Las listas en la Misteriosa llama de la reina loana de Umberto Eco. Propuesta de Lectura

Abstract

According to Umberto Eco, the list is a method of representation consisting in the enumeration of the parts of a whole, and suggesting infinity almost physically. Eco points that this method of representation meets the human need for establishing a partial record of all that avoids the ability of controlling and naming reality. There's also the pleasure in the buildup ad infinitum of concepts and sounds, and the images brought to mind by those. This pleasure from the never-ending multiplication of images and sounds is vertiginous. The present work focuses on studying the lists as a writing strategy in The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (La Misteriosa Fiamma della Regina Loana). The studied novel gives prominence to the list and the listing procedure. The author nonetheless gives a singular treatment to lists, because he does not consider them as a discursive method of production, but the discursive paradigm of any production method, always branching to another lists. Also, the list is read as a symbol of postmodern “me”: multiple, heterogeneous, rhizomatic.