Sul tricktext. Con una nota su Niebla di Miguel de Unamuno

Abstract

In this article, I advance the theoretical proposal of making a metalinguistic use of the notion of the trickster in order to address certain issues concerning the taxonomy of literary genres. A trickster is a type of mythical figure endowed with the capacity to cross cultural boundaries and recreate new ones by reversing any element into its opposite. It is a liminal character, fundamental to the establishment, maintenance, and renewal of any system of pertinence and values, as well as a comic figure who mocks any attempt to grasp the nature of its movements. Since we are no longer dealing with an actor but with a text, the hybrid resulting from applying the characteristics of the trickster to the definition of a class within the taxonomy of literary genres will be referred to by the made-up term tricktext. The discussion of the tricktext will run parallel to an exemplifying description of the literary work Niebla by Miguel de Unamuno.