What I find interesting about Arlt's novel, Los Siete Locos, is that, unlike the other works of fiction, it is not middle brow. I find the language really complex, so much so that I found myself rereading passages in order to understand what he was talking about. I like that he is not polite, nor does he apologize for not being so (for example: "--¿Dónde vas? Echóse a cuestas el sobretodo; después inclinándose sobre la cama de la mujer, exclamó: --¿Sabes adónde voy? A un pro´tibulo, a buscarme una sífilis" [142] ) but, I have to admit, sometimes I wasn't sure that I knew what he was talking about and I had to ask myself if it was maybe because the language was too complex or too colloquial for me to understand, or, maybe, some things didn't really make that much sense. However, I am not sure I have figured out why it is bad literature, but I will try to further on. I am very interested to see what Jon has to say. I googled Arlt and so far all I have gotten is that he is a genius, that Los siete locos is and "extraordinary classic" (Amazon.com). Though, again, I just don't get some of what he is talking about, as if the metaphors are so weird that they don't make any sense. Take, for example, the beginning of "El odio". It starts "Su vida desangraba. Toda su pena descomprimida extendianse hacia el horizonte entrevisto a través de los cables y de los ¨trolleys¨de los travías y súbitamente tuvo la sensación de aue cominaba sobre su angustia convertida en una alfombra¨(38). I understand this part, actually it´s rather poetic. He feels his life being drained from him and can see his anguish run down the cables on the horizon, then he feels like he is treading on his anguish like it is a carpet. Good good, liked that Arlt, do go on... "Así como los caballos que, desventrados por un toro se enredan en sus propias entrañas, cada paso que daba le dejaba sin sangre lo pulmones. Respiraba despacio y desesperaba de llegar jamás. ¿A dónde? Ni lo sabía" (39). What? Disemboweled horses? a bull responsible for the disemboweling? the horses slipping around in their own entrails? Maybe I just have spent too much time in the city because I don't understand what all this had to do with the nice part of the metaphor. Is it me or is this merely gratuitously disgusting, and nothing more. I think, be as disgusting as you like, but at least give it some meaning. It seems that Arlt is beating a dead horse with a metaphor, or a dead metaphor with a horse (wahaha). Anyways, where are you going? I don't know either.
4 comments:
Ashea, I think that you make a crucial point here... that whatever it is (good or bad), it would be hard to call Los siete locos middlebrow.
In fact, could we say this: that's it's either low or it's high, and we might debate which; but it ain't middle?
Ah, and Ashea, you want to be tagging this span490 rather than span365...
Ashea, creo que haces un excelente punto al mencionar las relaciones que tiene este texto ( Los Siete Locos) con otros textos escritos por autores de la corriente existencialista. Yo particularmente encontre muchos paralelismos entre La Metamorfosis de Kafka, otro existencialista como Sartre, y el libro de Arlt. Estas varián, pero recurre mucho el tema de la transformación humana en algo decadente (monstruo) dado a la falta de humanidad en los personajes. La eterna busqueda del sentido de la vida a traves de las acciones. Creo que tendremos mas tiempo en clase para continuar la discución.... ojala lo menciones!!!!
ja ja, estoy de acuerdo, i'm all for rudeness and crudeness pero el autor tiene que hacerlo/presentarlo en una manera comprensible. pensaba que tal vez era mi nivel insuficiente de la lengua espanola (en literatura al menos) que me impedia comprender este libro pero tal vez es una mezcla de eso y el estilo excentrico de Arlt. hasta aqui no me gusta mucho el libro pero es probable que si yo fuera nativa (de la lengua espanola) me gozaria de leerlo un poco mas. en este momento es una tarea para mi. bueno, sigo leyendo...
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