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Honorarios [adaptaciones y refundiciones en De la Cuadra y Aguilera-Malta] (Dossier: Cuatro narradores del 30, relecturas en su centenario)

Abstract:

Honorarios, a theatrical work by Aguilera-Malta, and «Honorarios», the story by José de la Cuadra which inspired it are contrasted. The dialogue between the two authors was explicit in various critical texts, as well as in their respective literary production: characters’ names, moti-ves, legends, myths, forms, ideology, attitudes and overall social concerns. De la Cuadra dialogues in his text with other authors and works. In «Honorarios» he reinterprets and recreates allusively the motif of the mythical fetich Moloch, depicted in Metropolis, by filmmaker Fritz Lang, and Salambó, by Gustave Flaubert. In that context, De la Cuadra’s story delves into the cruel presence of usurping powers, always demanding propiciatory victims. In a similar manner, in his creative process and in his relentless search for expressive form, Aguilera-Malta revamped and reformulated motifs in a variety of literary genres –e.g. the struggle of humanity against the hostile forces of nature and society evident in La isla virgen, El tigre y Jaguar. In Honorarios, Aguilera-Malta focused his creative energy on finding a way to transfer the plot of «Honorarios», the story, into dramatic form. The result in an effective version in terms of historical-political perspective, and on reflections on the social function of literature.