Dualism

In Dualism, Campana writes a letter to a woman named Manuelita comparing his relationship with her with his relationship with dreams. The letter begins with a description of a woman who is a “soul of the oasis where [his] life for an instant recovered contact with the forces of the cosmos” and afterwards addresses Manuelita. Dino praises Manuelita but makes it clear that the first sentence was not intended to describe her when he says, “I was not thinking of you” (59). Campana recalls being with her in the city but losing her amongst “impetuously stimulating” women that crowded the city and his “heart bled” (59). Dino then, still not thinking of Manuelita, wanders into the silence of the library. As he reads in the library “old images” came alive, and as the silence deepened so did the wonderfulness of the images especially when “the little girls of the Bohemians” enter. Campana, fully immersed in the second world, dreams of hours of pleasure and happiness but realizes he is being watched by Manuelita and comes back to the first world. He knows that Manuelita “searched for the great rival” or suspected Dino of cheating. But the second world is inescapable; it happens “on the benches of the deserted square under the running clouds” and makes him forget about Manuelita. Drifting in and out between his two worlds, Campana still loves Manuelita, but he will never be stable.