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Reading the Short Story “The Distance” from Cortázar Junguiana v.38-1, p.167-182 Identity, double and active imagination - reading the short story “The Distance” from Cortázar Marcia Moura Coelho* Abstract Keywords In this article, I work on the interface between double, active Analytical Psychology and literature, in a dia- imagination, logue between the short story The Distance by the identity, writer Julio Cortázar and the Jungian approach. literature, Cortázar. I begin by presenting a brief synopsis of the short story, weaving relationships and associations with some concepts of Analytical Psychology. Later, making a clip in three axes of analysis: the search for the character’s identity, the archetype of the double and active imagination as a Jungian method of working with the unconscious, analo- gous to what happens with the protagonist of the story. Finally, I draw considerations and approx- imations between the author Cortázar and Jung, finding affinities in the creative process of both and the symbolic attitude towards life. ■ * Psiquiatra, membro analista da Sociedade brasileira de Psi- cologia Analítica de São Paulo (SBPA-SP) e filiada à IAAP. e-mail: <[email protected]> Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analitica, 1º sem. 2020 ■ 167 Junguiana v.38-1, p.167-182 Identity, double and active imagination - reading the short story “The Distance” from Cortázar 1. Introduction ble from the imaginary and the daily order is de- A bridge, a river below, and the restless wom- constructed, always revealing another order, dis- an’s search for something that makes sense concerting, uncomfortable, mysterious. I chose to her... the short story The Distance since it brings the The image above, inspired by the short sto- theme of the double, which for a long time has ry The Distance by the Argentine writer Julio been an object of interest and research to me, Cortázar, which I work in this article, serves as a and which brings within itself the issues of iden- motto to initiate it. tity, a theme always relevant to psychotherapists I share the experience developed from the and analysts. Also, for being a short story that reading of this short story in the Centre of Stud- brings in its structural form, a literary narrative ies “Dreams, literature and Analytical Psychol- that favours the immersion of the reader in the ogy” (Núcleo de estudos: “Sonhos, literatura e theme and in the character, since it is structured, psicologia analítica), at SBPA-SP. for the most part, like a protagonist’s diary. Al- It is a work that I have been developing for though it is an important aspect in the work that some years with groups of psychologists and I develop in the Centre, this more subjective as- psychiatrists interested in the subject, in which I pect of the reading of the literary work will not be search for possible approximations between the the focus of this article. two areas, analytical psychology and literature, Analytical psychology offers unique and valu- through reading and discussing short stories. able resources for the symbolic analysis of the The dream, our everyday fictional production, is literary work and this article is a contribution to it. the point of intersection between the two areas, Therefore, between the presentation of the short and in the work with dream series and short sto- story and the character, in order to contribute to ries, new looks and re-readings for the human the area, I build bridges and paths between liter- restlessness are being weaved. ature and psychology. Simultaneously, I develop in the Centre a subjective space for the participants to experi- 2. The short story The Distance ence the reading, in order to improve their own The Distance (Lejana) was published in Julio symbolic repertoire. I realize that this subjective Cortázar’s first short story book, Bestiary (Bes- space of exchanges and impressions, fertilized tiario), in 1951. Cortázar was 37 years old and, by the reading of short stories, besides main- only then, did he feel mature to publish a book. taining the connection with human complexity This rigor, perhaps, explains the quality of this through literary language, promotes the spon- book, considered by many, to be composed by taneous expression of the participants and the perfect short stories, classics of the genre on practice of their own creativity, which I think is current days. Besides The Distance, well-known fundamental for the formation of an analyst. stories written by the author are part of the vol- I worked in the Centre with several other short ume: Circe (Circe), Casa Tomada (House Taken stories by the author Julio Cortazár, who, apart Over), Carta para uma senhorita em Paris (Let- from the literary value of his work, has in his cre- ter to a Young Lady in Paris), among others. The ative production a confessed influence of the Distance brings, in the plot and in the form, im- dream world. In his writings, the real is insepara- portant aspects to the writer that will be taken 168 ■ Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analitica, 1º sem. 2020 Junguiana v.38-1, p.167-182 up and revisited in his future work, more specif- aspects, far from consciousness, but alive, elu- ically, the theme of the double and the play, or sive and in search of expression. playing distractedly, the ludic, as a way to enter “That’s how I spend the hours” - says Ali- other consciousness’ realities and apprehension na about her nights, when she repeats verses, of the world and of oneself, which allows the per- searches words, until reaching the palindromes ception of reality to be unfold. and anagrams. In The Distance, the main character, Alina Reys, is a woman who lives with her mother in [...] I want to sleep and I’m a terrible Buenos Aires. She writes in her diary reveries, sounding bell, a wave, the chain the dog dreams, wordplays and anagrams, subterfug- trails all night against the privet hedges. es to escape from insomnia, which takes her to Now I lay down to sleep... I have to recite another city, Budapest, and another woman, a verses, or the system of looking for words beggar, feeling cold who suffers and gets beaten. with a, then with a and e, with five vowels, Who is Alina Reyes? Young, but not so much, with four1 (CORTÁZAR, 1986, p. 36). as she registers in her diary – “27 years old still without a fiancé”, lives in celibacy, kind of It is by using puns through mirror tricks done teenager in her attitudes and her connection with the reverse and shift of random words and with “mother”. letters at first, and later on with the letters of her Wandering between concerts and receptions, own name that Alina Reyes, Queen, discovers typical of the local bourgeoisie, in her diary, she the Other: presents herself as a creative and humorous woman, she plays piano, but seems to be dis- Alina Reyes, es la reina y... That one is so satisfied when describing herself: “Only, among nice because it opens a path, because it people without meaning”. The short story is writ- does not close so beautiful, this, because ten in the first person as a character’s diary and it opens a way, because it does not close. the text reveals clues to Alina’s dissatisfaction. Because the queen and... From Queen to imprisoned Rex – a domesticat- ed and imprisoned animal, which points to the No, horrible. Horrible because it opens a feminine condition of the time and to the am- path to this one who is not the queen, and biguities of this condition. Music, to Alina, may whom I hate again at night. To her who is be an evocation element of her deepest feelings Alina Reyes, but not the queen of the ana- and, sleepless nights, moments of connection gram; let her be anything, a Budapest beg- with the unknown side, or not so unknown, but gar, a beginner at a house of prostitution rejected by consciousness. in Jujuy, a servant in Quetzaltenango, any Who is the “Other”? A woman, distant, older, place that is far away and not the queen. poor, who does not have children, feels cold, suf- But yes, Alina Reyes and because of that fers, and is beaten. Alina, sometimes feels ten- last night it happened again, to feel her derness towards herself, wants to take care and and to hate (ibid, p. 36). heal herself; others, she hates herself, sees her as an evil, as a usurper with a malignant adher- Alina’s double, her other identity, emerges ence. Alina wants the “Other” to surrender. as a presence felt by her, opposed to her con- The plot begins as a distraction, an innocent scious identity – from Queen to beggar, prosti- play, especially with the wordplays that she cre- ates distractedly, which allow us not only to know 1 NT: Free translation – all quotes from the short story The Dis- the character, but also her personality’s hidden tance were freely translated by the translator. Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Psicologia Analitica, 1º sem. 2020 ■ 169 Junguiana v.38-1, p.167-182 tute or maid. The contact with her opposite, in “At times is tenderness, a sudden and neces- conditions of extreme poverty, licentiousness sary tenderness toward her that is not queen and or social inferiority provokes in her strong feel- walks there” (Ibid., p. 39). ings of aversion and hatred, making her upset, The reveries with the other, the distant one, it is horrible. But the character who emerges in become more intense and frequent, invading not this wordplay, from Alina’s reverse, who is the only her sleepless nights, but also the daily life queen, is coming together as a beggar in Bu- of the character, who recognizes herself more dapest, “an idea that recurs just as Budapest ‘there’ than ‘here’, feels her “more owner of his always recurs, to believe in the beggar in Buda- misfortune, distant and alone, but the owner.” In pest, where there will have lots of bridges and an absorbing rhythm, the distant begins to occu- percolating snow” (ibid, p.
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