THE AVATAR IN PANAMA - Theses - Flinders University

1.2 Fantastic Psychoanalysis and the Doppelganger The Avatar in PanamaReferring to Juan as “él que siempre provocó mis celos”, as a mutualfriend, he witnessed their relationship develop while suppressing asecret jealousy of his rival (17). The aspiration to assume thedeceased’s status as Magda’s life partner reaches a neurotic nirvana aswhile the narrator is not a physical replica of the dead Juan, hegradually adopts his nemesis’s personal traits and interests:Ahora que soy él y tú eres el amor anticipado enmis más hermosas masturbaciones deadolescente, cada cual es lo que el otronecesita que sea. Incluso comienza a gustarmeinsólitamente la antropología y ya me atrevo adejarte sola, atenta a las miradas lujuriosas,cuando me dan ganas de ir al baño estando enla piscina. Sé que el día que me llames Juansuspendida en el vértice de un orgasmo, esedía, Magda, seremos completamente felices(20-21).In “Ahora que soy él”, the narrator’s desire for psychicsubstitution is so powerful that his own individual identity is redundant.Ultimately, his existence is defined through his relationship with Magdaand it is unclear from the text whether that association is real orimagined. Although, in terms of the role of the double, there is nophysical duplication, confrontation, fear, or shock on the part of thenarrator, the sheer self-depreciation and self-denial of the surrogate,who aims to be another’s double, is as unsettling as if he had comeface to face with his own–exactly the effect outlined by Todorov above.In summary, “Fantastic Psychoanalysis and the Doppelganger”outlines how the psychoanalysis, its influence, and that of the modernand experimental movements affected the analysis of literature, inparticular fantastic literature. Of particular interest to Freud was theSpanish-speaking world, and how psychoanalysis spread throughout itwas also documented. Freud’s discovery served to enhance therevelation of an individual’s identity through the role of the unconscious.Together with the modernist movement, psychoanalysis influenced theway the double emerged. Thematically, fantastic literature lent itself topsychoanalytic analysis which soon became a reliable method ofinterpreting the genre and had an impact on literary criticism in allrespects. Freud compared the modern experimental writing to thedream world and psychoanalytic terminology became part of themodern experience.In one of the most critical theories of the fantastic, TzvetanTodorov asserted that the fantastic, containing elements of both rationaland irrational, explored the boundary between real and supernatural.His definition of the genre was based on the participation and hesitation71