Representations of the Self and the double in Mario Lavero´s Nick Carter se divierte mientras el lector es asesinado y yo agonizo

Abstract

Based on the statements made by Paul Ricoeur in Oneself as Another and Giacomo Marramao in The Passion of the Present, about the construction of oneself and identity, an approach is made to the novella Nick Carter se divierte mientras el lector es asesinado y yo agonizo, in order to show the particular way in which Mario Levrero builds his unusual protagonist in the story. While, using some elements taken from the detective novel, which are reinvented here by the author to accommodate the development of the psychology of the hero as well as the dreamlike and supernatural elements within the plot, added to the fragmentation of the feuilleton, manages to represent in the work a Nick Carter decomposed in a multiplicity of selfs and doubles, which appear in constant tension throughout the story, thus making visible the Oneself in its singular and multiple dimension at the same time, exposing that the great enigma of the novella is none other than the search for the “true identity” of Carter