Erotismo, corporalidad y deconstrucción en Elogio de la madrastra de Mario Vargas Llosa
Eroticism, corporeality and deconstruction in Elogio de la madrastra by Mario Vargas Llosa

Summary/Abstract: Mario Vargas Llosa plays with deconstruction and reconstruction and in order to recompose his work, “Elogio de la madrastra”, it requires an active reader that pays attention and is capable of remaking the literary puzzle that the author proposes. We are facing a story of life, a couple and a stepchild that is trying to seduce his stepmother, but at the same time, a stepmother that not only is into the games of the childish seduction but she is even feeding it. On the other hand, Don Rigoberto is obsessed with his body and the cleaning of the parts of the body. And everything gets complicated because of the use of ekphrasis, the communion between painting and narrative. In light of this, the reader finds himself in a peculiar position to investigate, understand and see the novel as a whole, as it has been created, because the work is a game where the protagonists are victims of pleasure, victims that are trying to achieve happiness through the worship of the body. For Rigoberto the body is like a god that feeds with rituals and ceremonies. Lucrecia is the one that is capable of offering pleasure, but at the same time she feels it and she is the one that is involved not only in adultery but also in incest. Alfonso is the dual child that is both angel and demon, innocent and guilty, that closes the love triangle. And when these characters identify with characters from the paintings present in the novel, the reader must rebuilt the narrative thread.

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