Art as Salvation in Ramón Hernandez' "Los amantes del sol poniente" Author(s): Marion Freeman and Lisa Vollendorf Source: Anales de la literatura española contemporánea, Vol. 18, No. 1/2, 20th Century Spanish Poetry (Part II) (1993), pp. 231-245 Published by: Society of Spanish & Spanish-American Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27741124 Accessed: 01-03-2015 19:57 UTC
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ART AS SALVATION IN RAMON HERN?NDEZ' LOS AMANTES DEL SOL PONIENTE MARION FREEMAN
Colorado State University
LISA VOLLENDORF University
of Pennsylvania
Ram?n Hern?ndez has stated that Los amantes del sol poniente marks a new direction inhis noveUstic output.1 In this short narrative, the protagonist,
Adri?n
resembles
Maldonado,
the
of Her
characters
n?ndez' previous novels in that, existentially alone, he is faced with defining the meaning of his own being and creating his own essence. as elsewhere in Hern?ndez' here, ones which the protagonist does chaotic
And
unforeseeable forces, works, or know not understand how
to deal with, drive a wedge between himself and his planned future set him
and
off on
a new
Odyssey.
In Los
amantes,
it is the
however,
realm of art and creativity which interposes itself into the human ef fort to determine what ismeaningful and valuable in an individual life. And this realm, the protagonist finds, can be as unstable, illogical, and demanding as the social institutions which protagonists ofHern?ndez' earlier
novels
are
forced
to face.
In Los
amantes,
then,
forces
of the
creative realm of art, the centerpiece ofwhich appears in the novel as El Greco's painting, "El entierro del Conde de Orgaz," add a new di mension
to the works
of Ram?n
Hern?ndez.
Los amantes del sol poniente is a complex work whose many levels of narration, unconventional handling of time, division between the "real"
everyday
world
and
the
subjective
world
of dreams
make
any
231
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232
18 (1993)
ALEC,
attempt at analysis difficult.Luis Gonz?lez-del-Valle and Miguel Ruiz Avil?s, in their helpful afterword to the American edition of the novel, have clearly pointed out the problems facing the reader or critic who approaches this work and have aided in identifying the various narra tive threads which merge and separate as they weave the dense fabric of the
novel.
conclude
They
Los
that
resiste
"se
amantes
a
bastante
acercamientos cr?ticos" because of its complexity (153). In this study we attempt to penetrate some of the resistance identified by these two critics,most particularly the dimensions of artistic and creative impuls es usually
from Hern?ndez'
absent
to show
works,
the protago
that
nist's journey moves him away from the conventional and the ordinary into new realms fraught with potential for human expression. The novel's
ending,
we
Just
as
is not
suggest,
a negative
one,
but
rather
Adri?n
learns during his dream experiences to release from within his sleeping soul new perceptions about himself and his reality, about life and its relation to art. Indeed, it is the often chaotic and unsettUng power of art, initially viewed as a disruptive antagonist, which leads Adri?n to salvation. rrado
nunca"
El
(131),
Greco the Count, who suspends moment in a timeless by capturing
"no
ser?
ente on
his miracle
canvas and placing him in the artistic world, art also stops time for Adri?n since his artistic salvation Ufts him to the space between life and death where the possibiUty of creation erases time as we know it.2 The
which
process
the protagonist
then,
undergoes,
leads
to a posi
tive unification of the unstable world of creativity and Adrian's every day world of control and predictab?ity. Whfle exploring the intertex tual relation between Los amantes del sol poniente and El Greco's "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz," we shaU analyze how the text interacts with El Greco, his painting, and the reaUty inwhich the protagonist, and our
we
as
Uve.
readers, First,
argument.
Two
Bruce
serve
approaches Morrissette,
as
expanding
initial
for
premises
upon
Saussure's
pre-code (signified) and code (signifier), identifies, as he applies them to
literature,
the
inevitable
post-code.
While
the pre-code
represents
the artistic ideals and culture of an age, the code is the product of these ideals, and the post-code is defined as any artistic expression arising from the code. We propose in this study that Los amantes is a post-code closely action between
related text,
to El Greco's painting,
and
"El
entierro,"
contemporary
and
that
reaUty
the
inter
manifests
itself primarily through the central role which this painting plays in the novel. Secondly, as this haunted painting takes on the functions of genius loci, figura, and anima as defined by Theodore Ziolkowski in his book Disenchanted Images (95-148), the novel's protagonist be comes increasingly drawn to the portrait until he actually enters the artistic world. We shall first explore the codification of text and paint
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MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF
233
ing in order to illustrate the importance of "El entierro" and then devote the second part of our investigation to defining the artistic world to which the novel, the painting, and Adri?n ultimately all be long.
Los amantes tells the story ofAdri?n Maldonado, a thirty-fiveyear old physics teacher at the San FeUpe Neri Institute in Toledo. His career
as
a scientist
is significant;
it places
him
in the modern,
well
ordered world of controUed procedure and logical experimentation in which predictable outcomes and reasonable explanations can be expect ed. He has reached a critical point in his Ufe since he is about to un dertake
certain
rites
of passage
such
as marriage
and
the
completion
of a doctoral dissertation. His existence, therefore, is the totally con ventional one of a young man who seemingly controls his destiny and who has a promising future. But the novel opens upon Adri?n in the throes of a nightmare in which he inexpUcably finds himself in the church of Santo Tom? speaking with the enigmatic Roldan, who vari ously calls himself the night watchman, an almost-priest, a confessor to tourists, and a magician. These nocturnal experiences, in which Adri?n and Roldan engage in equivocal, disconnected conversation both in and out of the confessional, fillAdri?n with dread and convince him that he is losing his mind. And in fact these dream episodes, which at firstalternate with accounts ofAdrian's normal daily activi ties, begin to invade his waking moments, making him incapable of following through with his plans. His strange behavior inspires shock, pity, and incomprehension in his fianc?e and his colleagues who all agree that he is indeed mad. After a doctor confirms that he is dying, Adri?n accepts his fate with relief, even gives himself over to the strange, irrational world which has invaded his well-ordered one. The novel ends with a ceremony which combines Adrian's funeral with his wedding to a figure from his newly-discovered dream world. Adrian's conversations with Roldan in the dream visits to Santo Tom? center principally on El Greco's famous painting on display there. As iswell known, viewing this great work of art is obUgatory for tourists who visit Toledo. Roldan adds to his list of duties the role of tour guide during daytime visiting hours, and makes disparaging re marks
about
the average,
often
North
American,
tourists'
inabiUty
to
understand and appreciate the work. Adri?n becomes a tourist of the night and dreams, in spite of his objection to the contrary when he states, "Pero yo no soy un turista" (14). Tutored by his unlikely guide, he develops a more intimate relation with the picture, its principal figure, and itsmeaning. The painting, Roldan teUsAdri?n, comes alive at night: the people portrayed in it leave the canvas and indulge in orgies. In fact, says the guide, aU the past is very much aUve: the hoi
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ALEC, 18 (1993)
234
low church walls run with the circulating blood of the past and "El mismo Conde de Orgaz, el del cuadro, realmente no est? muerto" (20). We
on
mortals,
the other
me m?o
as fleeting
are
hand,
as
the
"...
reflejo
de un
. . ." (21). Adri?n responds: "Sus palabras
fulgor, la fugacidad misma
son po?ticas. en parte... fascinan . . ." (21). As is of Hern?ndez' typical
Pero
es solamente problema Adrian's characters, myopia mi
initially prevents his seeing any possible connection between his exis tence
and
the
strange
nocturnal
goings-on
at
the
church.
Another important factor inAdrian's existential drama appears in the person ofMargarita Pondal. The protagonist knows her as his student and is surprised to learn that she is related toRoldan and Uves with him in the church's attic. Rold?n's fear that the painting's per sonages will rape her during their orgies links her to the painting, as her status as Adrian's student relates her to his waking Ufe.He finally identifies the breaths, touches and kisses of the invisible "figura" which increasingly haunts his daylight hours as Margarita and reaUzes that he is in love with her. His advances at school and elsewhere frighten and alienate her, but inhis dream existence she welcomes his affection and even returns it. It is she, UteraUy the woman of his dreams, who joins Adri?n at the wedding-funeral which closes the nov el. Los
amantes
our
opens
the arts
between
eyes
to the
because
precisely
possibilities centers its action
for conversation on
the pre-exist
ing code of El Greco's painting. Focusing on the painting and thereby establishing the post-code, the text portrays Adrian's Ufe changes and his transition to the world of creativity. First, his dreams take him to Santo Tom? where Roldan anticipates that he has come to see the painting (15). Later, Adri?n learns that El Greco captured life in the painting. FinaUy, at Adrian's wedding-funeral, El Greco's painted char acters witness the ceremony performed by Roldan. Thus, unification of 20th-century reality and 16th-century painting in the final scene marks the protagonist's entrance into the creative world towhich both text and plastic arts belong. If we accept the codification theory put forth by Morrissette, it follows that the pre-code of earlier artistic ideals, and the painting itself as
code,
demand
our
attention.
In Los
amantes,
Hern?ndez
incor
porates the myth of the Count of Orgaz and that of El Greco and his association with the Renaissance?myths integrated into Spanish cul ture of our century as much as theywere inEl Greco's time. According to Jos? Gudiol's comprehensive study of El Greco, Domenikos Theoto kopoulos
was
commissioned
to paint
"El
two
entierro"
centuries
after
the death of Don Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo. Popular myth stated that
two
saints
appeared
at Don
Gonzalo's
funeral,
and,
in an
attempt
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to
MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF
235
capture this miraculous moment in a work hailing the man for his generosity to the parish of Santo Tom?, in a short nine months the artist produced the breathtaking painting which shows the Count's soul ascending to heaven surrounded by various onlookers (115). El Greco rescued themyth and theman from obUvion by transporting the legendary
occurrence
embraces
the
to the
canvas
and
the
gathering
into
characters
the immortal creative world: "El entierro," now itselfa part of Spanish myth since it symbolizes the zenith of Spanish artistic achievement, of the
power
creative
realm
over
life and
time.
Since the artist holds the key to creativity, then it is the pain ter/author/sculptor who struggles with the enormous task of tapping art's control over time. Tymoteusz Karpowicz points out in "Art: A Bridge to the Impossible," that the artist's motivation Ues in the frus tration caused by the nearly impossible task of capturing the momen tary for an eternity. Once achieved, this task results in a painting such as "El entierro" inwhich themoment of salvation reminds the specta tors of "the truth of their own mortality" (12). Tourists inToledo who visit
as well
the painting,
as
the
within
characters
it, take
on
the
role
of spectator: we observe themagical funeral and marvel at its implica tions about Ufe, art, and time. Through this painting, then, El Greco has etched the glory of the creative moment into the Spanish culture the
and
tourist's
appreciative
mind
forever.
Like the saints in the painting who gently cradle the Count of Orgaz and hold him up for his soul to rise to heaven, in the novel Roldan leads Adri?n through the dream world and helps him save himself from his time-bound realm of predictability. In this sense, the novel rehes on El Greco's painting: Adri?n resembles the Count in that these two men seek, and are granted, salvation. While the Count's Christian salvation aUows him eternal Ufe in the arms of Christ, Adrian's artistic salvation gives him entrance into the creative world where
he
also
Adrian's
gains immortality. first dream, which
opens
the work,
carries
paramount
importance in establishing the relation between the code (the painting) and the post-code (the novel which builds on El Greco's masterpiece). At this point, the dreamer shows Uttle promise of any type of salva tion,
especially
an
artistic
salvation
facilitated
by dreams.
His
night
mares haunt him, and the firsttime he speaks to Roldan, the narrator tells us that Adri?n "Iba a explicarle que quer?a dormir en el vac?o, sin pesadillas" (12). Even though he seems to be resisting the dreams, in this first "pesadilla," Adri?n finds himself drawn to Santo Tom?, arriv ing without
having
".
. . reflexionado
en sus deseos.
. ." (11-12),
yet he
indicates almost immediately that he wants to see the El Greco paint ing. Here the text signals its intimate relation to the code when the
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236
ALEC,
18 (1993)
protagonist encounters this painting and its artistic world. It is also in this firstconversation at the church that Roldan mentions Margarita Pondal, Adrian's attractive student who wiU bridge the scientific and worlds.
artistic
Thus,
this
episode
opening
introduces
characters
and
motives which the rest of the novel develops: the appearance of the code establishes the crucial intertextua?ty; Roldan and Margarita ap pear as characters in the dream world who w?l guide Adri?n to his salvation; and Adri?n communicates his resistance to the artistic world.
Ziolkowski has identified three functions of the haunted painting? loci,
genius tween
the
and
figura, code
the relation be help explain in the novel's the central focus
anima?which
the post-code.
and
As
dream world, "El entierro" takes on all three of these functions. The characters in the painting which belongs to a specific place, its caretak er and sometime guide Roldan who directs Adrian's dream journey, the
and
shadowy
who
realm
reveal
Regarding stresses
a close
are all representatives its mysteries.
Margarita, to Adri?n
the function of genius association
between
"El
of
the
creative
loci, the novel develops entierro"
and
Santo
and so
Tom?,
much so that the painting is not only housed there but historicaUy it was created to hang in this parish. The masterpiece and its place so belong together that one can hardly be considered without the other. Thus the actual place comes to represent the artistic world. When Adri?n visits the parish, he enters the creative realm where the logic and time of his familiar world disappear and are replaced by possib?ity of creation and suspension of disbelief. In the first dream, the genius loci function extends to Roldan since he, too, identifies closely with the church and its artistic world. During Adrian's first visit we learn about Rold?n's numerous selves. This quasi-priest with broken vows of s?ence (12), father or uncle toMarga rita (107), and tour guide of Santo Tom? who Ues about the painting (68) takes one of his roles quite seriously: he is the sole caretaker of "El entierro." When Adri?n finds Roldan and uses him as a dream world contact who will hear his confessions, teach him about the paint ing, and "caretaker
answer of the
his
questions,
artistic
world."
Rold?n's Adri?n
to
role
caretaker foUows
and
expands trusts him
as
a
guide, so that Adri?n becomes a tourist in Santo Tom? and in his dreams, depending upon Roldan just as the hordes of ignorant tourists do during the day. Once more the importance of the painting's relation to the parish becomes apparent: Rold?n's identity relates to the artistic realm of Santo Tom? and it is in this realm that the painting finds a home and Adri?n finds his salvation. The artist El Greco, his painting, and Roldan come together within the walls of Santo Tom?, and with
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MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF
237
out the help of his tour guide, Adrian would continue to perceive his dreams as "pesadillas" and never achieve the transition to the artistic world. "El
entierro"
also
serves
as a foreshadowing
agent,
which
Ziolkow
ski caUs the figura (95). Throughout the novel, Adri?n feels compelled to return to Santo Tom? because the painting draws him there, to its home, to the space inhabited by art. Once the protagonist enters this dimension, the figura function of the painting Unks his identity and the Count's. Roldan perceives Adri?n and the Count in the same fash ion because he beUeves that they both want Margarita. He explains to Adri?n
the Count's
concern
forMargarita,
considering
her
"consangu?
nea y bajo su tutela" (112). By this time Adri?n, originally the girl's teacher, has been promised her hand inmarriage, so that his relation ship with her has moved to that of fianc?. Thus an exchange of roles takes place between the Count and Adri?n, linking the twomen's iden tities even further and foreshadowing Adrian's fate.When the Count's salvation repeats itself inAdrian's moment of truth inwhich the fu neral coach turns into the wedding coach and he rides away with his bride, the connections have already been established and the reader anticipates the conversion of death into immortality. Ziolkowski's third function of the haunted painting is the anima, which "represents an extension of the hero's soul in the present" (112). Margarita Pondal fulfills this role in Los amantes. Although Adri?n initially resists the invitation to immortality, through a gradual process he eventuaUy comes to recognize the impulse to integrate the immortal world of creativity into his time- and science-bound exis tence. Margarita bridges the gap between these two realms, and his love
for her
faciUtates
his
acceptance
of art. There
are
only
two women
inAdrian's Ufe. First, his fianc?e Constanza by her very name repre sents the status quo, stabiUty, predictab?ity, the known. Her family stands for "middle class respectabiUty," the ordinary world fromwhich Adri?n
wants
to escape.
Margarita,
significantly,
is the only
character
in the novel who inhabits Adrian's dream world as weU as his waking Ufe. Ifher father-uncle Roldan is the protagonist's guide in the irratio nal world of dreams, she is the bridge which spans this realm and the daylight one, the only factor which assures Adri?n that a link exists between the two worlds and which encourages him to continue his journey. Her rejection ofhis daytime advances, her fear ofhim at these times, suggests that her true role regarding him is her nighttime one, which will lead him to his final destiny. Unlike Constanza, descriptions ofMargarita identifyher with the world of art. In addition to her con nection to "El entierro" through her relation to Roldan, on more than one occasion Adri?n identifies her with a Piero della Francesca portrait
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238
18 (1993)
ALEC,
(40 and 128) whose invisible presence is a balm to his tortured spirit. She can, however, move intoAdrian's waking moments to keep him connected to the world of art, to entice him, on his journey toward the irrational.
Margarita, then, fulfills the definition o? anima because she is that secret, untapped part ofAdri?n whose existence he was barely aware of until she forced her presence on him in the form ofwhat the novel calls, interestingly, a "figura." At first she ismerely a whisper; until the final wedding scene she never speaks openly to him, but only in breaths, murmurs, or through Roldan. From the beginning, her means of communication with Adri?n in her role as temptress of the irratio nal reveals a turning away from conventional language. While he is lure, his distaste forEnriqueta Ort?u, powerless to resist Margarita's the literature teacher who has a crush on him, enables him to reject this other garita's onist's
woman
power
whose springs
deals
profession from deeper
with
sources,
words
sleeping
Mar and writing. within the protag
soul.
The feminine plays an ongoing role in the novel, beginning on page 11 with an allusion to the women's movement. In spite of his support forwomen's equality, Adri?n identifies the invisible presence which has beset and horrified him for a year as a feminine one. At first Con stanza's presence can dissipate the "hechizo." But increasingly the "figura" comes between the two lovers. Adri?n intuits the presence as death early in the novel when, after admitting to himself that "Le un
cercaba
fantasma
de mujer
que
se
interpon?a
. . ." (51)
between
himself and Constanza, he immediately tells his fianc?e that "Sola mente lamuerte podr?a separarme de ti" (52). He later identifies the presence as Margarita (117), so that finaUy the "figura," Margarita, and
death
become
one.
ning,
a marriage,
an
cess.
In the Unes
"del
But
it is a death
integration
that
of the parts
represents of his soul,
a new
fraught
begin with
the creative potential which was earUer impossible. In his happiness Adri?n recalls a poem by B?cquer which deals with the creative pro fuego
que
ard?a
en nuestras
almas/un
incendio
hicimos t? y yo" (115, emphasis ours), to whom does the "t?" refer, if not toMargarita? She is that other part of himself, the feminine anima figure identified by Jung that, integrated into his being, makes new creations possible through the completion of self. The process toward accepting Margarita as themissing part of his soul, however, involves the difficult task of integrating art into our science-dominated
twentieth-century
existence.
Enriqueta
Ort?u's
love
forhim shows that Adri?n has already been chosen by art: he attracts art even though he relates only to science. Wh?e at this point he fears and avoids the artistic world, forhe isunaware of his connection to it,
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MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF
239
by page 46 he has been divided, since as he looks in themirror he sees ". . . los espejos devolvi?ndole entrecruzadas im?genes de s? mismo . . ." (46). Adrian's
tear
dreams
him
apart
by
to a part
him
introducing
of himself that he did not know existed. This division of self causes drastic repercussions in his normal Ufe, compelling him to visit a doc tor to find out what iswrong with him. The X-ray reveals the silhou ette of death within Adri?n. Since his soul has not entered the creative realm, death carries a negative significance, but the brief mention of Margarita implies that art's invitation to Adri?n still exists: death shows
".
only
. .la negra
cabellera
ondulada
tras
que,
unos
segundos
de desconcierto, reconoci? id?ntica a la deMargarita Pondal" (123). Art has influenced him and wiU continue to besiege him until it overcomes his resistance, and the various elements from the artistic world repre sent not only the power of art in Ufe, but the repressed artistic self of the
protagonist.
Ziolkowski's genius Morrissette's
loci, figura, and anima functions complement of pre-code,
notions
and
code,
post-code.
the
Assuming
dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis in a Uterary work, Morris sette's
the
pre-code,
of an
ideals
age
in Los
embodied
amantes
as
the
church and its painting, relates to Ziolkowski's genius loci. The antith esis, Adrian's interaction with the painting that leads to his salvation, isMorrissette's code, the novel itself,and Ziolkowski's foreshadowing figura. The pre-codelgenius loci and code/figura finaUy lead toMorris sette's post-code. This takes the form in the novel of the wedding in which Ziolkowski's anima figure joins the others to create a synthesis, which represents a new configuration. However one looks at them, the earner elements are not lost; thewedding-funeral takes place in Santo Tom? with the painting as background and with aU the characters from both ofAdrian's worlds (even El Greco himself) present. Rather, all
these
elements
inform
the protagonist's
of wholeness,
achievement
and through them the reader learns about the principle characteristics of the creative
and
realm
how
this realm
relates
to contemporary
reaU
ty.
If it is now evident that the code, "El entierro," serves as the base for the post-code, Hern?ndez' novel, where exactly do Adrian's dream experiences lead? To demonstrate that his wedding-funeral does indeed represent
art's
power,
we
present
here
an
analysis
of the
irrationality
of the world of art and, equaUy important, an analysis of how this irrational world relates to modern reaUty.Within the walls of Santo Tom? all rationaUty disappears as the darkness allows Adri?n to exper iment, to leave his inhibitions behind and explore strange, new dimen sions
of space
and
time.
Because
introduce the protagonist
Roldan,
Margarita,
and
the Count
to this darkness and all the dream visits
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ALEC, 18 (1993)
240 involve
from personages, two major characteristics
their
these
trapolate
words
we
behavior
and
of the artistic
realm:
ex
can
arbitrariness
of language and timelessness. Further, the desirability of the freedom of the
realm
artistic
criticizes
strongly
so
values,
twentieth-century
that Adrian's quest to escape can be examined from a broad perspec tive about the universal condition ofmodern lifewith its dependence on the material and the predictable. Within the walls of Santo Tom? a principal characteristic of the artistic world is the disintegration of language. Michel Foucault ad dresses this breakdown of language using the context of a painting: And if it is true that the image stiU has the function of speaking, of transmitting something consubstantial with lan we
guage,
must
recognize
no
it already
that
the
says
longer
same thing; and that by its own plastic values painting engages in an experiment that will take it farther and farther from lan guage. (18) Rold?n's disregard of his vow of s?ence exemplifies the d?ution, in Santo Tom?, of language as we know it.As mentioned earlier, Marga rita, until the very end, functions without spoken language. And vow
Rold?n's
is unreUable;
therefore
to him,
words,
are
unreliable.
This attitude indicates the flexib?ity of the artistic world: unlike Adrian's strict adherence to rules, including language rules, Roldan dismisses the power of the word. When he calls himself a "cura," then states that he left the seminary before actually becoming a priest, he again shows that verbal labels are unimportant. For even though he is not reaUy a priest, he hears confessions of tourists for a small fee and takes the Uberty of reversing the normal confession process. And it does por
not matter
what
el contrario,
words
tengo
por
the norma
sinner
speaks.
perdonar
Roldan
explains:
y m?s
primero
tarde,
"Yo, si el
confesando lo desea, le oigo sus culpas" (19). Roldan later confirms the insignificance ofwords in the artistic realm when he describes Marga rita Pondal as his daughter and, in a different scene, as his niece, and finally as his "hija o sobrina" (107). When Adri?n confronts this incon sistency,
Roldan
replies,
De cualquier modo le dir? que no tendr?a lam?s m?nima impor tancia el hecho de que Margarita no fuera mi sobrina. Yo, l?gi camente, pod?a haberme inventado tal circunstancia; de la manera
misma cos
cuando
(68)
que ejerzo
suelo como
inventarme gu?a
tur?stico
datos
hist?ricos
en mi
jornada
o art?sti
laboral.
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MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF
241
introduces his disregard for concrete, scientifically correct in formation, thereby leaving the possibiUty for creation and experimen tation with words rather than adhering strictly to their "true" mean
Roldan
use.
conventional
ing and
With Roldan as his guide, Adri?n gradually comes to understand this disappearance of reUable language in the dream world. As early as page 25 he can "... adivinar los pensamientos del lego Roldan," and here he indicates his w?lingness to explore, to take on the role of tour ist.As Rold?n's apprentice he learns not to depend on language and to let his imagination rather than words define and describe. When Adri?n returns to the institute where he teaches, his thoughts reflect this new knowledge about language and imagination: instead of con centrating on tiresome details about Margarita, he simply thinks, "Era bella, pero ambigua. Tan dudosa como las figuraciones que, cada noche, le llenaban lamente de sombras . .." (35). He is drawn to her ambiguity and her silence, just as the uncertainty of Santo Tom? at him.
tracts
In a later
dream,
Adrian's
to art
transition
is signaled
par
tially by the feeling he has of being capable of ". . .hablarles en latin o cualquier otra lengua" (67).Words are so flexible that he can master is an "hya o sobrina" any language, are so diluted that Margarita (107). Release from dependence upon words is therefore crucial to the acceptance
of a
space
where
the
scientifically
verifiable
has
been
for
feited in favor of endless possibiUty. Throughout the novel, time belongs strictly to reaUty while time lessness establishes itself after dilution of language as a second major characteristic of the creative realm. By mentioning eternity at the start of the novel, the narrator connects the hero with timelessness: "So?a ba eternamente, pero jam?s dorm?a" (10). At this stage, Adri?n has not familiarized himself with timelessness and the concept disturbs him to the extent that he cannot at first feel at ease in his dream world. Be ginning with the foreshadowing provided by the artistic depiction of the Count's achievement of eternal Ufe in heaven, the reader antici pates the erasure of time as a factor. And, since the text establishes a duality of character between the Count and Adri?n, it follows that time will disappear inAdrian's Ufe as itdoes in the Count's. During his first to the
visit
church,
Adrian's
preoccupation
with
time
seems
natural.
He feels uncomfortable as he approaches the parish for the first time and checks his Seiko watch, but after entering he reveals his obsession with time when he frets over leaving his watch, which rests lightly on his
the novel at home. his As and Adri?n progresses accepts a "... the concept of time changes for him. He states, world, con s?lo escuchar en las venas" s? la hora el latido de mi coraz?n
wrist,
dream veces
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242
ALEC, 18 (1993) He
ill).
now
on his
reUes
intuition,
a new
creating
concept
re
that
places his dependence upon exact, digital time. Adrian has come to understand Rold?n's theory about the erasure of time: "Cuando nadie sabe la hora que es, la realidad es que todav?a se est? a tiempo de todo" (71). Anything can happen when one isfree from the constraints of time and thereby Uberated, free to create. As the title indicates, the sunset becomes central in the novel. Un til he withdraws completely from his real world, Adri?n only dreams after the sun sets. When he visits the church to see ifhis guide exists during the day, he later tells Roldan that he arrived "M?s o menos en el instante de la ca?da del sol" (74). He seems drawn to the church in the twilight, as ifwanting to step into a colorfuUy painted sunset and escape his dreary reality. FinaUy, throughMargarita, the artistic world is integrated intohis waking Ufewhen the wedding-funeral takes place at the hour of sunset. in Los
References and
tudes,
amantes
to twentieth-century are not incidental.
to them,
relation
Spain's
values
and
These
atti
allusions
almost exclusively refer to influences which North America has im posed onWestern society. For instance, Rold?n's scorn for those tour ists who dutifuUy view El Greco's painting without appreciating its greatness is a direct stab at a prevailing mind-set which is indifferent to or incapable of understanding the products of creative impulse. In a subsequent reference, Roldan, on mentioning the inscription on the base of Cardinal Pedro Gonz?lez de Mendoza's tomb in the Toledo says that the inscription Cathedral, cifrados los eruditos que solamente
"... de
tiene
claves
las universidades
ocultas, mensajes norteamerica
nas pueden descifrar con la ayuda de sus ordenadores" (23).With such a statement, Hern?ndez may be poking fun at the critics, especiaUy in the sense that criticism seeks to limit, define, and thereby stop the creative
process.
of course,
And,
as Gonz?lez-del-VaUe
and
Ruiz-Av??s
have shown (145), these words are one more example of the inability to pinpoint the meaning of reaUty with language. But they also say something about what Adri?n is experiencing. Today's values, even in Spain, are often judged according to technolo gy-based
In such
standards.
a comparison,
Spain
certainly
to
struggles
keep pace. And, says Roldan, "Es una pena" (23). It is a pity about modern Spain, but it is precisely thismodern, American-imposed men tality, with its materialism and lack of a spiritual dimension that Adri?n eventually rejects. The very act of rejection is a wrenching struggle, as he finds himself caught between themodern seductions of he has
what
always
considered
safe,
the frightening, dark, and unknown Greco's
lifetime
Spain,
in her
most
normal,
and
comprehensible
and
realm of possib?ity. During El
creative,
productive
moment
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of
MARION FREEMJ?NILISAVOLLENDORF glory, set the standard of an age. Roldan dom: nar
"Pues
243
explains the painter's free
es decir, al ser eterno, emborro puede, inmortal, . . ." (113). a su gusto cambiarlo It is that moment
Dom?nico
el cuadro,
in
Uke the Renaissance building Spain and elsewhere inEurope?buried of the San Felipe Neri Institute under the layers of paint and graffiti added by the ages (29)?that reveals its secrets to Adri?n. His Odyssey has brought him full circle. Led by Roldan, made whole byMargarita, he
can
give
over
himself
to existence
on
a new,
creative,
art-inspired
level; he too can dwell in that realm where time no longer exists, eter nally fulfilled. on remarks Karpowicz's serve as a general summary
the power of art to achieve the impossible of our arguments. Art, says this scholar,
distance
and
is irrational, chaotic, and unstable, but these qualities also give art its power. WhUe mortals fear and resist the inevitabiUty of death, art triumphs over death in an almost reUgious fervor by shortening the between
the mortal
the
immortal,
since
an
art represents
eternity that is an "infinitely stretchable existence of three tenses simultaneously" (11). Karpowicz further relates the artistic imagina tion tomadness (6-7), a condition that enables the human imagination infinitely to speculate and choose variants. The viewer of the work of art, which
was
sees
in the past,
organized
it in the present,
and
"trans
forms it either negatively (he does not wish it to happen) or positively (he wishes it to happen)" (11). The positive reaction results in a fusion
of past, present, less realm where
and
future,
possibiUty
and
the viewer
becomes
part
of the
time
is endless.
Adrian's journey leads him to this eternal, timeless state. He views El Greco's painting with itsmoment frozen in eternity and, inKarpo wicz' words, "he wishes it to happen." And by accepting the irrationali ty of creativity, he steps beyond the conventional borders of time and states:
space.
Karpowicz
spire. affect
The
narration
one
individual's
"...
everything
rushes
to prove
its being
by
setting up borders, even as art does away with them" (21). Adri?n finally learns to put things together in his own way, and by doing so, he also becomes an artist. Although others may deem him mad or ill, he knows that he has become powerful. The novel itself, in its unique way, reflects the power of art to in
selves
is more
than
the mere
outlook.
The
final
scenes
story of art's of the work
to power are them
a painting, a verbal of El Greco's reworking masterpiece. Foucault's cited above, the distance about comments,
membering
Re be
tween the visual arts and language, one may speculate that Hern?ndez attempts to overcome this divergence in the novel's final moments when themultiple threads and layers of the narrative form themselves into a scene painted with words rather than brush strokes. AU the
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ALEC, 18 (1993)
244 act
personages
as witnesses
as Roldan
officiates
at Adri?n
and Marga
rita's marriage at Santo Tom?, art's home. The Count himself smiles, to the artist,
gestures
also
who
present,
sm?es
his
in return
approval
(141). El Greco, like Karpowicz, acknowledges and sanctions the end less possibilities which his art inspires. Further, Hern?ndez has writ
ten
an
version
expanded
version
of Los
can be
here
analyzed
caUed
as amantes, unpublished the post-code, according
If the yet. to Morris
sette's terminology, then the new version stands in relation to it as post-post-code, as itwere. The process could continue infinitely; there is no final word in art. Adri?n dies, but overcomes death. Descriptions of him in the final scenes
an
portray
is once
who
individual
more
He
in control.
"sees"
clearly; contact lenses have replaced his bothersome glasses (136). His death takes place exactly at noon, on the cusp of time which is neither a.m.
nor
The
p.m.
into wedding
of funeral
conversion
is no accident;
it
isAdri?n himself who calls for the change (139). With Margarita he is whole, in the "M?s All? Indiviso" (138) from which he looks down on the world he has leftbehind. There is in the tolling of Santo Tome's bells a mixture of "j?bilo y tristeza" (139), as always at weddings, for something leftbehind and something gained, but Adri?n "era feliz" (136). Having become part of the world of the painting, he w?l dwell forever in that creative chiaroscuro space between dark and light,be tween Ufe and death in the brilliant twilight splendor where the sun never
sets.
NOTES 1.
The
author
made
this statement
in April, 1991. University 2. Adrian's fate mirrors that the meta-artistic
the Count
relation
arises.
during
a presentation
of Orgaz' Andr? Gide
at Colorado
it is through offers the concept an in which lui-m?me")
du sujet sur ("cette r?troaction abyme," inset, such as El Greco's represents painting,
and
a model
for what
State
this duaUty of "mise en emblematic
takes
thework inwhich it is embedded (41).
place
in
WORKS CONSULTED Foucault,
Michel York:
Madness
Vintage
and
Civilization.
Trans.
Richard
Howard.
New
1988. Books, 1889-1939. Paris:
1965. Gallimard, Gide, Andr?. Journal, uLos amantes del sol poniente Ruiz-Av??s. Gonz?lez-del-Valle, Luis, and Miguel Afterword. Los amantes existencia" ante su plurifac?tica y el hombre
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MARION FREEMAN/LISAVOLLENDORF 245 del Gudiol,
sol poniente.
By Ram?n
Hern?ndez.
Lincoln, Nebraska: 1986. 143-57. Studies, El Greco. Trans. Kenneth
and Spanish-American Spanish Jos?. Domenikos Theotokopoulos,
Society
of
New
Lyons.
York: Viking Press, 1977. Ram?n. Los amantes del Hern?ndez,
sol poniente. Lincoln, Nebraska: Society of 1986. and Spanish-American Studies, Spanish Bruce. "Referential and Post Morris8ette, Code, Pre-Code, IntertextuaUty. in Literature. On Referring Ed Anna Whiteside and Michael Code." Issacharoff. 1987.
Bloomington 111-121.
Karpowicz,
Tymoteusz. (1981): 4-22. Theodore. Ziolkowski, Press,
and
Indianapolis:
"Art: A Bridge Disenchanted
Indiana
to the Impossible."
Images.
Princeton:
University Polish
Princeton
Press,
Journal University
1977.
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26
