apocalyptic vision and modernism's dismantling of scientific discourse lugones's yzur
TRANSCRIPT
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8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur
1/13
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8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur
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,
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8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur
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
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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.
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8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur
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-
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8/10/2019 Apocalyptic Vision and Modernism's Dismantling of Scientific Discourse Lugones's Yzur
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'
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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
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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
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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-
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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-
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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).
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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
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