Estudios de Teoría Literaria (Jul 2019)
La Grande: Eastern return and memory of immigration
Abstract
In La Grande (2005), a posthumous and inconclusive Juan José Saer’s novel, the autobiographical dimension of writing is established around the return, projected on both the old character of Willy Gutiérrez and on Nula, the "new" of the zona. The family episode of this character allows Saer to rescue the memory of his childhood as the son of Syrian immigrants, an aspect usually overlooked in the studies about the novel and in the writer's own self-figurations. It will be observed in the first place how Saer rewrites the topic of nostos in relation to the religious exile of his Arab relatives. Secondly, we will study how, appealing to the memory of his childhood, he orientalizes the zona, incorporating a series of cultural and linguistic references from the Arab world, from which he rewrites the local landscape. As will be seen, Saer will highlight the possible assimilation between the Arab and Criollo cultural universes, to the detriment of other representations that exacerbated the exotic. Finally, this memory of his ancestors will be read as a late tribute to José Pedroni, important in the “beginnings” of his literary learning.
