La buena compañía of Carlos Fuentes: intertextuality and myth in hispanic american fantasy narrative

Abstract

This paper seeks to find a relationship between myth and the Hispanic American fantastic tale, specifically in the story La buena compañía by the Mexican author Carlos Fuentes. By analyzing this work, intertextual links can be found between the characteristic features of the myth of the Moiras -from the Hellenic tradition-, with the antagonists of Fuentes' story, which endow the tale and its characters with ancient mythical features presented in a more current context. For this purpose, it was considered theoretical proposals of different authors who study myth, intertextuality in narrative, myth and literary myth. Myth as narrative, by serving as a possible inspiration for literature, can be recreated giving rise to literary myths that adapt to the cultural context in which they are written. By making a comparative analysis, considering the main features of the proposed myth, between the characters of the myth era and the characters of the author, we can then trace those characteristics in common between both narratives and try to glimpse the influence that myth has on fantastic literature, exemplifying such influence in the work of Carlos Fuentes.