Lo “fantástico andinizado”: de la mitología andina a lo fantástico en El Ekeko de Jorge Eduardo Benavides

The integration of mythological elements in Peruvian literature, which is very evident in many works that come under the ‘indigenismo’-movement, is also clearly visible in fantastic narrative to the extent that it constitutes a very peculiar subgenre. This ‘fantástico andinizado’ integrates some Andean myths in the context of daily life in order to set in motion the “vacillation”, which is essential for the fantastic genre as such. In Peruvian narrative this process is exemplified in El Ekeko, written by Jorge Eduardo Benavides. In this short story, the homonymous mythological figure generates the two basic modalities of the fantastic genre: by invading the veracious world in which the hero lives it links up with ‘lo fantástico de percepción’, while by configuring a double of the narrator and installing an unnatural narrative situation it participates in ‘lo fantástico de lenguaje’. As a result, the Andean reality can be seen as a technical and thematic process which is able to create the fantastic effect and to open up some surprising interpretative avenues.

Publication year:2020

Accessibility:Open