The Existential Narrative of Juan Carlos Onetti
Juan Carlos Onetti: An Existential Narrative
Constant Themes: Space and Santa María
From the beginning, Onetti showed a distinct disinterest in portraying reality, instead constructing a world apart. A constant theme in Onetti’s work is the exploration of guilt, moral responsibility, the relativity of truth, and dreams. Salvation, for his characters, is often found in writing. The act of writing becomes an escape, a way to grapple with the precariousness of the human condition. His narratives are fueled by the illusion that life has a purpose, yet they often depict a world populated by physically and spiritually exhausted individuals. This explains the proliferation of marginal figures—prostitutes, the sick, the insane—who function as either heroes or anti-heroes.
These characters grapple with a useless desolation, their struggle marked more by resignation than panic. They exhibit a tendency towards solitude, often dominated by boredom, sadness, or madness.
Literary Influences
Critics often cite Louis-Ferdinand Céline and William Faulkner as two of Onetti’s primary literary mentors.
Key Works
Novels
The Well
The Brief Life
The Santa María Cycle
The name Santa María carries clear biblical connotations, alluding to a nostalgia for paradise and original purity. It evokes the myth of Eden, though some interpretations view it ironically, associating it with spaces like brothels, as seen in The Shipyard.
The Shipyard
The novel begins with an event later detailed in Body Snatcher: the pimp Larsen’s expulsion from Santa María five years prior for running a brothel. He returns seeking to rehabilitate his name, embarking on a project to revive an abandoned shipyard under the direction of Petrus. Larsen recognizes the futility of this endeavor, yet accepts the challenge. He courts Petrus’s daughter, Angélica Inés, dreaming of marriage and prosperity. He also encounters two of Petrus’s employees, Gálvez and Kunz, who share Larsen’s indolence. Gálvez possesses compromising information about Petrus but withholds it, savoring a sense of superiority. However, as the novel concludes, Gálvez publishes the information and commits suicide. Petrus is imprisoned, and Larsen’s ambitions crumble. The ending remains ambiguous: Larsen seemingly escapes Santa María by boat, only to die later in a hospital.
Onetti masterfully portrays Larsen’s awareness of his desires’ impossibility. He recognizes the shipyard’s decay, the staff’s incompetence, and the absurdity of his romantic pursuits. Yet, he persists, conscious of the futility. This encapsulates the quintessential Onettian hero: pessimistic, self-defeating, yet driven by a desperate hope. This awareness of his own self-destruction accompanies Larsen throughout the narrative.
Body Snatcher
This novel centers on the drama surrounding Larsen’s brothel, detailing its establishment, the arrival of prostitutes, the reactions of moralists, and the business’s eventual fate. Parallel to this is the story of Jorge Malabia and his mentally unstable sister, Julia, narrated by Jorge. Haunted by remorse and disgust, Jorge attempts to flee with the prostitutes but is apprehended and returned home. There, he discovers Julia, who has hanged herself, dressed in her school uniform—a desperate and enigmatic attempt to reclaim lost innocence.
The characters are all morally compromised. Jorge, seemingly innocent, has a questionable relationship with his brother’s widow. His father, a wealthy man, publicly condemns the brothel while having previously employed Larsen.
Larsen emerges as the true Onettian hero: rebellious and disaffected, challenging a hypocritical social order. He is both pathetic and pitiable, not a violent thug, but an artist dreaming of the perfect brothel. His ideal remains unrealized, as he only manages to assemble aging prostitutes.
Later Novels
Let’s Talk About the Wind (1979)
When It’s All Over (1993)
Short Novels
The Face of Misfortune
The Farewells
An Unmarked Grave
Short Stories
The Dreaded Hell
In “The Dreaded Hell,” Risso, separated from his unfaithful wife, receives increasingly explicit photographs of her. These humiliating images are also sent to his acquaintances. Risso interprets this as a twisted expression of love and revenge. When he finally decides to reconcile, he receives a final, devastating letter, the contents of which are left unsaid, driving him to suicide.
The Face of Misfortune (Collection)
The title story focuses on the protagonist’s attempt to escape an intolerable situation through an existential leap, only to fail and sink further. Two tragic narratives intertwine: the suicide of the narrator’s brother after embezzling from his business, and the narrator’s encounter with a young woman. The narrator feels responsible for his brother’s downfall, having encouraged him into speculation. He meets a teenager, and they spend a passionate night together. The next morning, a prostitute reveals that the narrator’s brother had been deceitful for years, lessening the narrator’s guilt. Despite this, he feels betrayed and confesses to a crime he didn’t commit. This act highlights the characteristic solitude of the Onettian hero. The narrator seeks purity and truth in a fallen world, ultimately surrendering to its lies and violence by turning them against himself.