The Rol of Automatons in De mecánica y alquimia, by Juan Jacinto Muñoz Rengel

Abstract

This paper approaches the cycle of short stories De mecánica y alquimia (2009), by Juan Jacinto Muñoz Rengel (Málaga, 1974), from the presence of automatons in the narratives and their participation in the plot of the stories. Since the book presents a generic hybridization between science fiction and fantasy, the origin of the automated devices and androids is examined, in order to determine whether their existence is due to a mechanical process or an alchemical one, as is the case of the golems present in the volume. Subsequently, the combination of these procedures in the configuration of the narratives is analyzed, the result of which is a series of disturbing beings that are disruptive to the paradigm of reality. Therefore, the reaction of the characters to the existence of these beings is also studied, based on Freud's theory of the sinister and on the philosophical aspects introduced by the allusions to the thought of René Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, among others, within the dystopian universe created by the author. Finally, the existence of some inanimate beings that come to life in the literary tradition is recovered and the figure of automatons as destabilizing and monstrous entities is highlighted, with emphasis on the stories of Muñoz Rengel's volume set in the future.