Intertextualidad y posmodernidad en Juegos de la edad tardía (1989) de Luis Landero : estrategias para la formación de una identidad textual.

Abstract

Luis Landero's Juegos de la edad tardia was published in 1989, at a time when Spain was passing through a rapid process to reach a complete democracy. After more than forty years of dictatorship, the country was taking part in Postmodernism (e.g., the cultural hedonism of the "Movida" and the creation of a new economic liberalism), having scarcely passed by the project of Modernism. The purpose of this work is to study Juegos de la edad tardia as a paradigm of its age. Located in Madrid in the mid-sixties, the novel presents the story of Gregorio Olias, who tries to accomplish his "afan" to become a poet, a man of action, a cosmopolitan adventurer. With the help of Gil, a salesman desirous of a modern hero to admire, the main character will be reborn into Faroni. After introducing the concept of intertextuality and its evolution over time, this study will emphasize the importance of the concept as the basis for the textual identity of Gregorio/Faroni. By mixing high and low culture (e.g., movies, canonical education and cultural stereotypes), Gregorio/Faroni creates a textual universe from which he can get his textual identity. By opposing this strategy of identity formation to the alienated world of Franco's Spain that surrounds him, Gregorio finally will be able to reach his "afan". Written in an age when Modernism and Postmodernism were in tension, this novel can be considered as a paradigm of the decade of the 80's. By taking Cervantes' Don Quixote as its hypotext, however, it manages to provide a certain amount of hope that the modern project against human alienation will be achieved.