This weeks’ readings were so rich with literary devices I felt almost overwhelmed! One of the first things I noticed about both readings was the use of direct imagery. While Arias’s Funeral for a Bird and even Ak’abal’s poems used imagery kind of indirectly (very open to interpretation by the reader), Borges and Bermúdes explicitly describe scenes. For example, Borges describes the second scene of the crime: “the city crumbled away; the sky expanded, and now houses held less and less importance… they came to their miserable destination; a final alleyway lined with pink-coloured walls that somehow seemed to reflect the rambunctious setting of the sun” (149-150). I think what this does is make the reader so invested in every detail in the story that they can be an active participant in decoding the crime, paying attention to nuances and how they might fit into the narrative.
Another particular literary device that stood out to me (and that I had to google) was internal dialogue, the example of which is when Lönrott thinks, the house is not so large… It seems larger because of its dimness, its symmetry, its mirrors, its age, my unfamiliarity with it, and my solitude. Internal dialogue uses italics to distinguish the character’s thoughts from speech. This is the first time it is used in the entire text, and places us right in Lönrott’s head, emphasizing the fact that he was alone in this big house with nothing but his thoughts. This, for me, created suspense and a bit of fear.
One final literary device that I wanted to point out was allusion, which Death and the Compass was especially rich in. Example/Question: Red Scharlach describes how Daniel Azevedo stabbed Yarmolinsky in the chest, and says, “the movement was almost reflexive; a half century of violence had taught him that the easiest and safest way is simply to kill…” (155) I’m not sure what he’s referring to here, perhaps someone with a better knowledge of the location/context of the story can help me out!
Hi Avery, I really enjoy your discussion of the literary devices in these readings. I want to push one point you made even further, on the premise of literary language as a tool to place the reader in the story. We are invited to become another detective, working alongside our character to work out the crime and experience the surroundings. This is accomplished through such explicit descriptions as you have noted. These are the ways in which the detective provides us with their own clues and ideas, allowing the reading to become an immersive experience. Who doesn’t try to solve the puzzle before our story teller does?
Hey Avery! Thanks so much for pointing out these literary devices. I also found that Borges’ text was especially dense with them, and although it made it more complicated to read and stay on top of everything, it also added so much complexity and rhythm to the text. I especially loved the internal dialogues that you pointed out and the use of parantheses throughout the text as we were given even more details about the investigaton, where it seems almost like a secret Borges is telling us so that we can keep up with the investigation and know as much as possible.
Hi Avery, I also noticed the vivid imagery throughout “Death and the Compass”, which, as you note, while captivating, was sometimes a lot! I found that in addition to his longer descriptions, Borges often slips in small, specific details that enhance the scene, from the villa’s “perpetual fragrance of eucalyptus” (147) to the “brackish street shared by a popular museum of wonders and a milk store, a brothel and a company of Bible sellers” (150). It’s in these illustrations that we gain a better understanding not only of the present scene, but of its history as well. As for the allusion in the final paragraph, my understanding was simply that the narration was showing us how accustomed Azevedo had become to using violence to put an end to any conflicts he might experience.
I love your observation about allusion, Avery! Borges was obsessed with a lot of early independence Argentine literature, such as Sarmiento’s Civilization and Barbarism and, especially, José Hernández’s “Martín Fierro”. In both of those texts, the figure of the gaucho is a violent, knife-wielding figure that relates to the “savage” nature of some denizens of the pampa. Borges wrote various text meditating on the gaucho and its legacy in Argentina (one famous one is called “El sur”, “The South”). In these texts, the knife is an important symbol of violence. When I read the bit about the knife, I immediately thought of his obsession with gauchos and knives and violence at the origin of Argentine identity… nice catch!