Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur

8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur

1/13


2/13

8 HISPANIA

9 MARCH

996

Apocalyptic

Vision

and

Modernism's

Dismantling

of

Scientific

Discourse:

Lugones's

"Yzur"

HowardM.

Fraser

College

f

Williamand

Mary

Abstract:

Recentstudies

on

Modernism

have

emphasized

he movement's ense

of

catastrophism,

ts antici-

pation

of

apocalypse

on the

eve of the

twentieth

entury.

This attitude

of

trepidation

ndhorror

of the future

s

strongly

eflected

n

Modernism's

ttitude

oward cience.

The Modernistmovement

xtolled

pseudo-scientific

doctrinesassociatedwithalchemyandspiritualismwhileit attackedexperimentalcience as a Faustianbar-

tering

in death.

One modernist

whose

work

represents

a frontalattack

on the methods

and discourse

of sci-

ence is

Leopoldo

Lugones.

"Yzur,"

masterpiece

of

modernist hort fiction

published

n

Las

uerzas

extraltas

(1906), displays

Lugones's

and

by

extension

Modernism's

kepticism

surrounding

he

folly

of

experimental

science

by

unmaskinghypocrisies

and

misrepresentations

n scientific

discourse.

An

obsessed

investigator

sets out

to teach

a

chimpanzee

o

speak,

exposing

he sham

of

scientific

nquiry

ndthe

empty

myth

of human

progress

n

the

ironic

reversal

of human

and simian

dentities.

Key

Words:

alchemy,

apocalypse,

Caras

y

Caretas,

Darwin

Charles),

evolution,

Lugones

(Leopoldo),

Mod-

ernism,

Poe

(Edgar

Allan),

pseudo-science,

piritualism

Apocalyptic

visionsofthe future

have

revisited

society

during

the

past

millennium

n

the eve

of each

century.

n

the

twilight

of our

own

age,

one

of the

most

recent

manifestations

of the

dread

of

the future

appears

n

a

jeremiad

by

Vaclav

Havel,

"The

Endof

the

Modern

Era."

Havel

prophesies

planetary

devastation

which

s

anticipated

y

such

heraldos

egros

as "the

population

xplosion

and

the

green-

house effect,holes in the ozoneandAIDS,

the

threat

of

nuclear

errorism,

andthe

dra-

matically

widening gap

between

the

rich

north

and

he

poor

south,

he

danger

of

fam-

ine,

the

depletion

of

the

biosphere

and the

mineral

resources

of

the

planet...."

In like

fashion,

"the

end of

the

modern

era"

loomed

at the

end

of

the

past

"century

of

centuries"

and

"the

century

of

progress,"9

when

people

around

he

world

greeted

the

twentieth

century

not

only

with

great

trepi-

dation,

but

with

a fearof annihilationand

even

millennial

horror

as

they

approached

what

they

perceived

as the

end

of

a

cher-

ished

way

of

life.

As

Hillel

Schwartz

notes

in

Century's

nd.

A Cultural

History

of

the

Fin

de

Siecle

from

the

990s

through

the

1990s:

at the end

of the 16th

century, eligious

aith

had

been

overcome

by

wild

superstition;

t the

end

of the 17th

century,

a

vigorous

aristocracy

had

grown

senile,

a

good

king

cruel;

at

the end

of the

18th

century,

he

grand

dreams

of the

Enlightenment

ad

been

lost

in

the

gutter

of

puerile

utopias.

And

n this 19th

century

fin

de

sidcle,

he

world

was

undergoing

a decadence

which

is too marked

o

deny,

which

is

slowly

trans-

forming

ts

polity

nto

confused

hesitations

and ster-

ile

agitations

..

and

n

that

studied

unconsciousness

which

has

brought

uin

o all

the

great

empires.

156)

In Latin

America

during

this

period,

as

Evelyn

Picon

Garfield

and

Ivan

A.

Schulman

have

shown

in

Las entraiias

del

vacio.

Ensayos

obre

a

modernidad

ispano-

americana,

he

shock

of

the

future

and

de-

spair

facing

the

Apocalypse

were

touch-

stones

of

Modernism,

he

literary

and

cul-

tural

movement

whose existential

anxieties

were

an

outgrowth

f

an

ideological

acuum

and the

disorientation

produced

by

a

cul-

tural

malaise

at the

turn

of the

century:

La

segunda

mitad

del

siglo

xix es una

era

compleja

n

America;

s un

periodo

de

rapidas

ransiciones

ocio-

culturales

en

que

el hombre

se

halla

en

el centro

de

un

universo

nestable.

El desmoronamiento

e

tradi-

ciones-iniciado

en

la

Colonia-y

el sentimiento

ons-

ciente

por

parte

del

escritor

de

la

p6rdida

de estas

produce

un

vacio

cultural

e

ideol6gico

que

a su

vez

da

origen

a

una

literatura

e

ambigtiedad,

ngustia,

This content downloaded from 132.248.197.192 on Fri, 5 Dec 2014 14:12:49 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/13

APOCALYPTIC

VISION AND MODERNISM'S

DISMANTLING

OF

SCIENTIfiC DISCOURSE

9

enajenaci6n,

ntitesis

kin6tica,

y

metamorfosis

ons-

tante.

Y

esta

literatura,

su

vez,

genera

una

expresi6n

lingfiistica

e

tonos

matices

xtrafios,

iscordantes

e

ins61litos.

Se trata

del

arte

de una

crisis-el

del

modernismoy el de la modernidad-en

que

el escri-

tor se

arroga

el

papel

de

historiador

agente

de

su

aventura

readora.

112)

It

was

Modernism's

ambivalent

percep-

tion

of

culture

at

the

dawn of a

new

era

which

probably

ed

Schulman

o

state

n

his

1991

essay

"La

modernizaci6n

del mo-

dernismo

hispano-americano"

hat

critics

undertakea

new

critical

history

of

Modern-

ism in order to emphasize "el caricter

profundamente

enigmaitico

del Mo-

dernismo"

93).

Perhaps

a

point

of

depar-

ture for

such a

new

history

of

Modernism

should

include ts

apocalyptic

ision of

the

future as

revealed in

the

movement's

am-

bivalent

attitude

toward

scientific

dis-

course.

To

begin

to

understandthis

particular

ambiguity,

we

should

note that

the

daring

stylistic innovationsof Modernismwere

attempts

o

understand

he

elements

of

the

universe in

a

new,

expanded

discourse of

science.

The

tactile

associations

timulated

by

the

evocation

of

precious

objects,

for

example,

not

only

enriched

the

"sensa-

tional"

unctionof

language

as

Ned

Davison

(35-38)

has

termed

it,

but

also

formed

the

centerpiece

of a

new

theory

of

language,

one

which

underscored

enigmatic

ambigu-

ityandthe flexibilityof the linguisticsign.

Supporting

his

notion,

Octavio

Paz

recog-

nizes that

objets

'art

and

precious

gems

are

themselves

linguistic

signs,

not

symbols,

that

express

a

"perpetua

bfisqueda

de lo

extra-io"

nd a

desire to

return

o an

arche-

typal

and

alchemical

past

(21-22).

In

this

regard,

Angel

Rama

has

labeled

precious

objects

"objetos

ulturales"

hose

presence

neutralizes

he

external

world's

ragmenta-

tion

and

dehumanization

within

the mo-

dernista's

"reino

nterior"

110-11).

More

than

jewels,

precious

gems

are

touchstones

that

provide

entr6e

to the

vitality,spontane-

ity

and

carnal

pleasure

of

nature's

"selva

sagrada"(Rama

106).

Discussing

the

ironic

presence

of

preciosidad,

Gwen

Kirkpatrick

demonstrates how

the

superficial

fetichism

of

"glittering

sign-objects"

in

modernist

poetry

are

themselves

subversive.

Rather

than mimetic

symbols,

the

modernistas'

superficial"luxury faccumulation"nder-

scores

a

deep

"reaction

o

what

they

saw

as

the

poverty

of their

circumstantial

eality"

(15).

These

critics conclude

hat

the

incorpo-

ration

of

preciosity

nmodernist

tyle

were

more

than

a

superficial

"mania

del

esti-

lismo."

In

support

of their

ideological

up-

heaval

against

the threat

of

experiemental

science,

modernistas'

inguistic

revolution

went beyond stylistic innovations.They

perceived

iteraryanguage

as an elastic

and

flexible

intrument

o

express

a

spiritualist

vision

of the cosmos

while

undermining

ra-

ditional

cientific

discourse.

n

this

way,

he

modenists'

linguistic mission,

if it can

be

viewed

as

such,

sought

to infuse

language

with

an

anti-scientific

mprecision

o

bear

witness

to their

"horror

por

el

progreso"

(Paz

37)

andto serve

its

pseudo-scientific

ideology:"supieron nterpretaros signos

de

la

expresi6n

modernista

a la luz

de

una

renovaci6n

spiritual

ideologia

coetainea"

(Schulman

92).

As

an

expression

of

this,

it is evident

hat

thecoexistence

of

spiritual

enovation

om-

plete

with

pseudo-scientific

deology

and

a

corresponding

antiscientific

discourse

is

present

from

Modernism's

arlyyears.

For

example,

he

spiritualist

omponent

f

mod-

ernist poetic discourse which was ex-

pressed

in the

movement's

obsession

with

objetsd'art,

precious

gems

and

metals,

re-

veals

a

thoroughgoing

enovation f

the

lin-

guistic

sign.

This renovation

onsists

of

an

increase

in

the

semantic

oad of

words

re-

ferring

o

precious

objects

so that

hey

now

embody

a

broader

range

of

expressive

and

symbolicpossibilities

which

go

far

beyond

their

dictionary

efinitions.

n

their

revised

encoding of linguistic elements, the

modernistas

sought

to

express

their

awe

of

the

unknown,

their

wonder

at

the

enigmas

of

nature,

and

their

attempt

to

transform

language

into

an

instrument

of

alchemical

and

pseudo-scientific

experimentation.

("Antes

[Dario]

habia

dicho

que

las

cosas

tienen

un

alma;

ahora

dice

que

las

palabras



4/13

10 HISPANIA

79

MARCH

1996

tambien

a

tienen"

[Paz

37].)

Pseudo-scientific

xperiments

re

present

in

the works

ofl

the

first

modernists,

nclud-

ingJoseAsunci6nSilvaandJuliandelCasal,

andutilize he

enigmas

of

alchemy

o enrich

their

poetic anguage.

Alchemical

eadings

of

Casal's

"Soneto

Pompadour"

1886)1

nd

Silva's

"Ars"

1890)

show how the

precious

materials

present

n

these

poems provide

a

series of

coded

referencesto new

spiritual-

ist realities

beyond

the

printedpage.

Casal's

sonnet,

which

begins,

"Amo

el

bronce,

el

cristal,

las

porcelanas,"

an be

interpretedas an alchemicalexperiment

because

it

penetrates

into the

animating

force

contained

in

precious objects.

The

poet

carries

out

the

experiment

n a

logical

way,

moving

romthe

general

statement

of

his "loves"

n

the

quartets

to the

specific

objects

of

his desire

n

the tercets

(el

oro de

tu

larga

cabellera,

/

el

rojo

de tus

labios

temblorosos

....)

In

the transition

rom

he

predominating"yo"

n

the

first half

of

the

poemto the "tWi"elow, inanimateobjects

obtain

a life force

from the

poet

when

they

make contact

with his loved one

and are

thus transformed.

By

the end

of

the

poem,

the

metal

and fine

objets

d'art

merge

with

the

beloved

in a

spiritual

and material

coniunctio,

xpressing

a universal

harmony

brought

about

by

love.

With

this

alchemical

interpretation,

Casal's

onnet

sheds

light

on

Modernism's

fascination

with

precious objects.

Rather

than

express

materialism,

he focus

on

pre-

ciosity

by

Casal

and other

modernists

con-

notes

what

Paz has

called

the

"horror

al

vacio"

21)

of

modernity's

piritual

poverty

("La

ctualidad,

ue

a

primera

ista

parece

una

plenitud

de

tiempos,

se muestra

como

una

carencia

y

un

desamparo"

22]).

The

bronze,

crystal,

porcelain,

tained

glass,

and

tapestries

are

artfully

ashioned

materials

which

grow

in an

alchemical

sense

by

vir-

tue of

their

physical

contact

with

the

artisan.

And

this human

touch,

the life

force,

reaches

out to embrace

inanimate

objects

in the same

way

that

it absorbsthe

exotic

life

force

from "bellas

castellanas,"

trouba-

dours'

and Germanic

ballads,

and

Arabian

stallions.

While

the

transition

rom

inanimate

ob-

jects

to

animate

beings

in

the

quartets

serves

as a

stimulus o the narrator's mo-

tion,his attraction othisfinery ocuses on

abstractions

n

the

first half

of the

poem.

The

objets

'art

andexotic materials

re

ust

that,

isolated

materials,

which

do not

achieve the unionwith ife untilthe second

half

of the

poem,

when

they

are

concretely

and

alchemically

amalgamated

with the

beauty

of the woman.The last stanzaof the

poem presents

the

final

step

in

the

conjoin-

ing

of

opposites

as the abstract

ro,rojo,

and

negro,combine with the vital force of the

concrete

arga

cabellera,

abios

emblorosos,

and

ojos

centelleantes.

Casal's

use of

color

in

the sonnet's

final

lines

serves not

only

as the consummation

of an

erotic coniunctio

but also reminds us

of his

magicalpurpose

n

composing

"Mis

amores."

The

gold,

red,

and

black,

are

pri-

mary

colors associated

with the

Magnum

Opus

which reveal

the alchemical

corre-

spondencesbetweenelements of the uni-

verse

and human emotion

and

sensation.

These colors

express

three

key

moments

n

the alchemical

rocess:

gold

corresponds

o

the culmination

f the Great

Work;

red

by

its

association

with the

planet

Mars,

con-

notes

strength

and

passion,

and

by

its asso-

ciation with

the color

of blood

symbolizes

vitality;

and black

corresponds

to the

nigredo,

ymbolizes

he dissolution

of

mat-

ter

in

anticipation

f its

recombination

nd

growth

(Cirlot

146).

Silva's"Ars"

eveals he

alchemical

work-

ings

of literature

hat

mirrors

Casal's

reat-

ment

in "Mis amores."

"Ars" s

a

quasi-

scientific

experiment

n the tradition

f

the

secret

doctrine

as Silva

states

on the tenth

line,

"cual

de

una ciencia

ignota."

On

the

first

line,

the narrator

presents

a

hypoth-

esis,

"El

verso

es vaso

santo,"

which

he

provesby

the

last

ine.

In the

poem

tself

he

poet

translates this abstract notion

regard-

ing

the

supernatural

quality

of

poetry

into

concrete

form.

By

the end

of the

poem,

the

narrator/alchemist

has

brewed

in his

re-

torts a

magical potion,

a

"supremo

bil-

samo,"

of which

a mere

droplet

will

provide

restorative

powers.



5/13

APOCALYPTIC

VISION AND

MODERNISM'S DISMANTLING

OF

SCIENTIfiC DISCOURSE

11

In

keeping

with

goal

of an

alchemist's

coniunctio

ppositorum,

he

reagents

of

this

experiment

are

both

liquid

and

solid,

pure

liquidthoughtsand "fleursdu mal,"solid

flowers

that have survived he

world's

mis-

erable

struggle

for life. Like the

grand-

mother's

sense

of

memory

in Silva's

"Los

maderosde San

Juan,"

he flowers

preserve

the

past

in such a

way

as to

keep

alive

the

"recuerdos

deliciosos de

tiempos

que

no

vuelven."

The

liquid

and

solidare distilledand

neu-

tralized

so that all

that

is

left are

watery

images boiling with magical golden bub-

bles.

The

fire of

the

poet's

soul

miraculously

dissolves the

reagents

which

recombine n

the

poet's

symbolic orge

as the

experiment

culminates.

Thanks o the

powers

of

gold

in

the

opening

ines of the

poem,

art now

has

redemptive

alueswhich

llustrate he

pres-

ence

of

alchemical

heory

in

Modernism.

In their

fiction as well

as in

poetry,

the

modernistsused

alchemical

materialsand

doctrines o underscore heirprofounddis-

trust of

experimental

science.

Dario's "El

rubi"

efutes a

scientific

recipe

for

the cre-

ation of

rubies which

appear

n

the

story:

"fusi6n

por

veinte dias

de una

mezcla de

silice

y

de

aluminatode

plomo;

coloraci6n

con

bicromato de

potasa

o

con

6xido

de

cobalto"

79)

and

substitutesthe

alchemi-

cal

coniunctio,

"iTierra

Mujer ,"

he

magi-

cal

commingling

of

a

woman's blood

and

diamonds,a synthesis of the animateand

inanimate,

which

results in the

gestation

and birth

of

new

life.

Alongside

Modernism's

creation

of a

new,

spiritualist

inguistic

expression

s

its

undermining

of

scientific

discourse.To

an

extent

this is a

result

of

the

modernistas'

millennial

ear of

the

future

and

its

distrust

of

"progress"

which

Dario

called

the

"enemigo

del

ensuefio

y

del

misterio,

en

cuanto

a

que

se

ha

circunscrito

a la

idea de

utilidad"

cited

n

Zavala,

Rub n

Darfo

11).

As a

symptom

of

their

apprehension

of

doom,

the

modernistas

conjoined

notions of

utilitarianism,

progress,

industrialism,

and

North

American

domination

as

Zavala ob-

serves in

Colonialism

and

Culture.

Hispanic

Modernisms

and

theSocial

Imaginary.

Con-

sequently,

orthis

generation

f

writers,

he

ethicof

progress

and ts linksto

experimen-

tal

science,

capitalism

nd

yanqui

mperial-

ism formeda catastrophicsubtextwhich

cast

a

pall

on their

visionof the future.

In

anticipation

of

the dark modern

age

to

come,

modernist

writers

ought

o

discredit

experimental

cience,

the

principal

ource

of the

Apocalypse

and

a coded reference

o

capitalist

mperialism,

y

revealing

ts

prac-

titioners'

corruption

f

language

as one

of

their

tools of mass

destruction. Mo-

dernism's

spiritualgoal,

as Zavala

notes,

was to protecthumanityfrom becoming

"convertidos

n

instrumentos

de la

coloni-

zaci6n

o de las

ideologias

de la

clase

dominante"

Ruben

Dario

10)

One

of the

masterpieces

of

modernist

fiction which

expresses

the

movement's

concern

with the evils

of

progress

and

the

destructiveness

of traditional

cientific

dis-

course

serving

an

imperialist

will

to

power

is

LeopoldoLugones's"Yzur,"

ublished

n

his collection of alchemicaland occultist

short

stories,

Las

fuerzas

extra as

(1906).

The

story

documents an

experiment

in

which an

investigator

attempts

to teach

a

chimpanzee

o

speak.

A

companion iece

to

his

quartet

of

science

fiction

tales,

"La

fuerza

omega,"

"La

metamfisica,"

"Viola

acherontia,"

nd "El

psych6n,"

"Yzur"

ep-

resents

a milestone

n

Modernism's

xami-

nation

of the

apocalyptic

nature of

experi-

mentalscience and millennial ear of the

future.

As

a

metaphor

of

the

movement's

skepticism

regarding

the

limitations

of

scientific

discourse,

the

story

outlinesthe

course

of the

experiment

which

culminates

in a

pathetic

scene

with

the

eponymous

chimpanzee

who,

dying,

utters a

cryptic

message

to

his

master:

"Amo,

gua,

amomi

amo

..."

(126).

With

this

enigmatic

phrase,

'"Yzur"

rovides

modem

readers

entr6e

nto

various

urn-of-the-centuryotionsregard-

ing

the

natureof

humankind's

inship

with

other

primates,

human

language

and the

quest

for

domination.

Primatologist

and

cultural critic

Donna

Haraway

has

studied the

passion

for

collect-

ing

wild

animals

amidst the

search

for hu-

man

origins

around the

turn of

the

twenti-



6/13


7/13

APOCALYPTIC

VISION

AND MODERNISM'S

DISMANTLING

OF SCIENTIfiC

DISCOURSE

13

The

most

extraordinary

f

these

human-

ized

apes

at

the

turn

of

the

century

was

"Consul,"

whom

Lugones

mentions

in

"Yzur."nfact,severalgenerationsofchim-

panzees

with the same

aristocraticname

appear

n

Caras

y

Caretas.

As

they

tour

Eu-

rope

and

America,

hey

illustrate heir

imi-

tative

alentssuch as

driving

a

car,

smoking

cigars,

and

thumbing hrough

magazines,

and serve as

exemplars

of human civiliza-

tion and

progress

flourishing

within

the

animal

kingdom.

Examples

of

apes

communicating

and

even"speaking"ppearrequentlyn Caras

y

Caretas

n

features

hatcan be

considered

models for

"Yzur."4 ne

case of

popular

Darwinism

ocusing

upon

apes' speech

is

illustrated

n

the article

"Unmono

que

estai

aprendiendo

i

hablar"

#88/+,

9

June

1900).

The

article

depicts

"Ham,"

chimpanzee,

who

allegedly

displays

ordinary

human

traits.

Most

compelling

s his

approximati-

ing

human

language,

a

feat

that

surely

in-

triguedLugones:"...HamIlegari i expre-

sarse

como

un

verdadero

hombre,

ya

que

los

6rganos

vocales

y

la

laringe

del

mono

son

iguales

ai

os

nuestros,

y

el

domador

afiade

que

no

hay

raz6n

para

que

no

hable,

sobre

todo si se

recuerda

que

los

sonidos

que

producen

los

cuadrumanos

se ase-

mejan

a

os

inarticuladosde

las

personas"

(my emphasis).

This

phrase

from

Caras

y

Caretas

eappears

n a

slightly

altered

orm

in

"Yzur." he

narrator/protagonistf the

story

is a

phonetician

who

expresses

his

"idea

ija"

arly

on

as he

sets

up

his

ill-fated

experiment:

"que

no

hay

ninguna

raz6n

cientifica

ara

que

el

monono

hable"

118).

The

impetus

to the

experiment

in

Lugones's

story

is in

the

form

of

the

Faustian

nvestigator.

Cast

n

the

mould of

other

deranged

scientists in

Las

fuerzas

extranias,

he

narrator f

"Yzur"

eflects

the

popular

image

of

the

monomaniacal

and

myopic

researchers

who

Rosalynn

D.

Haynes

studies

inFrom

Faust to

Strangelove:

Representations

fthe

Scientist n

Western

Lit-

erature:

The

alchemist

reappears

at

critical

imes as

the ob-

sessed or

maniacal

cientist.

Driven o

pursue

an ar-

cane

intellectual

goal

that carries

suggestions

of

ideological

evil,

this

figure

has been reincarnated

e-

cently

as the sinister

biologist

producing

new

(and

hence

allegedly

unlawful)

species

through

the

quasimagical

rocess

of

genetic

engineering.

...

the Romantic

epiction

of the

unfeeling

scientist

who has

reneged

on human

relationships

and

sup-

pressed

all humanaffections

n the cause

of

science.

This has been

the most

enduring

tereotype

of all

and

still

provides

he most

common

mage

of the

scientist

in

popular hinking,

ecurring

epeatedly

n

twentieth

centuryplays,

novels

and films. In

portrayals

f

the

1950s

there is an additional

ambivalenceabout this

figure:

his emotional

deficiency

s

condemned

as

in-

human,

even

sinister,

but in

a

less extreme

orm

t

is

also condoned

or even

admired,

s the inevitable

rice

scientistsmustpay oachieve heirdisinterestedness.

(3)

With

Lugones's

inguistic

focus,

"Yzur"

carries

he

controversy

of

apes

as

humans'

reflection

ar

beyond

the feats

of

mimicry

published

n

Carasy

Caretas r even

the

act

of homicide

perpetrated

in Poe's

classic

Murders

n theRue

Morgue.

From

ts

open-

ing

passage

to the

concluding

and

ambigu-

ous phraseutteredby the title character,

"Yzur"

xplores

an inverted

Darwininan

theory

of the essence

and

practice

of

lan-

guage.

It is evident

that the

confusion of

apes

andhumans

n thiswork

have

roots n

Poe's

story.

Regarding

Poe's

influence

on

Lugones, however,

John

E.

Englekirk's

EdgarAllan

Poe

in

Hispanic

Literatures

a

critical arteblanche.

Englekirk

nalyzes

n

great detailPoe's broadinfluences, espe-

cially

hose

appearing

t turn

of

the

century

andconcludes:

"Almost ll of

the

followers

of

Modernism

were

directly

or

indirectly

influenced

by

Poe"

(146).

Englekirk

inds

general

ratherthan

specific

influence:

"In

spite

ofthe

fact

that

almostall

of

the

stories

of

these

volumes

[Las

uerzas

extrafas

and

Cuentos

atales]

are

amazingly

Poesque,

it

is

impossible

o

claim

hat

even

a

single

tale

was

directly

nfluenced

by

Poe.

The

many

resemblances o

the

manner

and

themes of

the

American

author

must be

explained,

then,

as

a result

of a

strong spiritual

union

between

the two men"

(293).

Englekirk's

principal

criteria in

linking

these

kindred

writers are

that

Lugones

was

Poe's

"frater-

nal

spirit"

(294)

and

that the

two

writers'



8/13

14 HISPANIA

79 MARCH 1996

love

of

mystery,

fatality,

he

extraordinary

and

the horrible belie

a

literary

kinship,

seem

accurate

although

mpressionistic.

Given Englekirk'sacknowledgmentof

the American's

nfluence

on

the

Argentin-

ian,

t is curious

hat

he treats"Yzur"

ith

a

curt,

almost

offhand reference:

"

...

'Yzur,'

in

which a man

works

on the

theory

that

monkeys

are

but humans

who lost the art

of

speech"

(296).

It is

most

likely

that

Lugones

was drawn

to Poe's classic tale

about

the

ape's

imitative

faculties,

"The

Murders

in

the

Rue

Morgue"

(1841).

Baudelaire'sranslation,DoubleAssassinat

dans

la Rue

Morgue"

(1856),

served as a

model

for the first

Spanish

translations

n

which an

orangutan

s trained

to commit

murder.

Another

work of

literature

from

this

period might

also be

considered

a

Darwinesque

prototype

or a

Lugones's

vi-

sion

of civilized

manas

inhuman

barbarian.

The

affinity

between

apes

and

humans

ap-

pears

in

Stevenson's

Doctor

ekyll

and

Mr.

Hyde(1886)in whichthe beastthat dwells

within the

civilized

human

has

distinctly

simian

eatures.

In

turn,

it is evident

that

Lugones

exer-

cised

influence

upon

his

friendand

iterary

comrade,

Horacio

Quiroga,

oncerning

he

interrelationships

f

apes

and

humans.

Noe

Jitrik's

prologue

o

Horacio

Quiroga.

Obras

inWditasy

esconocidas,

ocuments

Quiroga's

admiration

for

Poe

["Poe

era

en

aquella

epocael6inico utorqueyoleia.Ese maldito

loco

habia

llegado

a

dominarme

por

com-

pleto...."

(20)]

and

for

Lugones

["Vive

intensamente

sus

amigos,

especialmente

los

uruguayos,

y

tiene

en

Lugones

un

pro-

tector,

un

amigo,

un

mentor

y

un

guia:

es

quien

le

ha abierto

el

camino

al

mo-

dernismo...."

(12)].

Quiroga's

El mono

que

asesin6,

published

as a

folletin

in Caras

y

Caretas

(#552-57/+,

1

May-5

June

1909],

carries

Poe's

and

Lugones's experiments

full circle.

In

"Elmono

que

asesin6,"

a

caged

gibbon

is not

only capable

of

speaking

but

delivers

a

lecture

on the

spiritual

connec-

tions

between

simian and

human

species:

"Hace

tres

mil afios

yo

era

un

hombre,

un

hombre

como

tti,

y

vivia

en la

India,

en el

mismo

pueblo que

tu antecesor.

Solamente

que

yo

era entoncesun

Maestro,

un

elegido

de

Brahma,

y

tu abuelo era un

simple pas-

tor de

bfifalos"

89)

(Quiroga's

mphasis).

Atthe end of the storythe listener'ssoul is

entrapped

within the

ape's body

and

the

beast

is set free:"Enel

banco,

en el mismo

banco donde

el,

cuandoera

hombre,

habia

estado

sentado,

estaba ahora

el

mono,

el

ladr6n,

miraindolo

on una

vaga

e infernal

sonrisa"

(93).

The

similarity

of the treat-

mentof

metempsychosis

n

Quiroga's

tory

and

Cortazar's

"Axolotl"

s the basis

of

Maria

A.

Salgado's

tudy,

"Lo

antastico

n

cuentos de Quirogay de Cortazar."

Among

these

spurious

and

at times

seri-

ous discussions

of

the

relationships

be-

tween homo

sapiens

and

simians,

Lugones's

bizarre

investigator

turns

Darwin's

volutionaryheory

upon

ts

head.

In a brutish

revision

of The

Origin

of

Spe-

ciesand

TheDescent

ofMan,

"Yzur"'s

nves-

tigator

claims

that

apes

were once

humans

whose

speaking

skills

atrophied:

Losmonos fueronhombresqueporuna u otraraz6n

dejaron

de hablar.

El hecho

produjo

a atrofiade

sus

6rganos

de fonaci6n

y

de los

centros cerebrales

del

lenguaje;

debilit6

casi hasta

suprimirla

a

relaci6n

entre

unos

y

otros,

fijando

l idioma

de la

especie

en

el

grito

narticulado,

el

humano

primitivo

escendi6

a

ser

animal.

117)

The

scientist's

attempt

to

resuscitate

apes' inguistic

proficiency

which

Lugones

documents

in the

story

reflects

a

quasi-

Saussurianperspective:.e., that if the ca-

pacity

or

language

s innate

n

primate

pe-

cies,

then

exercising

the

skills

of

speech

becomes

a

mechanism

o unlock

he

speak-

ers'

theoretical

competence.

In

a

sense,

parole

can function

as a

stimulus

to

revive

the

long

dormant

angue

of

apes.

However,

rather

than

offer

a

rational,

humane

program

of

speech

therapy,

the

scientist/narrator

f

'Yzur"

eveals

himself

to

be a

calculating

torturer

of

his

experi-

mental

animal

as

he

subjects

Yzur to a

pro-

tracted,

painful

death.

Of relevance

to the

subversion

of scientific

discourse

in the

story

is

Lugones's

ability

to

mask

the sadis-

tic infliction

of torture

by

the

narrator

be-

neath

the

rational,

apparently

amoral

dis-

course

of

experimental

science.5

Hence,

for



9/13

APOCALYPTIC VISION AND MODERNISM'S DISMANTLING

OF SCIENTIfiC DISCOURSE 15

Lugones,

an

understanding

f the

narrator's

obsession

and destructive

aggression

against

Yzur s revealed

n his use and

mis-

use of language.

Lugones exposes

his

narrator

s

some-

thing

of

a fraud

and

opportunist

n the

open-

ing paragraphs

f

the

story,

someone who

may easily

have

sprung

from the

pages

of

Caras

y

Caretas.

The

narrator

s not a sci-

entist but a businessman who

purchased

Yzurat an

auctionof a

bankrupt

ircus.His

indifferenceo scientificdocumentation

an

be

explained

by

this

background

when

he

says, "Laprimeravez que se me ocurri6

tentar la

experiencia

a

cuyo

relato estain

dedicadas estas

lineas,

fue una

tarde,

leyendo

no

se

d6nde,

que

los

naturalesde

Java

atribulan

a

falta

de

lenguaje

articulado

en

los monos a

la

abstenci6n,

no a

la

incapacidad"

117,

emphasis

mine).

But

his

inexperience

n

matters

cientific

produces

a fatal

denouement

hrough

a combination

of ill-advised

presuppositions, ogical

mis-

cues, and ironicreversals,all ofwhichare

rooted n

the

ambiguous mprecision

of

his

language.

Errors in

logic

are

apparent

in the

narrator's bsession or "idea

ija"

romthe

startof the

story.

Because of the

anthropo-

morphism

of

chimps,

he narrator

ssumes

that

the musculature

nd

organs

of

speech

in

humansare

dentical

n

form

and

unction

in

apes,

which is

responsible

for

the state-

ment cited above, i.e., "nohay ninguna

raz6n

cientifica

para

que

el

monono hable"

(118).

This double

negative

s

echoed

again

in

the

story

to

support

the

investigator's

hypothesis

without

any

scientific

evidence:

"No

hay

a la

verdad

raz6n

algunapara

que

el

mono no

articule

absolutamente"

118).

The

investigator's

methodology

s as

er-

roneous as his

logic.

Seeing

in

Yzuran in-

dividualakin

to deaf

mutes,

the

investiga-

tor

plunges

into

a

trainingregimenlasting

more than

three

years

which

features

the

materials nd

methodsof

torture.

Through-

out this

process

the

investigator's

inguis-

tic

distortionscolor the

descriptions

of

the

instrumentsused and

the

treatmentYzur

receives.

At

best

these

distortions

ational-

ize

a defective

approach,

ndat worst

they

attempt

o neutralize

he harmful ffects

of

his abuse.

For

example,

he narrator

buses

Yzur

by

dailyrepeating

o him the

recipe

of

powerwhichhe holds overhis subject,"Yo

soy

tu

amo"

accompaniedby

"tui

res

mi

mono"

(124).

Unawareof the fact

thathe

is

translating

his

position

of

power

nto

brute

physical

force,

the

narrator onducts a

se-

ries

of

experiments designed

to stimulate

speech

butwhich

only

succeed in

inflicting

pain

upon

Yzur.His

approach

o

conducting

speech therapy

ncludes

one

principal

n-

strument

of

torture, tweezers,

which

he

uses tobring hechimp's ongueand ipsin

contactwith the

other

"articulators"o

pro-

duce

speech.

With

Yzur's ailure

to

speak

after

years

of

training,

he frustrated

narra-

tor feels

movedto

apply

even

greater

orce

["Aquello

habia

llegado

a

convertirse

en

una obsesi6n

dolorosa,

y

poco

a

poco

sentiame nclinado

a

emplear

a fuerza.

Mi

caricter

ba

agriindose

con

el

fracaso,

hasta

asumiruna

sordaanimosidad ontraYzur"

(123) . ConvincedofYzur'sobstinacy["no

hablaba

porque

no

queria" 123)],

the

nar-

rator

cruelly

beats

the

chimp

and

shortly

thereafter,

when

Yzur falls

ill,

he

applies

"sanguijuelas,

afusiones

frias,

purgantes,

revulsivos

utaineos,

lcoholaturo e

briona,

bromuro"

123-24)

to

cure him.

The

ambiguity

and

ambivalence

of

scientific

discourse

functions

in

an

ironic

waythroughout

he

narrative

s

the

investi-

gator'sown anguagebetrayshis ignorance

and

sadism.In

fact,

he

story

akes the form

of a

personal

diary

to

serve as

his own

apologia

but,

rather han

ustify

his

actions,

his

written

confession

condemns

hem.

His

self-incriminating

omments

orman

ironic

beginning

o the

story

with his

purchase

of

Yzur,

a

mere

circus

animal,

o

be used in

scientific

experimentation.

ugones's

efer-

ence

to

Yzur's

udicrous

origins

spotlights

the

narrator's

uperficiality

nd

poorjudg-

ment.

In

addition

to

the freakshow

atmo-

sphere

of

turn-of-the-century

Buenos

Aires,

Lugones

utilizes

this

unlikely

origin

to cast

doubt on the

investigator's

intelligence

and

seriousness.

Lacking

scientific back-

ground,

the

narratornonetheless

ennobles

his

preposterous

heory

when he

calls it

a



10/13

16 HISPANIA

79 MARCH 1996

"postulado ntropol6gico"

117).

Appearing

early

n

the

story,

his claim nflates he

pre-

tentiousness

of the

investigator,

but his

overreaching ambitions and ignorance

deflate

his

pomposity by

the end. There-

fore,

when he dismisses Yzur'salter

ego,

"Consul,"

n

the

following

disclaimer:

pero

mi

seriedad

de hombrede

negocios

mal se

aveniacon tales

payasadas"

118),

his

state-

ment

rings

hollowand

brutally

ronic.

He is

really

a sham

worthy

of

"payasadas"

e-

cause,

as the

story

concludes,

the narrator

is

revealed

to be a

heedless

clown,

an

im-

prudent askmasterwhose experimentde-

generates

into the farce

of

a

circus side-

show.

Ironies abound as

the

language

of

the

investigator/tormentor

evealshis

subject/

victim's doom.

One source

of the chim-

panzee's

victimization

s his own accommo-

datingpersonality

as

the narrator

laims

n

the

opening pages

of the

story:

"Porotra

parte,

sabese

que

el

chimpanc6

(Yzur

o

era)es entre os monosel mejorprovistode

cerebro o

uno

de

los mas

d6ciles,

lo cual

aumentaba

mis

probabilidades"

(118).

Yzur's

docility

combined

with

his

talent

or

mimicry

and

quasi-human

personality

["Felizmente

os

monos

tienen,

entre sus

muchas

malas

condiciones,

el

gusto

por

aprender

...

la

memoria feliz

... la

reflexi6n

que

Ilega

hasta

una

profunda

acultad

de

disimulo,

y

la

atenci6n

comparativamente

mas desarrolladaque en el nifio.Es, pues,

un

sujeto

pedag6gico

de los

mais avorables"

(119)] ironically

function

as

his Achilles

heel.

It is

the

presence

of

these

positive

qualities,

after

all,

as

noted n the

narrator's

use

of "felizmente"

nd

"favorables,"

hich

account

or

Yzur's

downfall.

As much

as

Yzur

s

mute,

the

narrator

s

blind

to

the farcical

model of

his

flawed

ex-

periment

and

to

its sadistic

effects.

He

pro-

nounces

his

beliefs

and

half-baked

theories

in a

deadpan

tone

which intensifies

the ef-

fect

of his

myopia

and

ignorance

in

the

reader.

For

example,

when he attributes

to

apes

a

human

capacity

to

reason,

he

does

so

with a

syllogism

which

the reader

is

forced

to

complete:

Si mis teorias

parecen

demasiado

audaces,

bastacon

reflexionar

ue

el

silogismo,

o

sea el

argumento

6gi-

co

fundamental,

o es

extrafio

a la mente de muchos

animales.Como

que

el

silogismo

es

originariamente

unacomparaci6nntre dos sensaciones. Si no,?por

que

los

animales

que

conocenal hombre

huyen

de

1l,

y

no

aquellosque

nunca o conocieron?

121)

The

inescapable

conclusion or

missing

element of the

syllogism

appear

in

humanity's cruelty,

their lethal Midas's

touch,

and the

implication

hat other crea-

tures should flee homo

sapiens

to

escape

death

from

contamination

with this

degen-

erateprimate pecies.

Reinforcing

he reader's

ogical

conclu-

sion,

the

narrator

reveals

his

own

perni-

cious nature

during

the course

of the

ex-

periment.

When he confesses

that "Los

consonantes

die'ronme

un

trabajo

ende-

moniado"

122),

he

unwittingly

haracter-

izes

his own

base

motives and

methods.

In

truth,

he refers to his own

demonic

urges

and

unscrupulous

drive to

skew his

evi-

dence to justify his hypothesis. And so,

shortly

thereafter,

n

the face

of Yzur's

m-

passivity

and

the continued

failure

of

the

lessons,

it comes as

no

surprise

to

the

reader

when

investigator

enumerates

his

own

failings,

his

"obsesi6n

dolorosa"and

"animosidad,"

nd

his admission

that

all

may

be

lost

due to

his

"excesiva

uriosidad"

(123).

Later

n

the

story,

as Yzur

approaches

death,

the narrator

gain

uses demonic

m-

agerytoindirectly ortray is evil and nhu-

man

quest:

"El

demonio

del

analisis,

que

no

es sino una

forma

del

espiritu

de

perversi-

dad,

impulsibame,

sin

embargo,

a

renovar

mis

experiencias"

124).

Lugones's

use

of satanic

imagery

in

"Yzur"

hows that

the

discourse

of science

is an

instrumentof

destruction

n the

mod-

ern world.

The

narrator's

language

is a

double-edged

blade

in "Yzur" s

it both

de-

molishesthe

outwardly

uman

qualities

he

investigator may

possess

at

the same

time

as

it humanizes

Yzur

in

an

ironic

reversal

of

humanity

and

bestiality.

Ironic as

well in

the

use of demonic

imagery

is the narrator's

insensitivity

to his

own

double entendre

when he refers

to the

protohuman

qualities

of Yzur

which seem

to

emerge

as the

experi-



11/13

APOCALYPTIC VISION AND

MODERNISM'S

DISMANTLING OF SCIENTIfiC

DISCOURSE 17

ment

reaches

its mortalconclusion:

Por

despacio

que

fuera,

e

habia

operado

n

gran

cam-

bio en su

caricter.

Tenia menos movilidad

n las

fac-

ciones,lamiradamas

profunda,

adoptaba

osturas

meditabundas.Habia

adquirido,

or ejemplo,

a

cos-

tumbre

de

contemplar

as

estrellas.

Su

sensibilidad

e

desarrollaba

gualmente;

basele

notando una

gran

facilidadde

lagrimas. 122-23)

Mejor6

al

cabo

de

mucho

tiempo,

quedando,

no

obs-

tante,

an

debil,

que

no

podia

moverse

de

la cama.La

proximidad

e la

muerte

habialo nnoblecido huma-

nizado.Sus

ojos

llenos

de

gratitud,

no

se

separaban

de

mi,

siguiendome

por

toda a

habitaci6n

omo

dos

bolas

giratorias,

aunque

estuviese detris de

el;

su

manobuscaba as mias en una intimidad e convale-

cencia.

En

mi

gran

soledad,

ba

adquiriendo

Apida-

mente

la

importancia

e una

persona.

(124)

Yzur

entr6

en

agonia

sin

perder

el conocimiento.Una

dulce

agonia

a

ojos

cerrados,

con

respiraci6n

debil,

pulso vago,

quietud

absoluta,

que

s61o

nterrumpia

para

volver

de cuandoen

cuando

con

una

desgarra-

dora

expresi6n

de

eternidad,

u carade

viejo

mulato

triste.

Y

la

Pltima

arde,

la

tarde de su

muerte,

fue

cuandoocurri6 a

cosa extraordinaria

ue

me

ha de-

cidido

a

emprender

sta

narraci6n.

126)

To

the extent

thatthe

narrator's demon

of

analysis"

s

the

prime

moverof

the

story,

the

culminationof the

experiment,

Yzur's

deathbed

speech,

merits

detailed

examina-

tion.

On

the one

hand,

when the

narrator

transcribes Yzur's

dying

breath

with the

words

"Amo,

agua,

amo mi

amo ..

."

(126),

this

final

sentence of the

story

seems to

pro-

vide

tangibleproof

of the

investigator's

y-

pothesis.Itgives Yzurhimselfthe last hu-

man

word.

But,

from

another

perspective,

the

concluding

sentence

of "Yzur"

s an

ac-

cumulationof

ambiguities

which

defy

fac-

ile

resolutionas

can be

observed n

the lin-

guistic

evidence. The

justification

of

the

investigator's

hypothesis

contained

in

Yzur's

ast

words is

much less

compelling

to

the

reader han

t

may

seem to

the

narra-

tor.

Rather han

a

confession of

love for

his

master,

Yzur's

dying

breath

can be

de-

scribed

as a

series of sounds

lacking

the

constituent

linguistic

structure.

Consisting

of

only

three vowel

sounds

(/a/, /i/, /o/,

with the

diphthong

in

"agua"

a

combination

of

the

semiconsonant

/w/

and

the vowel

/

a/),

and

two

consonants

(/g/, /m/),

this

utterence

reveals

a

nearly

random distribu-

tion

of

phonetic

material

(i.e.,

open

and

closed

vowels,

and bilabial and

velar

occlusives).

Therefore,

what Yzur

may

be

communicatingnrealitys aninarticulated

groan

of death

and

nothing

more.

By

concluding

"Yzur"n this

ambiguous

way,

Lugones accomplishes

several

siginificantgoals.

First,

from

an

aesthetic

standpoint,

e

brings

the

pseudo-scientific

experiment

o a

conclusion

n the last

line

of the

story

which s alsothe

story's

climax.

At the same

time,

he casts doubt

upon

the

narrator's

nterpretation

f not

only

Yzur's

final"words" ut alsothe investigator'syl-

logisticreasoning

and alse

premises

which

precede

hem.At the

story's

nd,

the

reader

must

weigh

the sense and nonsense

of

sci-

ence

which,

in this

case,

raisesthe

spectre

of

FrankensteinandFaust in the

heedless

practitioner

who will

pursue

his obsessive

quest

to

the

death.

Lugones's

apocalyptic

ision

n

"Yzur"

s

one

of a series of

manifestations f

destruc-

tioninLasfuerzas xtranias. otonlydothe

experiments

n his

otherscience fiction

sto-

ries

end

in

disaster,

but

his

theory

of uni-

versal creation

posited

in

the

"Ensayo

de

una

cosmogonia

en diez

lecciones,"

the

theoretical

essay

which

accompanies

the

tales,

sets

fortha visionof the

cosmos

which

offersa horrific

prophecy

of

the

universe

n

decline,

in

keeping

with

the

modernists'

millennial

fear of

the

future. As

Octavio

Corvalinhas shownso well in"Laspresun-

tas

fuentes

cientificasde

'Yzur',"

he

ques-

tion

of

human

evolution

and

humanity's

perilous

descent is

central

to Las

fuerzas

extranias.

The

"Ensayo"

enumerates the

moments of

creation:

pure

static

energy

acquiresmotion,

generates

space

andthen

engenders

organic

matter.

Humanity

inally

emerges

as

the

highest

expression

of cre-

ation

only

to

reverse its

direction

and face

inevitable

destruction

as

noted

in

Corvalin's

study:

Siendo l

hombrea

expresi6n

uperior

e la

vida,

o

sea,

el

ejemplo

acabado

del

equilibrio

ntre

materia

pensamiento,

egin

Lugones

el hombrehizo

su

apa-

rici6n

ntes

que

os

demis

animales.

El

hombre

s,

pues,

el

progenitor

del

reino

animal',

nos

explica,

apodicticamente

omo

solia hacer

ante todo

proble-



12/13

18 HISPANIA 9

MARCH 996

ma.

Y

si el hombreantecede

al

mono,

es

16gico

pen-

sar

que

os monos

son

una

especie

de

hombres

degra-

dados,

y

esa

involuci6n

pudo

ser

voluntaria,

como

dicen

os nativosde

Java,

o un

primer

paso

en la esca-

la de desintegraci6nde la materia,queha de seguir

inexorablemente

u curso

hasta volveral estado

ori-

ginal

de

energia

absoluta.

61)

According

o

his

"Ensayo

de una cosmo-

gonia,"

hen,

Lugones's

fiction consists

of

eschatological

texts which

document the

decadent

phase

of the

cosmos,

the millen-

nial

Apocalypse.

One

key

component

of

Lugones's

apocalyptic

ision

is

the

dissolu-

tion of thereferentialunctionsoflanguage

as seen

in

the

discrediting

of

scientific

dis-

course

n "Yzur." ather han

provide

a

one-

to-one

correspondence

between

signifier

and

signified,

anguage

functions

asystem-

atically,

itheras

an

ambiguous

ssemblage

of rhetorical

devices

(deviant

premises

and

manipulated

onclusions)

or

as

streams

of

random

phonemes signifying

nothing.

This

linguistic

nullification

appears

as

"words"

utterednYzur'sdyingbreathor eveninthe

chimpanzee's

bizarre,

cryptic

name,

an

as-

semblage

of

linguistic

material

which is as

meaningless

as the

investigator's

inguistic

theory.

Of

course,

as

satirist

and

skeptic

n

Latin

America's

premier

metropolis,

Lugones

subverts

modernism's

obsession

with

progress,

its

"cult

of the

object"

and

"fascination

ith

the

machine"

Kirkpatrick

12)

in

this

story

of the

fetichism

of scientific

discourse.Lugoneschallengesthe ethic

of

material

progress

at the

dawn

of a new

cen-

tury

when the

future

seems

bleakest

in

spiritual

erms.

In

this

regard,

he

alsoviews

the

path

of

experimental

cience

as a

march

of

folly

whose

contributions

to

material

progress

are

wholly

illusory.

Finally,Lugones's

contribution

o

mod-

ernist

fiction

can

be

viewed n

a

broader

in-

guistic

context.

Lugones

experiments

with

the tenuousness

of

language

as

seen in the

problematic

nexus

between

signifier

and

signified

in "Yzur."

n so

doing,

he becomes

a

precursor

of

modern

writers

such

as

Borges

and

Cortizar

who

have

seen

in the

shifting

sands

of

language's

referentiality

a

model

of

ambiguity

and

linguistic

creativity.

"Yzur"

broadcasts

Lugones's

concern

for

modernism's

"struggle

for

signs,"

which

helps

to

explain

he

heteroglossic competi-

tions

between true

and fallacious texts

in

"LaBibliotecadeBabel"and the revelation

of a

reality

in flux

which defies

linguistic

description

n "Las

babas

del diablo."

0

NOTES

'Esperanza

Figueroa,

"Julian

del

Casal

y

el

modernismo,"

evista

beroamericana1

(1965):

47-

67,

credits

his sonnetwith

ntroducing

el

uso de los

brillantes

6picos

del modernismo"

47)

and

dazzling

precious

imagery

that

anticipated

Dario

with "una

enumeraci6n

de

imigenes que

es,

a su

vez,

mejor

anticipodeloropelmodernista uelascomposiciones

de

Azul"

48).

2A

recent,

comprehensive study

of

Mme

Blavatsky's

mportance

n

American

spiritualism

s

Peter

Washington's

993Madame

Blavatsky's

aboon.

A

History

of

the

Mystics,

Mediums

and

Misfits

Who

Brought

Spiritualism

o

America.

3Cvitanovic

and

Rodriguez

conclude

that

Lugones's

science

fiction

"consiste

en un

magistral

acoplamiento

emitico

y

una

magistral

usi6n

est6tica

de materiales

procedentes

de sus

amplisimas

lecturas"

1002).

They study

he

influence

f a contem-

poraryof Lugones's,RichardL. Garner,whose The

Speech

of

Monkeys

1892),

Gorillasand

Chimpanzees

(1896),

and

Apes

and

Monkeys:

Their

Life

and

Lan-

guages

(1900),

contain heoretical

and

practical

mod-

els for scientific

experimentation

with

the

speech

of

apes.

4"Unmono

que

estA

aprendiendo

hablar,"

88/

+,

9

June 1900;

"Un

chimpanc6

gentleman,"

267/+,

14 Nov.

1903.Caras

Caretas

was

unpaginated,

o the

following

system

of annotations

will

identify

each

item:

mmediately

ollowing

he

issue

numbermarked

"#"

s

the

"page"

f that

ssue,

according

o

one

of the

followingdesignations:

(1)

A

number

epresenting

n unnumbered

page"

in the

body

f the

magazine,

ounting

rom he

inside

cover of each

issue

designated

as

page

1 for each

is-

sue

and

ending

with

the

"menudencias"

age

contain-

ing

humorous

hymes

and

caricatures

whichusually

is

page

number

24).

(2)

A

plus

(+)

or minus

(-)

sign

indicating

hatthe

item either

precedes

or

follows

he

body

of the

maga-

zine.

For

example,

"#552-57/+"

means

the

story

fol-

lowed the

body

of the

magazine

n six consecutive

issues).

5In

"Yzur,"ccording

o Cvitanovic

nd

Rodriguez,

Lugonesreplicates

he

emotive

tone

in

Gorillas

and

Chimpanzees

n

a

passage

describing

he

death

of

the

author's

avorite

animal,

Moses.

In an

ironicreversal

of the

anguish present

n Garner's

narrative,

he de-

scription

of Yzur's

pathetic

death

serves

an

ironic

purpose:

"Llegamos

identificarnos

mais

on el

mono

que

con

el

protagonista

umano"

1000).



13/13

APOCALYPTIC

VISION

AND MODERNISM'S DISMANTLING OF SCIENTIfiC DISCOURSE

19

1

WORKS

CITED

Caras

y

Caretas.

88/+

(9

June

1900),

#235/+

(4

Apr.

1903),

#242/+

(23

May

1903),

#255/24

(22

Aug.

1903),

#267/+

(14

Nov.

1903),

#272/-

(18

Nov.

1905),

#552-57/+

(1

May-5

June 1909).

Casal,

Juliin

del. "Soneto

Pompadour."

Eds.

Angel

Flores

and

Helene M. Anderson.

Masterpieces

f

Spanish

AmericanLiterature.

Vol. 1. New York:

Macmillan,

974.343.

2

vols.

Cirlot,

ean

Eduardo.Diccionariode simbolos.Barce-

lona:

Labor,

1969.

Corvalin,

Octavio."Las

presuntas

uentes cientificas

de "Yzur."

ueva

Estafeta

36

(1981):

59-62.

Cvitanovic,Dinko,

and Alfred

Rodriguez.

"Ante

el

chimpance

de

Leopoldo

Lugones."

XVII

Congreso

delInstituto nternacional eLiteratura beroame-

ricana.

Vol.

2. Madrid:

Ediciones

Cultura

Hispai-

nica

del Centro

Iberoamericano

e

Cooperaci6n,

Universidad

Complutense

de

Madrid,

1978.997-

1002.2

vols.

Dario,

Ruben.Cuentos

ompletos

e

Ruben

Dario.

Ed.

Ernesto

Mejia

Sanchez. Mexico-Buenos Aires:

Fondode Cultura

Econ6mica,

1950.

Davison,

Ned

J.

The

Concept

f

Modernismn

Hispanic

Criticism.

Boulder:

Pruett,

1934.

Englekirk,

ohn.

Edgar

Alan Poe

in

Hispanic

Litera-

ture.

New York: nstituto

de las

Espafias,

1934.

Figueroa, Esperanza. "Juliandel Casal y el mo-

dernismo."

Revista

beroamericana1

(1965):

47-

67.

Garfield,

Evelyn

Picon,

and Ivan

A. Schulman.

Las

entraiiasdel vacio.

Ensayos

obre a

modernidad

hispanoamericana.

Mexico:

EdicionesCuadernos

Americanos,

1984.

Haraway,

Donna.

PrimateVisions:

Gender,

Race,

and

Nature n

the World

fModern

cience.New York:

Routledge,

1989.

-.

Simians,

Cyborgs,

nd Women.The

Reinvention

f

Nature.New

York:

Routledge,

1991.

Havel,Vaclav.TheEndofthe ModernEra." he New

York

Times.March

1,

1992.

E15.

Haynes,

Rosalynn

D. FromFaust to

Strangelove:

ep-

resentations

f

the Scientist n

Western

iterature.

Baltimore

and

London:

ohns

Hopkins

UP,

1994.

Jitrik,

Noe.

"Pr6logo."

oracio

Quiroga.

Obrasnedi-

tas

y

desconocidas.Novelas cortas.Vol. 1

(1908-

1910).

Montevideo:Arca

Editorial,

967.8

vols.

Kirkpatrick,

Gwen. The Dissonant

Legacy

of

'mo-

dernismo':

Lugones,

Herrera

y

Reissig,

and the

Voices

fModern

panish

American

Poetry.

Berke-

ley:

U of California

,

1989.

Lugones,

Leopoldo.

Las

uerzas

extrafias.Buenos

Ai-

res:

Huemul,

1966.

Paz,

Octavio.

"El

caracol

y

la sirena."

Cuadrivio.

Mexico:

Joaquin

Mortiz,

1972.

Rama,

Angel.

Literatura

clase

ocial.Mexico:Folios

Ediciones,

1983.

Salgado, Maria A. "Lofantaisticoen cuentos de

Quiroga

y

de Cortizar."

Explicacibn

e

Textos

Li-

terarios

4.1

(1975-76):

35-38.

Schulman,

van

A.

"La

modernizaci6n

el modernismo

hispanoamericano."

ontextos. iteratura socie-

dad

latinoamaericanas

el

siglo

XIX.

Ed.

Evelyn

Picon

Garfield

nd

IvanA.Schulman.Urbana

nd

Chicago:

U of Illinois

P,

1991.

Schwartz,

Hillel.

Century's

nd.A

Cultural

History

f

theFin de Siecle

rom

the 990s

Through

he

1990s.

New York:

Doubleday,

1990.

Silva,

Jose

Asunci6n.

"Ars."Eds.

Angel

Flores and

Helene M. Anderson. Masterpiecesof Spanish

American

Literature.

ol. 1.

NewYork:

Macmillan,

1974.348.

2

vols.

Washington,

Peter. Madame

Blavatsky's

Baboon.A

History

of

the

Mystics,

Mediumsand

Misfits

Who

Brought

Spiritualism

to America. New

York:

Schoken

Books,

1993.

Zavala,

ris.

Colonialism nd

Culture.

Hispanic

Mod-

ernismsand

the Social

Imaginary.

Bloomington:

Indiana

UP,

1992.

-.

Ruben

Dario:

El

modernismo

otros

ensayos.

Ma-

drid:

Alianza

Editorial,

989.

Documents

Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur