The Art of the Word, by Enrique Lihn: A Caricature of the Hispanic American Intellectual

Abstract

In this article we analyze Enrique Lihn‘s novel El arte de la palabra (The art of the Word) in light of the grotesque presentation of its characters, Pompier and Albornoz. In so doing we recur mostly to Wolfgang Kayser‘s theorizations as they are best related to lihnean esthetics. From this theoretical framework we shall outline how his characters bring to the fore the European power structures installed during the colonization and the different European schools of thought that influenced Hispanic America. Above all, we shall discover the authoritarian power mechanisms that must be interpreted in light of such influences, also depicted in the novel as footsteps of the succeeding Hispanic American dictatorships; which in this case are a direct reflection of Pinochet‘s rule. Pompier and Albornoz will seem contradictory only in the outside, as they are presented identical in their authoritarianism and their academic vanity. Hence, both will represent a harsh criticism of the most negative manifestations of Hispanic American intellectual environment. We shall see, at the end, that the game of contradictions among the characters underscores a sinister intellectual design to separate and divide, suggesting instead an inclusive discourse that may lead to reconciliation.