THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

Introducing the Double:The Seductive ParadoxEn cambio se rompe en Caracol y otroscuentos. 15Jaramillo Levi also remarks “[Duplicaciones] Es un libro muyexperimental; experimento con prácticamente todas las técnicashabidas y por haber en referencia al tema del doble dentro de ciertamodalidad de la literatura fantástica”. 16 Given that the interest of thisstudy is an examination of the device of the double in Jaramillo Levi’sfiction, and given his abovementioned comments, it would seem anobvious choice to begin with his ground-breaking collection,Duplicaciones. 17Doubles, doppelgangers, and dark-sides have intrigued readersand artists worldwide for centuries and the twenty-first century shouldbe no different. Based on this premise the theme of the doubledeserves more attention in Latin America, and because it is not andcannot be what it used to be in Europe and North America, there arefew who can deliver an imaginative reworking. It is fascinating tocompare how the same concept is dealt with centuries later andhemispheres apart. Jaramillo Levi is considered innovative andpostmodern but there are similarities between him and the greatmasters of Gothic fiction. There is no question he is inventive but notbecause he is postmodern. To appreciate these similarities, and as thethesis is thematically structured, it is necessary to compare selectedtexts side by side within their thematic divisions rather than laying outthe devices and techniques found in other literature and saving all theanalyses of Jaramillo Levi’s fiction until the last two chapters. To dootherwise would leave no option but to endlessly refer to, or evenrepeat, those examples given earlier in the thesis, and compromise thebalance of the study.With this in mind the eight chapters (excluding the introductionand conclusion) have been arranged into three parts: Part One: Origins,Psychoanalysis and the Eurodouble; Part Two: Doubling the Americas;(North America, Modernism, Latin America); Part Three: the Modern,the Postmodern and the New, puts the modern and postmoderntogether as does the transition itself. A meticulous analysis of theauthor’s stories from various collections was carried out and used in this15 Romero Pérez, “Un escritor de largo aliento: Entrevista a Enrique Jaramillo Levi”,Quimera 246-247, (Julio-Agosto, 2004). 99-107.16 Edward Waters Hood. “En torno al cuento: entrevista con Enrique Jaramillo Levi”.Espéculo. 13 Feb. 2002. .17 Jaramillo Levi states “En un estudio que aún está por hacerse, Ricardo Segura,profesor de la Universidad de Panamá ha dicho que Duplicaciones es la matriz de loque se ha hecho después en otras generaciones de cuentistas panameños”. RomeroPérez, “Un escritor de largo aliento”, 103.10