The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the

Novel : The Example of Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo

Sylvie Patron

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Sylvie Patron. The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel : The Example of Pedro
Páramo by Juan Rulfo. Journal of Literary Theory, 2010, 4 (2), pp. 253-272. �hal-00698657�

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1
2
3
4
5 SYLVIE PATRON
6
7
8
The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel
9
10 The Example of Pedro Pramo by Juan Rulfo1
11
12 The death of the narrator is the death of the novel.
13 (Kayser 1955, 34)
14
15 This article is an extension of my book on the problem of the narrator in fictional
16 narrative (see Patron 2009). The narrator (the answer to the question »who
17 speaks?«) is a concept used widely in the teaching of literature, even though it is
18 a subject of continued debate within narrative theory or theories. Is there always
19 a narrator in fictional narrative, or only in some narratives (which would presup-
20 pose that it is possible to call some narratives ›narratorless‹)? The question divides
21 ›communicational‹ theories of narrative2, according to which communication be-
22 tween a real or fictional narrator and a narratee is constitutive of the definition of
23 narrative, from ›non-communicational theories‹,3 also termed ›poetic‹ theories of
24 fictional narrative,4 which consider that fictional narrative, or a certain type of fic-
25 tional narrative, and communication are mutually exclusive categories. According
26 to these theories, fictional narrative is not, or is not always, an act of communica-
27
1
28 A French version of this article is forthcoming in: Sylvie Patron (ed.), Thorie, Analyse, Interprtation
des Rcits / Theory, Analysis, Interpretation of Narratives, Berne 2011. It is followed by a »Note sur la
29
traduction des temps verbaux dans Pedro Pramo«, which essentially deals with the choice between
30 the pass simple and the pass compos in French translations of Juan Rulfo’s novel.
31 2
The term was coined by S.-Y. Kuroda (see notably Kuroda 1976, 107 et passim). It originally applied
32 to the theories developed by Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov and Grard Genette, but can be
33 extended to all classical and post-classical narratologies.
3
The term is a logical consequence of Kuroda’s propositions (see Kuroda 1976, notably 114, 123);
34
however, it does not figure as such in Kuroda’s work. It has several drawbacks, not the least of which
35 being that it presents communicational theories and non-communicational theories as if they were
36 opposed to each other, whereas their relation is rather more one of inclusion (non-communicational
37 theories are really theories of optional fictional communication).
4
38 The term was coined by Kuroda (see Kuroda 1976, 130, 140; Kuroda 1979, 11; Kuroda 1980, 79). It
follows from certain propositions in Kte Hamburger (see Hamburger 1993, 10 – 13; Kuroda 1976,
39
124 – 125). It was adopted by Ann Banfield (see Banfield 1979, 20; Banfield 2003, 479). Among the
40 representatives of non-communicational or poetic theories of narrative, Mary Galbraith could also
41 be mentioned (see Galbraith 1995) as well as other contributors to the same volume (edited by
42 Duchan/Bruder/Hewitt 1995).

JLT 4:2 (2010), 253–272. DOI 10.1515/JLT.2010.016

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254 Sylvie Patron

1 tion. To the question »who speaks?«, they reply that, in certain fictional narratives,
2 nobody speaks – or more precisely, the question is not asked since it is not pertinent.
3 These theories also aim to rehabilitate the function of the author as creator of the
4 fictional narrative.
5 In this article, I intend to put communicational theories of narrative and non-
6 communicational or poetic theories of fictional narrative to the test of an empirical
7 close reading, with the aim of evaluating not only their internal consistency, but also
8 their heuristic value and their pertinence to the interpretation. To do so I have chos-
9 en Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Pramo (1955, English translation 1959, new transla-
10 tion 1994).5
11
12
Pedro Pramo: A Complex Fictional Montage
13
14
Pedro Pramo is made up of sixty-nine fragments of unequal length which are nei-
15
ther numbered nor given titles, but rather separated by typographical spaces.6 In-
16
stead of being organised in a unitary fashion around a storyline, the novel links sev-
17
eral stories, the first of which is developed and continued from one fragment to the
18
next (this is the story of Juan Preciado, Pedro Pramo’s legitimate son, from the
19
death of his mother in Sayula, to his own death in the village of Comala), while
20
others are developed but fragmentary (this is the case notably of the story of
21
Pedro Pramo, from his childhood in Comala to his death at his property, La
22
Media Luna), and still others are not developed, and are more embryonic than frag-
23
mentary (this is the case, for example, of the history of Dorotea, mentioned in frag-
24
ment 36). From the point of view of narrative modes, two main parts of the novel
25
can be distinguished. The first, from fragment 1 to fragment 35, is dominated by
26
Juan Preciado’s narrative recounting his journey from Sayula to Comala, after his
27
mother’s death, his arrival in Comala and his encounter with the ghosts of its in-
28
habitants (which he at first takes to be its ›real‹ inhabitants), and finally his own
29
death on the town square of Comala (Juan Preciado’s narrative might in fact be
30
termed a »text after death«, Doležel 1998, 159). These are the opening lines of
31
the first fragment:
32
33 Vine a Comala, porque me dijeron que ac viva mi padre, un tal Pedro Pramo. Mi madre me lo
34 dijo. Y yo le promet que vendra a verlo en cuanto ella muriera. Le apret sus manos en seÇal de que lo
hara, pues ella estaba por morirse y yo en un plan de prometerlo todo.
35
(Rulfo 2007, 65)
36
5
37 The 1959 text was translated by Lysander Kemp, the 1994 text by Margaret Sayers Peden (hereafter
38 Rulfo 1994).
6
39 In the wake of numerous other commentators, I shall call the units separated by typographical blank
spaces ›fragments‹, reserving the term ›sequences‹ for the series of fragments, whether continuous or
40 discontinuous, which correspond to the same unit of narrative content. Certain commentators use
41 the term ›sequences‹ (›secuencias‹) for the units I am terming ›fragments‹. I will use consecutive
42 numbering henceforth.

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 255

1
2 I came to Comala because I had been told that my father, a man named Pedro Pramo, lived
there. It was my mother who told me. And I had promised her that after she died I would go see
3
him. I squeezed her hands as a sign I would do it. She was near death, and I would have promised
4 her anything.
5 (Rulfo 1994, 3)
6
It is clear that this passage refers to an enunciative or narrative situation located in
7
Comala (»Vine a Comala«, »ac«, »que vendra a verlo«).7 The same situation is re-
8
called at the close of the first fragment: »Por eso vine a Comala« (»That was why I had
9
come to Comala«),8 and on several occasions again up to fragment 36: »Vine a bus-
10
car a Pedro Pramo, que segffln parece fue mi padre« (»I came to find Pedro Pramo,
11
12
who they say was my father«).9 Juan Preciado’s narrative is interrupted by fragments
13
belonging to different sequences and characterised by a different, third-person nar-
14
rative mode, with no trace of a reference to a precise narrative situation (fragments
15
6, 7, 8, 10 and 12: Pedro Pramo’s adolescence in Comala; fragments 13 to 16:
16
death of Miguel Pramo, Pedro Pramo’s illegitimate son; fragments 18 to 23: es-
17
tablishing Pedro Pramo’s dominance, with his marriage to Dolores Preciado and
18
the assassination of Toribio Aldrete). The first part ends at the beginning of frag-
19
ment 36, where we learn that Juan Preciado’s narrative takes place in the context of a
20
dialogue – and thus in a communicational context – between Juan Preciado and
21 Dorotea, an elderly woman who had been buried after him in the same tomb:
22 — ¿Quieres hacerme creer que te mat el ahogo, Juan Preciado? Yo te encontr en la plaza, muy lejos
23 de la casa de Donis, y junto a m tambin estaba l, diciendo que te estabas haciendo el muerto. Entre
24 los dos te arrastramos a la sombra del portal, ya bien tirante, acalambrado como mueren los que mue-
ren muertos de miedo. De no haber habido aire para respirar esa noche de que hablas, nos hubieran
25
faltado las fuerzas para llevarte y contims para enterrarte. Y ya ves, te enterramos.
26 — Tienes razn, Doroteo. ¿Dices que te llamas Doroteo?
27 — Da lo mismo. Aunque mi nombre sea Dorotea. Pero da lo mismo.
28 — Es cierto, Dorotea. Me mataron los murmullos.
29 (Rulfo 2007, 117)
30
»Are you trying to make me believe you drowned, Juan Preciado? I found you in the town plaza,
31 far from Donis’s house, and he was there, too, telling me you were playing dead. Between us we
32 dragged you into the shadow of the arches, already stiff as a board and all drawn up like a person
33 who’d died of fright. If there hadn’t been any air to breathe that night you’re talking about, we
34 wouldn’t have had the strength to carry you, even less bury you. And, as you see, bury you we
did.«
35
36 7
An earlier version of this passage, published in the journal Las Letras Patrias in 1954, contains no
37 reference of this sort: »Fui a Tuxcacuexco porque me dijeron que all viva mi padre, un tal Pedro
38 Pramo. Mi madre me lo dijo. Entonces le promet que ira a verlo en cuanto ella muriera«, etc. (see
39 Zepeda 2005, 78); »I went to Tuxcacuexco because I was told that my father, a certain Pedro Pramo,
lived there. It was my mother who told me. So I promised her that I would go and see him when she
40 died« (my translation).
41 8
Rulfo (2007, 65) and Rulfo (1994, 3).
9
42 Rulfo (2007, 119) and Rulfo (1994, 60).

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256 Sylvie Patron

1 »You’re right, Doroteo. You say your name’s Doroteo?«

2 »It doesn’t matter. It’s really Dorotea. But it doesn’t matter.«
»It’s true, Dorotea. The murmuring killed me.«
3
(Rulfo 1994, 58)
4
5 In the second part, in which references back to the dialogue between Juan Preciado
6 and Dorotea also intervene (fragments 38, 42, 52, 55 and 64), the main interest
7 centres on the stories of Pedro Pramo and Susana San Juan, Pedro Pramo’s
8 last wife. These are related in the third person, either objectively or from different
9 characters’ points of view, or in the first person by Susana San Juan herself. Here are
10 the opening lines to fragment 39 (the possessive »su« in »su puerta« refers to Pedro
11 Pramo):
12 Llamaron a su puerta; pero l no contest. Oy que siguieron tocando todas las puertas, despertando a
13 la gente. La carrera que llevaba Fulgor – lo conoci por sus pasos – hacia la puerta grande se detuvo un
14 momento, como si tuviera intenciones de volver a llamar. Despus sigui corriendo.
15 Rumor de voces. Arrastrar de pisadas despaciosas como si cargaran algo pesado.
Ruidos vagos.
16
(Rulfo 2007, 125)
17
18 They pounded at his door, but he didn’t answer. He heard them knock at door after door, waking
19 everyone around. Fulgor – he knew him by his footsteps – paused a moment as he hurried to-
20 ward the main door, as if he meant to knock again. Then kept running.
Voices. Slow, scraping footsteps, like people carrying a heavy load.
21
Unidentifiable sounds.
22 (Rulfo 1994, 66)
23
24 In both parts of the text, there is a massive presence of dialogue (either involving
25 Juan Preciado or overheard by him, or perceived by him in an unnatural manner,
26 according to his own commentaries in the first part) as well as monologue (report-
27 ed, attributed to Juan Preciado’s mother or remembered by him in the first part).
28 Fragments 16 and 19 of the first part, as well as several fragments in the second part,
29 also contain passages of free indirect discourse, used to represent the thoughts of
30 certain characters (Father Rentera, the priest in Comala, Fulgor Sedano, the ad-
31 ministrator at La Media Luna, Susana San Juan, Gerardo Trujillo, Pedro Pramo’s
32 lawyer, Abundio Martnez, another of Pedro Pramo’s illegitimate sons).
33
34
35 Pedro Pramo According to Communicational Theories of Narrative
36 (Critical Reception of Pedro Pramo)
37
38 It can reasonably be supposed that all critics, whether they draw on communica-
39 tional theories of narrative or non-communicational or poetical theories of fiction-
40 al narrative, do or would agree to consider Juan Preciado as the fictional narrator,
41 that is, the character who has the status of narrator in the fictional world, in the first
42 part of the novel (except in fragments 6 to 8, 10, 12 to 16, 18 to 23, mentioned

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 257

1 already).10 The comparison only really becomes interesting when the question is
2 asked: who is the narrator of the second part of the novel (as well as fragments
3 6 to 8, 10, 12 to 16, 18 to 23 in the first part)? As well, perhaps, as the question:
4 is the fictional narrator of the second part of the novel also the ›reporter‹ of the dia-
5 logue between Juan Preciado and Dorotea, and thus of Juan Preciado’s narrative in
6 the first part of the novel? The second question can also be formulated in the fol-
7 lowing way: is the fictional narrator of the second part of the novel responsible for
8 the arrangement of the novel as a whole, presented as a montage of real documents?
9 The answers given to the first question in critiques of Pedro Pramo are unan-
10 imous on the presence of a fictional narrator in the second part of the novel al-
11 though they name, and in some cases describe, the fictional narrator in a variety
12
of ways. The term most often encountered is that of ›third-person narrator‹ (›nar-
13
rador en tercera persona‹).11 Its meaning is determined within the opposition be-
14
tween ›first-person narrator‹ and ›third-person narrator‹12 (an opposition based
15
on the opposition between ›first-person narrative‹ and ›third-person narrative‹, it-
16
self stemming historically from the opposition between ›first-person novel‹ and
17
›third-person novel‹13). ›Third-person narrator‹ in this context means the ›narrator
18
of a third-person narrative‹ or the ›narrator of a narrative which is not in the first
19
person‹. However, it is evident that the term itself is meaningless. As Genette writes
20
21
in Narrative Discourse (1972, transl. 1980), a narrator »can be in his narrative (like
22
every subject of an enunciating in his enunciated statement) only in the ›first person‹
23
[…]« (Genette 1980, 244; meaning: a narrator can only refer to himself using a
24 first-person pronoun; while he may not refer to himself, he nevertheless remains
25 a first person who, if he is not actualized, is at least able to be actualized as
26 such). Another term which is often encountered is that of ›omniscient narrator‹
27 (›narrador omnisciente‹).14 Unlike the preceding one, this term sometimes elicits
28 commentary, which essentially aims at limiting its use to certain passages or textual
29
30 10
Aronne-Amestoy (1986, 57) speaks of Juan Preciado as a »pseudo-narrator« (»seudonarrador«),
31 because he does not satisfy the condition of survival associated with a narrator of a traditional first-
32 person fictional narrative (the narrator must have survived after the end of the story in order to be
33 able to tell it). The pseudo-narrator is nevertheless a fictional narrator in the sense in which the term
is used here.
34 11
See for example Luraschi (1976, 7, 15 – 21, 25), Gonzlez Boixo (1980, 152, 153 – 169 et passim),
35 Gonzlez Boixo (2007, 19, 22, 31), Aronne-Amestoy (1986, 53), De Toro (1992, 204, 215 – 217 et
36 passim), Zepeda (2005, 7 et passim), Anderson (2007, 5).
12
37 See in particular Luraschi (1976, 7 – 15, 15 – 21), Gonzlez Boixo (1980, 153 – 169, 169 – 178), De
38 Toro (1992, 215 – 217, 217 – 221).
13
See the text box »Les termes ›roman  la premire personne‹ et ›roman  la troisime personne‹« in the
39
introduction to Patron (2009, 15 – 16).
40 14
See for example Luraschi 1976, 16, 17, 18; Gonzlez Boixo 1980, 153, 154, 159, 164; Bradu 1995,
41 21; Jimnez de Bez 1990, 131; De Toro 1992, 203, 204, 215, 216; Llarena 1997, 108; Palaisi-
42 Robert 2003, 110; Anderson 2007, 5.

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258 Sylvie Patron

1 manifestations.15 In Claves narrativas de Juan Rulfo (1980), Jos Carlos Gonzlez

2 Boixo distinguishes between ›omniscient narrator‹ and ›equiscient narrator‹ (›nar-
3 rador equisciente‹),16 the second term being used for narrative passages ›with point of
4 view‹ (third-person narratives which express the point of view of a character, or ›fig-
5 ural‹ narrative to use Franz Stanzel’s terminology, or narrative ›with internal focal-
6 ization‹ in Genette’s terminology.17) The following terms can also be found: ›ob-
7 jective narrator‹ (›narrador objetivo‹),18 ›hidden‹ or ›concealed narrator‹ (›narrador
8 oculto‹),19 ›speaker‹ or ›basic narrator‹ (›hablante‹ or ›narrador bsico‹),20 ›impersonal
9 narrator‹ or ›heterodiegetic narrator‹.21
10 All the terms which have just been mentioned aim to replace older terms such as
11 ›novelist‹ (›novelista‹),22 ›author‹ (›autor‹),23 ›author-narrator‹ (›autor-narrador‹)24
12 or ›omniscient author‹ (›autor omnisciente‹),25 seen as supporting outmoded theo-
13 retical conceptions. For Gonzlez Boixo, reading a novel implies a double commu-
14 nicative situation taking place on two ontologically distinct levels: »The reader and
15 the author are both two external elements, and their importance is due to the fact
16 that the author is the creator of the literary message and that the reader, as the re-
17 ceiver of the message, must be capable of receiving it«; within the literary message,
18 »both disappear as such (Juan Rulfo and the reader x) and are transformed into fic-
19 tional beings; the author becomes the narrator and the reader x the ideal reader for
20 whom the narrative is constructed [el autor se transformar en el narrador y el lector x,
21 en el lector ideal para quien se construye la narracin]«.26 According to this concep-
22
15
23 See in particular Gonzlez Boixo 1980, 158 – 164. The idea of »linking omniscience« (»omnisciencia
de enlace«, ibid., 159 – 161), as well as that of »poetical omniscience« (»omnisciencia de carcter
24
potico«, ibid., 161 – 163), stem from Ilse Adriana Luraschi (see Luraschi 1976, 16 – 17, 21, 26 – 27).
25 See also De Toro 1992, 215 – 216.
26 16
Strictly speaking, Gonzlez Boixo borrows the distinction from Oscar Tacca (see Tacca 1973, 61;
27 Gonzlez Boixo 1980, 153). The term ›narrador equisciente‹ is taken up and attributed to Gonzlez
28 Boixo in Espinosa-Jcome 1996, 33.
17
See Stanzel 1971, 23 et passim; Stanzel 1984, 5 et passim; Genette 1980, 189 et passim. Gonzlez
29
Boixo’s equiscient narrator also corresponds to the narrator ›with limited omniscience‹ referred to by
30 numerous Anglo-Saxon critics and theorists.
31 18
See for example Aronne-Amestoy 1986, 5.
19
32 See for example Aronne-Amestoy 1986, 54; Palaisi-Robert 2003, 111.
20
33 See CarreÇo 2004, 5 et passim. These terms stem from Flix Martnez Bonati (see Martnez Bonati
1981, 29, 35 et passim).
34 21
See Palaisi-Robert 2003, 110. The latter term is from Genette (see Genette 1980, 245).
35 22
See Blanco Aguinaga 2003, 36.
36 23
See for example Frenk 2003, 51; Rodrguez Monegal 2003, 124; Ortega 1976, 11; Ortega Galindo
37 1984, 247, 248, 249.
24
38 See for example Leal 1995, 102, Ortega Galindo 1984, 249.
25
See for example Leal 1995, 100; Ortega 1976, 10.
39 26
Gonzlez Boixo 1980, 151; my translation. In the introduction to Patron 2009, 23 – 24, I comment,
40 in relation to Barthes on the confusion between ›internal‹ characteristics (within the linguistic or
41 semiological opposition between ›external‹ and ›internal‹) and ›fictional‹ characteristics (within the
42 ontological opposition between ›real‹ and ›fictional‹). This confusion is also at work here.

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 259

1 tion, to say that the author is telling the story in the second part of Pedro Pramo
2 would be to confuse the level of reality with that of fiction. For Alejandro CarreÇo,
3 »the term ›author-narrator‹ is ambiguous and, moreover, lacks any solid theoretical
4 substance«. He refers to the theoretical views of Martinez Bonati to affirm that »the
5 narrator is made of words, [and] absents himself in the (imaginary) language of
6 what is communicated« (CarreÇo 2004, 5; my translation). CarreÇo also quotes
7 Martnez Bonati: »To the extent that what is communicated is (imaginary) lan-
8 guage, the situation of imaginary linguistic communication – that is, the immanent
9 meaning of the sentences – includes neither author nor reader, but is a transcendent
10 object for both« (Martnez Bonati 1972, 131; my translation; see also Martnez Bo-
11 nati 1981, 81), as well as Wolfgang Kayser: »For many readers of novels, the nar-
12 rator is none other than the author. Such readers fail to understand that the narrator
13 is also a fictional product, and is himself part of the poetical reality he recounts and
14 considers his sole reality.« (Kayser 1970, 466; my translation)
15 No answer to the second question (is the fictional narrator of the second part of
16 the novel also the ›reporter‹ of the dialogue between Juan Preciado and Dorotea,
17 and thus of Juan Preciado’s narrative in the first part of the novel?) is provided
18 in critical works on Pedro Pramo. It is as if, having ousted the author in favour
19 of the narrator, seen as a fictional being, the analyst were then obliged to bring
20 him back to account for facts pertaining to the arrangement of the novel. Indeed
21 it is very difficult to see the arrangement of the novel Pedro Pramo as a fictional
22 imitation of a montage of real documents.
23
24 Presenting the second part of Pedro Pramo as if it were due to a fictional narrator in
25 the same way as Juan Preciado’s narrative in the first part of the novel raises a certain
26 number of problems (none of which, it might be noted in passing, are dealt with in
27 critical works on Pedro Pramo). I will divide these problems into three groups: 1)
28 problems with the internal coherence of the critical discourse; 2) problems with the
29 organisation of the task of interpretation; 3) problems with falsifying erroneous
30 interpretations.
31 Claiming that the second part of Pedro Pramo is due to a fictional narrator in
32 the same way as Juan Preciado’s narrative in the first part of the novel confuses two
33 profoundly distinct conceptions of the fictional and fictionality. In the first part of
34 the novel, the narrator designated by ›I‹ is presented as a character in the fiction
35 (»Vine a Comala, porque me dijeron que ac viva mi padre, un tal Pedro
36 Pramo«, Rulfo 2007, 65). The narrator is obviously fictional and his narrative sit-
37 uation is also fictional (Dorotea to Juan Preciado: »Y ya ves, te enterramos«, ibid.,
38 117). ›Fictional‹, here, means ›created by the author and giving rise to imagination
39 on the part of the reader‹. In the second part of the novel, not only is the narrator not
40 a character within the fiction, but there is no mention of his very existence. If he is
41 considered to be fictional, it is only as a result of a standard argument, which can
42 today be seen as fallacious, according to which the narrating of a fictional narrative,

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260 Sylvie Patron

1 composed of fictional events and characters, necessarily implies the presence of a

2 fictional narrator.27 ›Fictional‹, here, does not mean ›created by the author‹, but
3 rather ›created by a theoretical argument concerning the workings of fiction‹. I
4 might add that if the narrator is to promote imagination on the part of the reader,
5 the imagining in question would often contradict that of the fictional content of
6 the story. Take, for example, the opening lines of fragment 15, which is part of the
7 sequence concerning Miguel Pramo’s death in the first part of the novel:
8
Un caballo pas al galope donde se cruza la calle real con el camino de Contla. Nadie lo vio. Sin
9
embargo, una mujer que esperaba en las afueras del pueblo cont que haba visto el caballo corriendo
10 con las piernas dobladas como si se fuera a ir de bruces. Reconoci el alazn de Miguel Pramo. Y hasta
11 pens: »Ese animal se va a romper la cabeza.« Luego vio cuando enderezaba el cuerpo y, sin aflojar la
12 carrera, caminaba con el pescuezo echado hacia atrs como si viniera asustado por algo que haba
13 dejado all atrs.
14 Esos chismes llegaron a la Media Luna la noche del entierro, mientras los hombres descansaban de la
15 larga caminata que haban hecho hasta el panten.
16 (Rulfo 2007, 89–90)
17
A horse galloped by the place where the main street crosses the road to Contla. No one saw it.
18 Nevertheless, a woman waiting on the outskirts of the village told that she had seen the horse,
19 and that its front legs were buckled as if about to roll head over hooves. She recognized it as
20 Miguel Pramo’s chestnut stallion. The thought had even crossed her mind that the animal
21 was going to break its neck. Then she saw it regain its footing and without any interruption
in stride race off with its head twisted back, as if frightened by something it had left behind.
22
23 That story reached to the Media Luna on the night of the burial, as the men were resting after the
24 long walk back from the cemetery.
25 (Rulfo 1994, 28)
26
The reader cannot imagine, at the same time, that the event constituted by the horse
27
passing by was witnessed by nobody (»Nadie lo vio«), even though a character re-
28
counted having witnessed it (»Sin embargo, una mujer […] cont que haba visto el
29
caballo«), and that the fictional narrator, if indeed there is a fictional narrator, him-
30
self witnessed the event. The opening lines of fragment 59 could also be mentioned,
31
32
recalling »una de esas lunas tristes que nadie mira, a las que nadie hace caso« (»one of
33
those sad moons that no one looks at or pays attention to«),28 as well as all the scenes
34 which are supposed to have taken place with no witnesses apart from the characters
35 mentioned (the dialogue between Father Rentera and his niece in fragment 14,
36 Father Rentera’s insomnia in fragment 16, the interview between Fulgor Sedano
37 and Dolores Preciado in fragment 21, Father Rentera’s confession to the Contla
38 priest or Dorotea’s to Father Rentera in fragment 40, the night spent by Damiana
39 27
This line of reasoning is at work in the quotes from Martnez Bonati and Kayser cited above. It is
40 contradicted, for example, by Searles’s (1979) analysis, first published in 1975. On Searle and
41 narratology, Chapter 5 of Patron (2009, 99 – 134).
28
42 Rulfo (2007, 160) and Rulfo (1994, 105).

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 261

1 Cisneros in fragment 59, or Pedro Pramo’s in fragment 67, or Pedro Pramo’s

2 death in fragment 69).
3 The second group of problems concerns the organisation of the task of inter-
4 pretation. In a first-person fictional narrative, such as Juan Preciado’s narrative
5 in the first part of Pedro Pramo, all the formal elements contribute to defining
6 the fictional narrator and thus lend themselves to an interpretation which goes be-
7 yond the formal level. As soon as the second part of Pedro Pramo is seen as a first-
8 person fictional narrative in which the ›I‹ is erased, but could be reinstated, all the
9 formal elements must also be seen as contributing toward defining the fictional nar-
10 rator and lending themselves to an interpretation going beyond the formal level. We
11
are therefore led to ask a certain number of questions, beginning with the question:
12
why does the fictional narrator systematically refuse to use the personal pronoun ›I‹?
13
Other questions include (to summarise, I am presenting them in the form of a list,
14
accompanied by representative extracts from the second part of Pedro Pramo):
15
How can the fact be explained that the fictional narrator has perfect, integral
16
knowledge of the thoughts and feelings of certain characters? See, for example,
17
the following extract from fragment 56:
18
19 Si al menos fuera dolor lo que sintiera ella, y no esos sueÇos sin sosiego, esos interminables y agotadores
20 sueÇos, l podra buscarle algffln consuelo. As pensaba Pedro Pramo, fija la vista en Susana San
Juan, siguiendo cada uno de sus movimientos. ¿Qu sucedera si ella tambin se apagara cuando
21
se apagara la llama de aquella dbil luz con que l la vea?
22 (Rulfo 2007, 157)
23
24 If only she were suffering pain, and not these relentless, interminable, exhausting dreams, he
25 could find some way to comfort her. Those were Pedro Pramo’s thoughts as he stood watching
Susana San Juan, following her every movement. What would he do if she died like the flame of
26
the pale light that allowed him to watch her?
27 (Rulfo 1994, 101)
28
29 Or the following extract from the final fragment:
30 »Con tal de que no sea une nueva noche«, pensaba l.
31 Porque tena miedo de las noches que le llenaban de fantasmas la oscuridad. De encerrarse con sus
32 fantasmas. De eso tena miedo.
33
(Rulfo 2007, 178)
34 »So there won’t be another night«, he thought.
35 Because he feared the nights that filled the darkness with phantoms. That locked him in with his
36 ghosts. That was his fear.
37 (Rulfo 1994, 124)
38 How can it be explained that he remembers a priori meaningless details about events
39
that occurred a long time ago, the private nature of which would seemingly need to
40
exclude the presence of witnesses? Take, for example, the following extract from
41
fragment 37 (according to the chronology drawn up by Gonzlez Boixo, the events
42

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262 Sylvie Patron

1 in questions took place nineteen years before Pedro Pramo’s death, recounted in
2 the last fragment):
3
Fulgor Sedano sinti el olor de la tierra y se asom a ver cmo la lluvia desfloraba los surcos. Sus ojos
4 pequeÇos se alegraron. Dio hasta tres bocanadas de aquel sabor y sonri hasta enseÇar los dientes.
5 »¡Vaya! – dijo –. Otro buen aÇo se nos echa encima.« Y aÇadi: »Ven, agita, ven. ¡Djate caer
6 hasta que te canses! Despus crrete para all, acurdate que hemos abierto a la labor toda la tierra,
7 noms para que te des gusto.«
Y solt la risa.
8
(Rulfo 2007, 121)
9
10 Fulgor Sedano breathed in the scent of fresh earth and looked out to see how the rain was pen-
11 etrating the furrows. His little eyes were happy. He took three deep gulps, relishing the savor, and
12 grinned till his teeth showed.
»Ahhhh!«, he said. »We’re about to have another good year.« And then added: »Come on down,
13
rain. Come on down. Fall until you can’t fall anymore! And then move on. Remember that we
14 worked the ground just to pleasure you.«
15 And he laughed aloud.
16 (Rulfo 1994, 61–62)
17
How could it be explained, either, that he is never mistaken in his claims or inter-
18
pretations, or that he knows what is happening at the same time in two different
19
places, or that he denies the receiver information of which he is clearly in posses-
20
sion? Take the following extracts from fragments 57, 67–68 and 37:
21
22 El licenciado Gerardo Trujillo sali despacio. Estaba ya viejo; pero no para dar esos pasos tan cortos,
23 tan sin ganas. La verdad es que esperaba una recompensa.
(Rulfo 2007, 158)
24
25 Gerardo Trujillo, lawyer, left very slowly. He was old, but not so old he had to walk so haltingly,
26 so reluctantly. The truth was that he had expected a reward.
27 (Rulfo 1994, 102)
28
Pedro Pramo sigui moviendo los labios, susurrando palabras. Despus cerr la boca y entreabri los
29
ojos, en los que se reflej la dbil claridad del amanecer.
30 Amaneca.
31 [blank space]
32 A esa misma hora, la madre de Gamaliel Villalpando, doÇa Ins, barra la calle frente a la tienda de
33 su hijo, cuando lleg y, por la puerta entornada, se meti Abundio Martnez.
(Rulfo 2007, 173)
34
35 Pedro Pramo’s lips kept moving, whispering words. Then as he pressed his lips together, he
36 opened his eyes, where the pale light of dawn was reflected.
37 Day was beginning.
38 [blank space]
At the same hour, doÇa Ins, the mother of Gamaliel Villalpando, sweeping the street in front of
39
her son’s store, saw Abundio Martnez push the half-open door and go inside.
40 (Rulfo 1994, 118)
41
42

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 263

1 Despus [Miguel Pramo] se qued pensando si aquella mujer no le servira para algo. Y sin dudarlo
2 ms fue hacia la puerta trasera de la cocina y llam a Dorotea:
— Ven para ac, te voy a proponer un trato — le dijo.
3
Y quin sabe qu clase de proposiciones le hara, lo cierto es que cuando entr de nuevo se frotaba las
4 manos […].
5 (Rulfo 2007, 122)
6
7 He [Miguel Pramo] sat and thought for a while, wondering how the woman might be of use to
him. Then without further hesitation he went to the back kitchen door and called Dorotea:
8
»Come here a minute, I’ve got a proposition to make you«, he said.
9 Who knows what deal he offered her; the fact is that when he came inside he was rubbing his
10 hands.
11 (Rulfo 1994, 63; the reader learns later on that Miguel Pramo has asked Dorotea to act as his
12 go-between)
13 However hard one might look, there is no response to be found to such questions
14 within the fiction. The only adequate explanation for the formal peculiarities of the
15 extracts in question is as choices made by the author for technical or artistic reasons.
16
The questions listed above are therefore false questions, which detract from the real
17
questions to be asked (for example, how does the author manage to make Miguel
18
Pramo both his father’s double and a character with his own defining traits and his
19
own place within the system of characters in the novel?)
20
To illustrate the third group of problems, which concerns the falsification of er-
21
roneous interpretations, I will draw on an example taken from Lida Aronne-Ames-
22
toy in Utopa, paraso e historia. Inscripcin del mito en Garca Mrquez, Rulfo y
23
24
Cortzar (1986). In the chapter devoted to Rulfo’s novel, in a section called »Per-
25
spectivation« (»Perspectivacin«), Aronne-Amestoy develops a comparison between
26
the narrator of the second half of Pedro Pramo and the character of Pedro Pramo
27 himself. She writes:
28 The narrator is to the level of narrating what Pedro Pramo is to the level of what is narrated:
29 even though they only appear to exist in and through the perspective of the protagonists (it
30 should be kept in mind that Pedro Pramo is entirely reconstituted from the memories of
those who knew him), they are both present as powerful, fully constituted images in the text
31
– in opposition to the fragmentary, blurred image of the others. They both function as an
32 ever-present absence [Ambos funcionan como una ausencia omnmoda].
33 (Aronne-Amestoy 1986, 54–55)29
34
I will pass over the two propositions introduced in the form of presuppositions:
35
36
»Pedro Pramo only exists in and through the perspective of the protagonists«
37
and »Pedro Pramo is entirely reconstituted from the memories of those who
38 knew him«. These propositions are false and numerous examples would enable
39 29
The dictionary translates ›omnmodo, -a‹: as ›all-embracing; absolute‹. However, a few lines further
40 on Aronne-Amestoy speaks of the »obvious absence [of the narrator]« (»la evidencia de [la] ausencia
41 [del narrador]«) or of a narrator »omnipresent in the reader’s mind« (»omnipresente en la consciencia de
42 la lectura [sic]«), leading me to translate »una ausencia omnmoda« by »an ever-present absence«.

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264 Sylvie Patron

1 this to be shown30 (I do not mean by this that Pedro Pramo does not also exist in
2 and through the perspective of the other characters, nor that his personality is not
3 partially reconstituted from the memories of those who knew him; once more, I
4 refer to examples from the text31). It seems to me more important to note that
5 the narratorial theme has never been less visible than in the second half of Pedro
6 Pramo, yet never has it been affirmed with so much force, nor interpreted so res-
7 olutely: the hegemony of the narrator is founded here on his absence. The problem
8 is that the proposition »the narrator functions as an ever-present absence« is not a
9 falsifiable proposition. Any fact or any absence of a fact can be interpreted as sup-
10 porting this proposition.
11
12
13
14 Pedro Pramo According to Non-communicational or Poetic Theories of
15 Fictional Narrative
16
17 If any critical works drawing on non-communicational or poetic theories of fiction-
18 al narrative existed, they would clearly consider, one the one hand, that the first part
19 of the novel (apart from fragments 6 to 8, 10, 12 to 16 and 18 to 23) is narrated by a
20 fictional narrator (with potential variations on the questions of whether the first
21 part is the fictional imitation of a speech act or act of communication, or whether
22 the revelation contained in fragment 36 leads us to consider it as such retrospec-
23 tively), and on the other hand, that the second half of the novel (along with the
24 fragments mentioned above) forms a narratorless narrative or collection of narra-
25 tives. In other words, they would consider that there is no narrative device, in the
26 second part of Pedro Pramo, comparable to the one defining the first part. As Ban-
27 field writes in Unspeakable Sentences (1982):
28
If narration contains a narrator, this »I« is not speaking, quoted by the author; he is narrating. If
29 it does not, then the story »tells itself«, as Benveniste has it. In neither case does narration entail
30 addressing an audience. Rather, it is of its nature to be totally ignorant of an audience, and this
31 fact is reflected in its very language.
32 (ibid., 179; The expression cited in quotation marks refers to Benveniste 1971, 208)
33 It can be noted, first of all, that these considerations agree more closely than the
34 preceding ones with the semantic and pragmatic intentions of the author as ex-
35 pressed in various texts and interviews. I have in mind, for example, the 1985
36 text in which Rulfo writes: »I have nothing to say against my critics. It was difficult
37
30
38 See fragments 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 19, 22, 23, 37, 39, 40, 43, 44, 46, 51, 53, 54, 56 – 63, 65 – 69. All
these fragments contain either purely narrative sentences referring to Pedro Pramo, or sentences of
39
free indirect discourse where the subject of consciousness is Pedro Pramo, or dialogues involving
40 Pedro Pramo. In other words, they contain all the linguistic and textual means needed to create a
41 fictional character independently from the perspective of other characters.
31
42 See fragments 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 31, 40, 42, 45, 57, 58, 59, 62.

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 265

1 to accept a novel which presented itself, with apparent realism, as the story of a ca-
2 cique, whereas it is in reality the story of a village: a dead town where everybody is
3 dead. Including the narrator« (Rulfo 1985, 2; my translation). »The narrator« (»el
4 narrador«) refers here to Juan Preciado. At no point did Rulfo write or suggest that
5 another narrator takes over from the latter from the point where he finishes his nar-
6 rative. Rulfo also confides, elsewhere, concerning the origin of the novel, that:
7 »Writing tales has been good discipline for me. It has made me see that it is necessary
8 for the author to disappear and for him to let his characters speak freely […]« (Rulfo
9 in Benitez 2003, 546). In several texts and interviews he describes his work on Pedro
10 Pramo as a task involving deleting any traces of the author’s presence (»I eliminated
11 all the digressions and completely erased any authorial intrusions [las intromisiones
12 del autor]«, Rulfo 1985, 2; my translation). At no point does he write or suggest that
13 he strove to disappear as author all the better to reappear, in the second part of the
14 novel, as narrator.
15 It can also be noted that the considerations drawing on non-communicational
16 or poetic theories of fictional narrative correspond better than the preceding ones to
17 the cognitive and imaginative experience of readers, such as they can be deduced
18
from our own experience as readers, as well as from certain terms used in critical
19
appraisals of Pedro Pramo (›objective narrator‹, ›hidden‹ or ›concealed narrator‹,
20
or ›impersonal narrator‹, for example.32) It can be affirmed that, apart from excep-
21
tional reading experiences, the reader knows that Pedro Pramo has an author.
22
There is therefore no need to postulate another agent to account for the existence
23
of the novel as a real entity in the world. This is clearly so for both parts of the novel.
24
If it is now asked what the reader imagines upon reading Pedro Pramo, a distinction
25
needs to be drawn between the first and the second part of the novel. First part: as
26
readers we know that the author is responsible for the existence of the novel (or for
27
this part of the novel, if we are not reading it for the first time), but we also imagine
28
that there is somebody else responsible within the fiction. Our imagining of the
29
characters and events of the fiction is mediated by the primary imagining of the
30
narrative being related by a character in the fiction. Second part: the reader
31
32
knows that the author is responsible for the existence of this part, but we do not
33
imagine that somebody else is responsible within the fiction. We imagine the char-
34
acters and events of the fiction directly (with the possible exception of several pas-
35
sages where we perceive a ›fictional narrator effect‹: we have already come across
36 »Un caballo pas al galope donde se cruza la calle real con el camino de Contla«
37 (Rulfo 2007, 89; my emphasis), we might also recall »Justina Daz, cubierta por
38 paraguas, vena por la calle derecha que viene de la Media Luna […]« (Rulfo
39
40
41
32
42 See above, note 19, 20 and 22.

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266 Sylvie Patron

1 2007, 143, my emphasis33). The portrait of Eduviges Dyada in fragment 9, and the
2 beginning of fragment 65, which described Pedro Paramo’s attitude following the
3 death of Susana San Juan, illustrate the difference between the two parts:
4
Sin dejar de orla, me puse a mirar la mujer que tena frente a m. Pens que deba haber pasado por
5 aÇos difciles. Su cara se transparentaba como si no tuviera sangre, y sus manos estaban marchitas;
6 marchitas y apretadas de arrugas. No se le vean los ojos. Llevaba un vestido blanco muy antiguo,
7 recargado de holanes, y del cuello, enhilada en un cordn, le colgaba una Mara Santsima del Refugio
8 con un letrero que deca: »Refugio de pecadores.«
(Rulfo 2007, 79)
9
10 As I listened to her drone on, I studied the woman before me. I thought she must have gone
11 through some bad times. Her face was transparent, as if the blood had drained from it, and
12 her hands were all shriveled, nothing but wrinkled claws. Her eyes were sunk out of sight.
13 She was wearing an old-fashioned white dress with rows of ruffles, and around her neck, strung
on a cord, she wore a medal of the Mara Santsima del Refugio with the words »Refuge of Sin-
14
ners«.
15 (Rulfo 1994, 16)
16
17 Pedro Pramo estaba sentado en un viejo equipal, junto a la puerta grande de la Media Luna, poco
18 antes de que se fuera la fflltima sombra de la noche. Estaba solo, quiz desde haca tres horas. No
dorma. Se haba olvidado del sueÇo y del tiempo: »Los viejos dormimos poco, casi nunca. A veces
19
apenas si dormitamos; pero sin dejar de pensar. Eso es lo fflnico que me queda por hacer.« Despus
20 aÇadi en voz alta: »No tarda ya. No tarda.«
21 (Rulfo 2007, 172)
22
23 Pedro Pramo was sitting in an old chair beside the main door of the Media Luna a little before
the last shadow of night slipped away. He had been there, alone, for about three hours. He didn’t
24
sleep anymore. He had forgotten what sleep was, or time. »We old folks don’t sleep much, almost
25 never. We may drowse, but our mind keeps working. That’s the only thing I have left to do.«
26 Then he added, aloud: »It won’t be long now. It won’t be long.«
27 (Rulfo 1994, 117)
28
The direct imagining of the reader in the second half of the novel also concerns the
29
thoughts and feelings of the fictional characters. When we read sentences like »Es-
30
taba solo, quiz desde haca tres horas« or »Se haba olvidado del sueÇo y del tiempo«, or
31
Pedro Pramo’s monologue, as readers we do not wonder how the fictional narrator
32
has knowledge of these events, because we do not imagine a fictional narrator who
33
might have knowledge of such events and relate them or report in the form of direct
34
35
discourse. What the reader imagines is that Pedro Pramo has been alone, or feels he
36
has been alone for about three hours, that he has lost the ability to sleep and all sense
37
of time, and is thinking: »Los viejos dormimos poco«, etc. This does not mean that the
38 reader is unable to appreciate the beauty of the sentence »Se haba olvidado del sueÇo
39 y del tiempo«, but our appreciation detracts us from the fiction as such.
40 33
The presence in the same sentence of verbs both in the present and the past is not rendered in the
41 English translation: »Beneath her umbrella Justina Daz makes her way down the straight road
42 leading from the Media Luna […]« (Rulfo 1994, 86)

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 267

1
2 Non-communicational or poetic theories of fictional narrative make a clear distinc-
3 tion between elements pertaining to the content of the fictional representation (the
4 characters and the events, the narrator, if there is one) and elements pertaining to
5 the means employed to help construct this representation (language, style, the com-
6 position of the text on different levels). Banfield writes, for example, regarding the
7 style of the author: »[…] style approached in this way is not on par with those as-
8 pects of style which create the intentional construct which is a fictional subjectivity.
9 A writer may leave his signature in his writing – it may even contribute a major
10 proportion of what is valued in it – but this is not what his writing creates […]«
11 (Banfield 1982, 253; on textual composition, see Banfield 1978, 297–297, note
12 6) This distinction is more pertinent for the analysis and interpretation of the
13 novel than the postulate of a double situation of communication and a total overlap
14 between the real communication between author and reader and the fictional com-
15 munication between narrator and narratee, on which communicational theories of
16 fictional narrative are based. This is what I would like to show here using two ex-
17 amples taken from Pedro Pramo.
18 In the first part of the novel, the distinction between elements pertaining to the
19 content of the fictional representation and those pertaining to the means employed
20 to help construct this representation allows a certain number of facts to be account-
21 ed for in a simpler, more economical and also more convincing manner than the
22 communicational postulate: for example, the fact that Juan Preciado ›conceals‹ the
23 fact, from fragment 1 to fragment 35, that he is telling his story to someone, or that
24 he is telling it after his death (in reality, it is not a matter of ›concealment‹ or of
25 ›narrative unreliability‹, to use a favourite term in Anglo-Saxon theory and criti-
26 cism, but simply of an authorial strategy, the goal of which is to orchestrate the sur-
27 prise caused by fragment 36); or the fact that the dialogue in fragment 30 between
28 Donis and his sister is ›reported‹ in its entirety and in an extremely precise fashion,
29 even though this dialogue describes the ›reporter‹, Juan Preciado, as unable to hear
30 or memorise anything more than snatches of dialogue (»Se rebulle sobre s mismo
31 como un condenado. […] ¡Levntate, Donis! Mralo. Se restriega contra el suelo, retor-
32 cindose. Babea«, Rulfo 2007, 109; »He’s thrashing around like he’s damned. […]
33 Get up, Donis! Look at him. Look how he’s writhing there on the ground, twisting
34 and turning. He’s drooling«, Rulfo 1994, 49). Once more, it is not a matter of con-
35 cealment or unreliability on the part of the narrator, but simply of authorial choice,
36 which takes precedence over the option of plausibility for this passage in Juan Pre-
37 ciado’s narrative. As regards the second part of the novel, attention could be drawn
38 in the same way to the fact that the dialogue in fragment 66 between Damasio,
39 known as El Tilcuate, and Pedro Pramo is in reality a false dialogue, or rather a
40 montage of dialogues involving the same interlocutors, in the same place, but at
41 different periods, as is shown by the content of El Tilcuate’s contributions (»El Tilc-
42 uate sigui viniendo: — Ahora somos carrancistas. — Est bien. — Andamos con mi

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268 Sylvie Patron

1 general Obregn. — Est bien. — All se ha hecho la paz. Andamos sueltos. — Espera.
2 No desarmes a tu gente. Esto no puede durar mucho. — Se ha levantado en armas el
3 padre Rentera. ¿Nos vamos con l, o contra l? — Eso ni se discute. Ponte al lado
4 del gobierno«, Rulfo 2007, 171; »El Tilcuate continued to report: ›We’re with Car-
5 ranza now.‹ ›Fine.‹ ›Now we’re riding with General Obregn.‹ ›Fine.‹ ›They’ve de-
6 clared peace. We’re dismissed.‹ ›Wait. Don’t disband your men. This won’t last
7 long.‹ ›Father Rentera’s fighting now. Are we with him or against him?‹ ›No ques-
8 tion. You’re on the side of the government.‹«, Rulfo 1994, 11734). The fact could
9 also be mentioned that other organisational networks are substituted for the logico-
10 temporal order of events: recurrent themes and motifs (rain or water in fragments 6,
11 8 and 12, associated with Pedro Pramo’s adolescence in Comala, rain once more in
12 fragments 37, 47, 48, 49 and 50; shooting stars in fragments 15, 16 and 40, asso-
13 ciated with Miguel Pramo’s death); echoes and intratextual references (»They’ve
14 killed your father« in fragments 12 and 39; Pedro Pramo’s monologue on Susana
15 San Juan’s death in fragment 67, referring back to the same character’s monologue
16 concerning the young Susana San Juan’s departure from Comala in fragment 10);
17 multiplicity and variability of points of view on certain events (Miguel Pramo’s
18 death in fragments 11, 15 and 39; the assassinations committed by Pedro
19 Pramo after his father’s death in fragments 39 and 42), etc. These networks go
20 beyond any one character’s faculty for memorizing as well as the mastery of a nar-
21 rator or organizer of the narrative belonging to the fictional world.
22 The distinction between elements pertaining to the content of the fictional rep-
23 resentation and elements pertaining to the means employed to help construct this
24 representation also enables us to do without the hypothesis of an omniscient fic-
25
tional narrator, along with the different types of omniscience in the critical reper-
26
tory: ›neutral omniscience‹, including ›neutral poeticised omniscience‹, ›traditional
27
omniscience and omniscience combined with free indirect style‹ (»Omnisciencia
28
neutra : neutra poetizada, tradicional, combinada con estilo indirecto libre«, see Lur-
29
aschi 1976, 16–20); ›omniscience of the traditional type‹ (»Omnisciencia de tipo
30
tradicional«), ›linking omniscience‹ (»Omnisciencia de enlace«), ›poetic omnis-
31
cience‹ (»Omnisciencia de carcter potico«), ›setting-related omniscience‹ (»Omnis-
32
ciencia ambiental«);35 and finally, ›limited omniscience‹, corresponding to Tacca’s
33
and Gonzlez Boixo’s ›equiscience‹ (Gonzlez Boixo 1980, 153 et passim. See also
34
above, note 17 and 18.) Poetry, free indirect discourse, narrative information to
35
which the characters have no access (›omniscience of the traditional type‹), intro-
36
ducing dialogues and monologues (›linking omniscience‹), creating a setting, rep-
37
resenting characters’ points of view using different linguistic and textual means
38
(›equiscience‹): all are seen as due to authorial activity and are not considered as
39
fictional.
40
41 34
I am placing contributions which appear in both editions on separate lines together on the same line.
35
42 See Gonzlez Boixo (1980, 156 – 164). See also above, note 16.

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 269

1 A relation which is pertinent to the interpretation of the content of the fictional

2 representation can thus be established between what Rulfo calls the »voices«
3 (»voces«)36, »echoes« (»ecos«)37 or »murmuring« (»murmullos«)38, in other words,
4 the speech of the dead heard or perceived by the narrator, Juan Preciado, in the vil-
5 lage of Comala, and Juan Preciado’s narrating, which is also a form of speech ›after
6 death‹. This speech of the people, freed by death, and the narrating of the son who
7 has come to take his mother’s place in the cemetery of Comala, are opposed to the
8 discourses of hegemony and power, whether temporal (incarnated by Pedro
9 Pramo) or spiritual (incarnated by Father Rentera), which appear in the second
10 half of the novel (as well as in fragments 16, 19, 22 and 23 in the first part). Two
11
final examples follow:
12
13 — Ser lo que usted diga, don Pedro; pero esa mujer que vino ayer a llorar aqu, alegando que el hijo
de usted [Miguel] le haba matado a su marido, estaba de a tiro desconsolada. Yo s medir el descon-
14
suelo, don Pedro. Y esa mujer lo cargaba por kilos. Le ofrec cincuenta hectolitros de maz para que se
15 olvidara del asunto; pero no los quiso. Entonces le promet que corregiramos el daÇo de algffln modo.
16 No se conform.
17 — ¿De quin se trataba?
18 — Es gente que no conozco.
— No tienes pues por qu apurarte, Fulgor. Esa gente no existe.
19
(Rulfo 2007, 123)
20
21 »Whatever you say, don Pedro; but that woman who came here yesterday, weeping and accusing
22 your son [Miguel] of killing her husband, was not to be consoled. I know how to judge grief, don
23 Pedro, and that woman was carrying a heavy load. I offered her a hundred and fifty bushels of
maize to overlook the matter, but she wouldn’t take it. Then I promised we’d make things right
24
somehow. She still wasn’t satisfied.«
25 »What was it all about?«
26 »I don’t know the people involved.«
27 »There’s nothing to worry about, Fulgor. Those people don’t really count.«
28 (Rulfo 1994, 65)
29
¿Qu quieres que haga contigo, Dorotea? Jfflzgate tffl misma. Ve si tffl puedes perdonarte.
30 — Yo no, padre. Pero usted s puede. Por eso vengo a verlo.
31 — ¿Cuntas veces viniste aqu a pedirme que te mandara al Cielo cuando murieras? ¿Queras ver si
32 all encontrabas a tu hijo, no, Dorotea? Pues bien, no podrs ir ya ms al Cielo. Pero que Dios te
33 perdone.
(Rulfo 2007, 132)
34
35
36 36
See Rulfo 2007, 101, 102, 104, 106, 108, 116, 118 and Rulfo 1994, 41, 42, 44, 46, 48, 56, 58.
37
37 See Rulfo 2007, 94, 101, 102 and Rulfo 1994, 33, 41. See also Rulfo 1985, 2 – 3; my translation: »I
38 have nothing to say against my critics. It was difficult to accept a novel which presented itself, with
39 apparent realism, as the story of a cacique, whereas in reality it is the story of a village: a dead town
where everybody is dead. Including the narrator. In its streets and its fields only tortured souls
40 wander, and their echoes carry indefinitely through time and space.«
41 38
See Rulfo 2007 , 117, 118, 119 and Rulfo 1994, 58, 59. Los murmullos was also the first title Rulfo
42 chose for the manuscript (see Rulfo 1985, 3).

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270 Sylvie Patron

1 »What do you think I should do with you, Dorotea? You be the judge. Can you pardon what
2 you’ve done?«
»I can’t, padre. But you can. That’s why I’m here.«
3
»How many times have you come to ask me to send you to Heaven when you die? You hoped to
4 find your son there, didn’t you, Dorotea? Well, you won’t go to Heaven now. May God forgive
5 you.«
6 (Rulfo 1994, 74)
7
8 Conclusion
9
10 In my book on the problem of the narrator in fictional narrative, I evaluated the
11 different narrative theories from the point of view of their theoretical coherency
12 (internal coherency and coherency with the linguistic or philosophical theories
13 to which they make reference). In this article, however, which relies on some of
14 the demonstrations in my book, I have tried to evaluate them from the point of
15 view of their correspondence with the facts they aim to describe and from the
16 point of view of their consequences for interpretation. I believe I have proven
17 the superiority of non-communicational or poetic theories of fictional narrative
18 over communicational theories of narrative in the case of the description and
19 the interpretation of Pedro Pramo.
20 To conclude, I could not put it better than Nicolas Ruwet, in his polemic with
21 Genette on the subject of Jakobson’s theory of poetics: »If we wish to evaluate these
22 arguments, determine their potential limits, add content to anything which is still
23 undetermined […], we must first take them seriously, clarify them, and multiply
24 the analysis of poems of the greatest possible variety.« (Ruwet 1980, 217) The same
25 is true for non-communicational or poetic theories of fictional narrative: we must
26 firstly take them seriously, which is far from being the case in classical and postclass-
27 ical narratologies; we then need to clarify their arguments and at times reformulate
28 them with greater precision, or using more contemporary vocabulary; lastly we
29 must multiply analyses and interpretations of novels or short stories of the greatest
30 possible variety, before we can judge the extent of their generality.
31
32 Sylvie Patron
U.F.R. Lettres, Art, Cinma
33
Universit Paris Diderot – Paris 7
34
35
36
37
38 Translated by Susan Nicholls.
39
40
41
42

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The Death of the Narrator and the Interpretation of the Novel 271

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36
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