(Not so) out of Here. Reflexive Counterpoints in Latin American Literature in Enrique Vila-Matas’ Essays

Abstract

This essay reviews an important part of critical essays like El viajero más lento (1992), Aunque no entendamos nada (1997), Para acabar con los números redondos (1997) and Desde la ciudad nerviosa (2000), to analyze the way in which Latin American Literature is assumed by Enrique Vila-Matas (Barcelona, 1948), with the objective of systematizing the narrative ways and customs used by the Catalan author, which he would later apply in his own work. To start, it is possible to assure that Latin American Literature is important in his narrative because it is offered as counterweight to other literatures mentioned (Central European, French, Anglosaxon, etc.); second, it can be assured that it allows him to crystalize the way in which metafiction and self conscience function in his own pages; and, third, that he definitely establishes his “solitary place” within Spanish literature, which was his intention and ideal during the decades between 1970 and 1990, but wasn’t really a constituent element in his work. This would be fixed into his work once he had a grasp of the transatlantic discoveries he made as an avid reader.