THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

3.3 Reinventing the Double The Avatar in Panamais not often that a couple is replicated or doubled as it is here and thetemporal spatial doubling adds yet another dimension.Fused Fiction and RealityFernando Burgos posits the creation of literature is referred toas a double of the author: “Crearse es multiplicarse a partir de unaunidad, pero también asaltar el principio inalterable de la misma”. 60Even Jaramillo himself has admitted:Tal vez, sin darme cuenta, esos cuentos hayanservido, en su momento de creación, de terapiaprofunda de conflictos personales, o al menosposibles (la verdad es que las tragedias que lespasan a mis personajes nunca me han pasadoa mí, pero es como si los previera o fueranparte de mi inconsciente). 61In Jaramillo Levi’s fiction it is the writer-character himself whoundergoes the metafictional alteration or teleportation; it is he who isdirectly affected by the fusion of spatial or temporal planes unlike otherexamples of fantasy fiction where the fictional characters enjoy theintricacies of metafiction. A constant is that the merge happens whilethe writer is in the process of writing. This raises the familiar premise ofthe creation of literature as a major theme and is dealt with through theabsorption of material from the exterior to the interior and then isrechannelled to the exterior in the form of writing (sublimation). Theresulting fiction is the literary replication of the writer’s imagination,events which he mentally produced. In the following stories the fictionthen becomes a fulfilled act with the writer’s protagonist playing dualroles as the writer himself.In a distinctly modern way, the writer is more often than notdepicted as being alone in life; he is either marginalised or in a selfimposeexile. The writing that he performs is an introspective functionwhich also doubles as a therapeutic activity which is, in fact, apsychoanalytic sublimation, and is found in all of the stories whichfollow. Another metafictional concept reappearing here is that of thesurrealist idea of automatic writing exemplified in the title “Escrituraautomática” (LTG) which speaks for itself, and over which thecharacters have no control. 62 “Llanto presentido” depicts the creation of60 Burgos, “Dentro del Espejo” 99.61See Appendix A1 question 2.62 This concept was introduced by French surrealist André Bréton. Of this conceptJaramillo Levi says: “Mira, va a parecer de una gran inmodestia lo que te voy a decir,pero el método que utilizo para escribir es el mismo de los surrealistas: la escrituraautomática. Un párrafo como el que has leído salió absolutamente de un tirón. Porsupuesto no idéntico al resultado final porque después se pule mucho. Creo que cada253