Los espectros del animal: : La subversión fantástica del animal en el cuento "Juan Darién" de Horacio Quiroga

Abstract

In this study, we analyze the story "Juan Darién" by Horacio Quiroga through a theoretical deconstruction of the concept "animal" revealed by the metamorphosis suffered by the character Juan Darién. In this endeavor, we are assisted by the aesthetics of the fantastic by problematizing the binomials human/ animal, nature/ culture, body/ mind. We will try to prove that the animal in this case, functions as a destabilizing entity of discourses brought from Modernity and Judeo-Christian religiosity. We work on these destabilizations from the deep bond that Horacio Quiroga establishes with Nature, which will also serve as an important link in the search for a principle of rebirth to a fuller and more complete human identity. We try, therefore, to probe the entrails of the human soul that breathe through the texts of Horacio Quiroga who -not by chance- constitutes one of the great figures of the narrative that saw him live (1878-1937), and a very powerful influence on writers who succeeded him.