Annalysse Mason
Introduction to the fantastic in the Iguana
First Year Seminar
12/2/2013
In Anna
Maria Ortese’s novel, The Iguana, the reader is transferred to a state of mind
that makes distinguishing real and unreal things difficult. The fantastic is
experienced by the reader through words, phrases, and ideas that make the story
appear dreamlike or surreal. The reader is first introduced to the fantastic
when The Count and Adelchi venture to the island where they later find an
iguana-woman. When Adelchi and The Count first approach the island, the house
on the island is first seen as “swimming dimly into view as through a pane of
yellow or smokey glass” pg (12). This makes the island appear as an
out-of-the-blue, possibly even an imagined destination. The Count also describes the house as “less as
a house than as a stage prop” (pg 15). This simile, linking the house to a
prop, tells the reader that this house, and largely this island and its people,
may in fact not be real. The unresponsiveness and absurdity of the people on
the island make the island appear unrealistic, the narrator states that “Daddo
felt vaguely apprehensive for a moment, sensing their silence, accidental as it
was, to be a curious rhyme to their sad and bizarre appearance—bizarre at the
very least—and to the strangeness of their occupation” (pg 13). The uneasiness
felt by The Count by these people give an unsure, apprehensive feeling to the reader,
much like one felt in a dream. Another indicator that this island might not be
real is that The Count’s first encounters with such absurdities are seen as
normal. When he first sees the iguana-woman, he “[feels] instantly reassured
that there [is] nothing to marvel about in this ‘little old woman’. Or if there
[was], it was simply a part of the world’s normality” (pg 18). The narrator
also states that “there was no such thing as order here, something even that
made order possible” (pg 22). The willingness of the Count to accept such
absurd things as “normal” or “simple” contributes to the idea that this place
is not real, because in reality such things would not be considered normal.
I agree, the Count does appear to accept abnormal things with relative ease. This could perhaps support the idea that the Count is dreaming. However, the author leaves a lot of information to be desired therefore readers never find out if the Count is dreaming and are left to ponder what is real and unreal.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your argument, and your evidence is very convincing. In addition, the Count's jest at the beginning of the novel that his friend needs "the story of a madman in love with an iguana" attributes to the theory that Ocana is only a dream (3).He actually stumbles upon an island where a madman is in love with an iguana, a farfetched notion. Additionally, he is on a quest to locate undiscovered real estate. By this time period, everything has been explored and chartered. His chance encounter with the unmapped island of Ocana, a prime spot of secluded property, further supports the claim of Ocana's unreality. The swift actualization of the count's ideas leads one to believe his experience at Ocana was merely his own dream.
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