THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.3 Reinventing the Double The Avatar in Panamadual planes and alternating perspectives (“El búho que dejó de latir”, “Elbulto” [FM]); characters’ dialogue (“La gringuita de la moto”), orcommunication methods evident in stories dealing with literary creationin which the writing appears in italics (“Nereida”, “Piensan que no tuveun buen motivo”, “Underwood”, “El reto” (LTG), “El relato” [CC]).The narrative’s structure may also be contrasted in differentsections of the story by use of language and vocabulary, imagery,symbolism, and tone. The structure of “Los zapatos” is mirrored insofaras the first eleven lines are diametrically opposed to the last elevenlines. The two halves are reflections of each other with the first evokingimagery of silence, darkness, infinity, doubt of existence and orientationand the second mentioning warmth, asphyxia, and sensations ofweight, noise, light and disorientation. This contrast is also evident in“Recordando desde el tedio” in which the pleasant memories of youthare replaced by tragedy suffered in adulthood.In Jaramillo Levi’s writing doubles and doubling take manyforms. Firstly, there is the question of style and technique which coverscharacterisation, vocabulary and structure of the stories. Thematicdiscursive language describes actions, people, and settings. Words arecarefully chosen, semantic games, rhymes and sequences areconsciously avoided (see note). There are stories adhering to both thetraditional linear model, and to alternative structures which may begin inmedia res or present a cyclical period. There are also works that makeuse of a double beginning or a double ending often facilitating severalinterpretations of events.Secondly, there are themes inherent in the works which rely onthe techniques above and affect the way in which they are delivered tothe reader. Many devices found in classic literature of the double areused, like the unconscious creation or projection of the double; theexistence of the intangible presence as a double; and the physical ormental alteration of characters from one being to another. Themes andconcepts are frequently those rooted in the modern like double orsecond lives, the divided self, stalking and possession, premonitionsand hallucinations, or the postmodern which exploits spatial andtemporal doubling, the merging of fantasy and the real, andmetafictional techniques. Jaramillo Levi's characters are notable andare often doubled, multiplied, complement each other, may beanonymous, recurring, psychically divided, or unstable. Jaramillo Levicreates stories narrated from unusual perspectives; those of animals asmentioned in 2.2 (“El baúl”), “Testigo” from the perspective of a mirror,or “El nuevo recinto”, from that of a foetus in utero to newborn.226