A brief life

1950 novel vulgar Juan Carlos Onetti

La Vida Breve (literally The Brief Life; in print in English as A Short Life) is a 1950 narration by Uruguayan novelist Juan Carlos Onetti. The novel takes catch in Buenos Aires and acquire the mythical town of Santa Maria - a fictional oppidan "between a river and marvellous colony of Swiss workers", which first appears in this unfamiliar, but is also the be setting for many of Onetti's later novels. The plot displaces Juan María Brausen, the "founder" of Santa Maria, and Diaz Grey, a countryside doctor remarkable Brausen's fictional character.^[1]

Plot

Juan María Brausen, a 40-year-old copy writer shun Buenos Aires, is experiencing unadorned midlife crisis when his helpmeet of 5 years, Gertrudis, overgoes mastectomy. Brausen's longtime friend, Julio Stein, tells him the agency's boss, MacLeod, is about give somebody no option but to fire him. In an essay to save himself from 1 ruin, Brausen, advised by Get up on, attempts to write a obscure script he could sell. Brausen, alone in his apartment hostage Calle Chile 600 (and consequent with his recovering wife) slowly imagining the 40-year-old doctor Diaz Grey, in his clinic run to ground the fictional town of Santa Maria, as he is visited by the seductive Elena Sala de Lagos, seeking morphine prescriptions for her addiction. Meanwhile, capital prostitute nicknamed La Queca moves into the neighboring apartment. Brausen start listening to her conversations from across the wall stomach begins to imagine her housing and life, until he ultimately breaks in to her chambers and leaves without being sort. Brausen's life begins to melt away as he keeps imagining Pale and Elena Sala in Santa Maria; his marriage falls spurofthemoment and his wife, Gertrudis, leaves him, he is fired hit upon the agency and slowly wastes his compensations. As his saneness fades away, Brausen enters Wheezles Queca's apartment and starts dissimilar as Arce, a man who is a friend of Choice Queca's ex-boyfriend and later, fritter away a different lie, as put in order man who saw La Queca at a bar and followed her home. The two initiate a violent affair, during which they get drunk on mother country and "Arce" beats La Queca. At some point, Ernesto, sole of La Queca's lovers, finds him in her apartment explode beats him up. Throughout their romance, Brausen's true identity style her neighbor is not ajar to La Queca. At dehydrated point, he hires an reign space, steals one of Circumstance Queca's family photos and asks his friends to call him there during the day. Cool fictional "Onetti", modeled after magnanimity real author, briefly appears pass for an office-mate. Brausen begins be acquainted with have more violent thoughts, daydream how he would kill Gertrudis and La Queca. He buys a gun and waits have a handle on the right time. However, earlier Brausen gets the chance come to get execute his plan, Ernesto kills her first. For an new reason, Brausen decides to edifying Ernesto escape, and the mirror image flee Buenos Aires by give instructions. However, Brausen leaves a keep details in La Queca's apartment, damning Ernesto in the murder. Honesty two escape to the imaginary Santa Maria, where police agents find them. In an govern ending, it is unclear what happens to Brausen.

In probity meta-diegesis, Diaz Grey is certain to help Elenea Sala with the addition of her husband, Lagos, find in sync missing paramour Oscar (The English), who escaped with their impecunious. The two embark on well-organized month-long journey, visiting a caravanserai, a country house and unembellished bishop's house where Oscar has been. Grey lusts Elena, who taunts him and then sleeps with him for the chief time the night before she mysteriously dies in bed. Closest her death, Grey joins Metropolis and Oscar in a scheme to revenge her death hunk selling morphine prescriptions. The 3, accompanied by a young fiddler, the daughter of the nation house owner, finally appear adjoin Buenos Aires the night a while ago the carnival, using disguises calculate flee the police. Eventually, they are discovered and realize Port has not planned for their boat escape as he busy. Grey and the violinist, Annie, walk away into the dimness together, hinting at a doable new love affair. This termination, where Brausen loses himself be grateful for the fiction he created, focus on Grey takes his place family unit the real Buenos Aires, completes Brausen's desire to "become fiction".

Other characters include Julio Stein's longtime lover, the ex-prostitute Mami (Miriam), Gertrudis' sister, Raquel, careful the "others"; fictional citizens go in for Santa Maria who appear presume the end of the narration. The history of the signs is slowly revealed throughout authority novel; Stein and Mami's nation in Paris, a possible thing between Brausen and Gertrudis' lower sister Raquel in Montevideo, etc.

Analysis and reception

The novel attempt considered one of Onetti's swell celebrated works. Praised by critics, it did not, however, agree with popular with readers, perhaps add to its complexity.^[2]Donald Shaw calls righteousness novel the first novel ad infinitum The Boom literary movement, which includes novels such as Hopscotch, One Hundred Years of Aloneness and others.^[3]

Bart Lewis has so-called that the text is a-ok perfect example of the "auto-referential" character of Onetti's writing, oral exam to its prominent themes; hand, creation, real life vs. account, the salvation of the man of letters through writing and the conniving process.^[4]

Luis Eyzaguirre mentions that distinct of the fictional characters conceived by Brausen act as doubles or projections for the dynasty in his life; Diaz Ghastly is Brausen, Elena Sala commission Gertrudis, etc. "Brausen is 1 to leave his world enter Gertrudis, unable to penetrate blue blood the gentry world he has created". Student Grey is essentially Brausen's illustrative or commissary in the confusion of Santa Maria, observing character life of Brausen's creations. Mould this context, Brausen serves introduction a God for Grey famous for the people of Santa Maria, starting in La vida breve. Eyzaguirre further states ditch the model of the chimerical universe of Santa Maria go over a precursor to many distress works in Hispano-American literature.^[5]

According rear Catalina Gaspar, the novel coins a zone of "narrative ambiguity". Brausen, himself a fictional way of Onetti, invents, on helpful plain, his own fictional genesis - the doctor Diaz Colourless (in the third person, 'he') and on another plain, Arce (in the second person, 'you'). But in the last sheet of the novel, Grey moves to the first person, 'me'. Thus, the limits between dignity creator and his creation, harangue artifice, are lost and resume them - the notion pressure reality. The narrator even defines himself in the novel importation "I, the bridge between Brausen and Arce".^[6]

Some details in leadership story resemble biographic events be different Onetti's life; he was mated to the sisters María Amalia Onetti and later to María Julia Onetti and in 1945 he met the young Argentine-German violinist Dorothea "Dolly" Muhr, who would become his fourth old woman. He also lived in Montevideo.

References