Acceso usuarios
Juan G. Ramos
This current study explores the relationship between visual technology (cinema and photography) and a metanarrative preoccupation with the craft of literary narration in two texts by Pablo Palacio (Ecuador, 1906–47). In his novella Débora (1927), Palacio employs the language of cinema (e.g., the cinematograph, the cinema, references to film studios, and film plots) to present a story which details the protagonist’s fascination with films and foregrounds the narrator’s self-reflexivity about the craft of storytelling. In “Un hombre muerto a puntapiés” (1927), photography, the crónica, and ethical acts of reading, interpreting, and narrating become instruments for the narrator to solve the murder of Ramírez whose death is presumed to be caused by being kicked to death due to his homosexuality. Both texts are thus invested in exploring the complementarity of visual technology and literature as two narrative modes that fragment the fleeting experience of modernity. Ultimately, my reading of Palacio’s texts in light of visual technology leads to a reflection on what literature can gain from visual narrative recourses.
