THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

Concluding Remarks: the Paradox in PanamaThe Avatar in Panamahe has, and even mentions it. 7 According to Jaramillo Levi, the recurringelements in his work are both conscious and unconscious; the firstrepresented by characters, and the second by biographical elements. 8Contrary to Quiroga, Jaramillo Levi does not know how the story willunfold before he starts writing, yet the ending was the only part of “Elvecino” of which he was certain. 9 These incidences of contradiction area reflection of that which surfaces in his literary output which has at itscore many conflicting adaptations of the double.Jaramillo Levi’s fiction dealing with the theme of doubles anddoubling is an obvious mélange of modern and postmoderncomponents manifested in his use of imagery, symbols, concepts andliterary devices. The resultant product is an avatar of a double which isdistinctly Panamanian. This was successfully shown by the comparisonof his work with that of, not only Latin American authors but alsoEuropean and North American writers thereby filling a noticeable void inliterary criticism in Panama. To this end, the structure of the study wasthematic in that the first part examined Europe, the second –theAmericas, and the third was dedicated to Jaramillo Levi and his work.The first part of the thesis investigated the origins, foundations,and derivatives of the device of the double which then provided anoutline of the various forms the double might take in literature. Itestablished a model of the “modern double” from which concepts andthemes were extracted, compared and contrasted against the work ofJaramillo Levi. The influence of modernism from both continents wasrecognised and acknowledged in Jaramillo Levi’s fiction rather than hiswork being confined to that literary criticism which states his work ispostmodern which, therefore, makes it original.Part Two examined doubles and doubling techniques found inrelevant literature from the Americas, and approached them from aLatin American perspective including Brazil. The common themes andleitmotifs found in the European literature resurfaced in North AmericanLiterature. Latin America’s initial impact on this genre was principallydue to Rubén Darío and Horacio Quiroga. Quiroga, who aside fromJulio Cortázar was one of Jaramillo Levi's major influences, reworkedand promoted the short story.The third part explored several universal images and symbolsthat recur in the literature of the double relevant to Jaramillo Levi’s workand considered aspects of his revisionism from a modern and7 See Appendix A1 question 25; “Yo desde Austin, y luego desde Oregon, escribíacon el seudónimo Jaque Mate”. Birmingham-Pokorny, Las realidades de EnriqueJaramillo Levi 191.8 See Appendix A1 question 12.9 See Appendix A2 question 3.262