The anguish of the literary act: The existential crisis and its derivations

Abstract

This article examines the presence of existential anguish in the writings of Mario Levrero (1940-2004). Focusing on Gelatina (1968) and the novel El alma de Gardel (1996), this analysis observes the ways in which these works portray existential angst – be it in the form of the relentless advance of an amorphous substance or in the lack transcendence of to a superior plane of being –, with the ultimate aim of activating what Levrero considered a positive anguish that would mobilize the reader’s imagination. I argue that this productive angst is central to these works’ aesthetic, as it is to works of the literary avant-garde. This article thus demonstrates the aesthetic potential of reading Levrero’s writings in the context of upheaval produced in the contemporary era of globalization.