaoblicua, 124.11 “Die Abenteuer der Silvester-Nacht“ ("A New Years Eve Adventure”), of which “TheStory of the Lost Reflection” is a part, was published in 1816 in Hoffmann’s firstcollection of short stories, Phantasiestücke in Callots Manier (Fantasy Pieces in theCallots Manner). This story also constitutes the second act of the opera Les Contesd’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach.12 “Introduction” Best Tales of Hoffmann, xxii.13Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814) (Peter Schlemihl: TheShadowless Man).164