‘ ACTAS DEL XII CONGRESO NACIONAL DELA ASOCIACION ESPANOLA DE ESTUDIOS ANGLO-NORTEAMERICANOS ALICANTE, 19-22 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1988178 ‘The creative power of reading: a phenomenologica} approach to Johr Barth’s The floating opera and Carlos Fuentes’ Cristébal Nonato Santiago Juan-Navarro Columble Univers, ‘The entlysis of the production and reception of the literary work has radically changed ove the last decades. If the text elf was the focus of New Criticism and structural, the nex trends in criticism (postsirucuraliam, deconstruction, and reader-oriented theories) tend t contemplate the producer tnd the receiver of the teX! as two inseparable componente of communication situation. The reader's new privileged satus has been accepted by cootemporar writers, who systematically draw altention tothe figure ofthe reader us an active ptticipant i the production of meaning, thematizing this role within their novela ‘Thia paper sims to analyze the reading process and ks allegorization, using as extmples th: novels of two of the moat imaginative contemporary writes: John Barth and Carlos Puentes ‘fies general introduction tothe various theories that have paid special attention tothe role 0 the reader in Fterture, 1 will conceatrate on the min concepts developed by Wolfgang Iner his classical study The Act of Reading, and on their mimroring in The Floating Opera anc Cristobal Nonato. ‘The emphusis on the reader is characteristic of the twentith-century ertclm. Until century, literary studies hud been dominated by author-centered approaches, despite a fev exceptions. For example, some cighteenth-century writers, auch a4 Sterne and Fielding incorporate explicit readers into their novela giving rite to a new modality of ditlogic narrative More recently, ax Iser noted, Henry James as offered new insights ito the role of the reader ‘ematizng the historical constrictions inthe tsk of interpretation (let 3). But, peychologi and affective trends have been the targets of New Critics, who strear the objectivity an autonomy of the text and reject emotion, mirroring the xewthetice ofthe midwentith century. Modernism, with is concer with language and experimentation, attempt to render the ch of experience by meant of an increasing complexity in narrative technique. This aasumption which all considers realty as the referent ofthe literary work, has been definitely undermines by latent currents in literature, Structuraism shares with the New Criticism an analogou concentration on the text independence from the author, as well as scientiie pretensions, and # penchant for uxonomy and simpliietion. But, it contained in itll the germ of « developmen ‘towards more selF-eritical positions. The unstable quality ofthe relation between plied» led Roland Barthes a « rupture with objective and univocal readings, and touasser: the plural tex Other trends in critical theary, such 48 phenomenology and deconstruction, regard the text subject interaction as rather subjective process in which the referent no longer exists in the empirical world but within the text itelf. Ths fictive referent i submited to an endless process of readjusiment and modification according to historical, linguistic, and prychological factors 179Wolfgang Ize: -oncept ofthe simplied readers and Stanley Fish -affectve sylsticas attempt to see recipients as producers of new meanings and final co-authors of the fietional world. In short, the author text-reader circuit has endured « progression in which the concentration on the former elements has been subatituted by «significant streas on the activity and experience ofthe Iter. ‘The Floating Opera and Cristobal Nonato aretwo notable examples of metafctional writing, that allegorize phenomenology of reading within the text. By means of unreliable first-person nerrators, Barth and Puentes meditate upon language and it inability to represent « reality characerized by absurdity and dispersion. The lack of an objective referent i the act of Finguistic communication leads them to reject realiem and to continuously undermine specific fitional Barth’s narrttor, Todd Andrews, ix involved in « desperate search for identity, which rmanifets itself in a series of artificial masks. The same process characterizes the whole of Fuentes's production, having its most obvious manifestation in hit lst work: Crietsbal Nonato. From his mother's worn, Crissbal gives an tccount of his intr-uteine life from the moment in inal birth at the end of the novel, To aster themselves both Todd and ‘a0 author, but of a reader who can make them become real in the universe of fiction. 1. The structure of the Text: «The Mirroring of the Mirror> In studying the pragmatic nature of the literary text, Iaer atsociates the communicative situation in which the reader takes part with the speech-act theory as developed by J. Austin and. 1. Searle, Among the three speech acts locuionary,illoctionary, and perlocutionary) and their ‘consequent types of performance, he concludes that the fictional language involves the same ‘ctvities ax those ofthe illocutionary at: informing, promising, ordering, warning, threatening, lc. They all imply an active response on the part of the recipient, since dhe auccess of « linguistic action depends on the resolution of indeterminaciess, something which must be done sccording to & communicative model previously shared by the speaker and the addressee (Iter 60). The particularity ofthe fictional language it that «the reader must first discover for himeel the code underlying the text (ler 60). In this context, the receiver of the messuge has to pay attention not only to what is said, but specially to what is omitted. The «non-auide, the «paps in the discourse, represent, in fact, the most important feature of the dialogic nature of literature The «illoctionary force» of the text produces tree effects in relation tothe reader: it draws the reader’ attention, guides the way of access into the work, and provokes the reader's reaction, Conventions, which form the frame of reference in the speech act, are constantly problematized in Uterary speech. Inr refers to them an the srepertoze of the text» and includes those elements tradiionally astocinted with content. The structure of this content and the conditions for ita commurication receive the name of «atrategiese, The mott important governing structure in that of themes and chorizone, which refers to the use of « particular perspective in ‘text. The privileged perspective becomes the theme, whereas the other, along with the reader's ‘ast experiences, recede to the buckgrosnd, conditioning his reiponse. ‘The first-person nerrators in The Floating Opera and Crist6bal Nonato perform the same 180 sctivtie as thote stated in Austin’s theory ofthe illoctlonary act. Both directly addr. reader shove response to the events i carefully guided by frequent interrupive commentary. The tone ‘ued by these narrators of questionable reliability fluctuates throughout the novels. It oscillates between the eontideraion ofthe addressee as # guest on # narrative journey and the treatment of the reader as & mentally handicapped person, who is unable to understand anything. In hi frst meeting with the reader, Todd, the protagonist of The Floating Opera, plays the role of the mentor who shove a juvenile the route to follow in life. At this stage, he seems eager te be intimate with his reader and doesnot hesitate to overwhelm him with fivors; however, this ‘unusually familia, that i immediately arouses suspicions about the truthfulness of bi intend directly 10 introduce msself, caution you against certin possible interpretations of ms name, explain the significance of is book ttle, and do several gracious things for you, like thos fussing over a gues, to make you as comfortable as possible and to dunk you gent into the meandering stream of my story-usefil activites beter preserved than scrapped (Barth 3. But, the most striking feature of there self-conscious narratrs is their permanent inquiry inte the stricture oftheir own discourse. They we their stories to expovrd within the novel their ow literary theory. In the first chapter of Barts novel, the author uses the metaphor of Capac ‘Adam's Show Boat to propose a kind of narrative frec from the restrictions imposed by realitm. ‘new narrative where the sory is in » constant tate of flux and the audience has the opportunity to participate in the writing ofthe novel. The boat metaphor becomes symbolic not oaly of th: ‘author's view of an unstable and multi-faceted reality, but also of the digreasive character of the story. In what may be considered a the narrative center of Cristébal Nonato (Book It, Ch. 7), thy self-reflections or intertextuality ever writen. Unde the tle of sLos Hijos de la Mancha, CrstSbal offers « long lat of his brillant genealogy whi helps to understand the text of the Mexican novelist in the ight of western literary tradi Cervantes, Erasmus, Diderot, Flaubert, Gogol, Dickens, Katka, Borges, Kundera, ‘courte, tem, tre among thote whote presence felt i the ines ofthis monumental novel. Th ‘se, inversion, and manipulation of previous texts multiply their readings. So, as Juan Goytivol: points out, the influence is not urilaleral but reciprocal, and later novels may infuse nev meanings to those which precede them (40). 1, Phenomenology of Reading: «The Therapy of Frustraio Inthe third chapter of The Act of Reading, Iver explains in detail the act of comprehensio bby means of which the text ie trantated into the reader's consciouaneat. Of main importance understand thit process it the concept of the «wandering viewpoints. Unlike the objtcts c perception in the empirical world, which are already given and can be viewed as « whole, th object» of the text cannot be conceived until the successive stages of reading have bee ‘completed, Inthe Ierary text, instead of a stable subject-object relationship, the reader become ‘t moving viewpoint which travels along the text, This is actulized at certain stages. But, it tolalty iv approsched only atthe very end, through & process of synthesis. Every moment ¢