View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Florence Research LEA - Lingue e letterature d’Oriente e d’Occidente, n. 5 (2016), pp. 657-669 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13128/LEA-1824-484x-20058 Javier Cercas e l’arte del romanzo Arianna Fiore Università degli Studi di Firenze (<
[email protected]>) Abstract This article focuses on a particular feature of postmodernism, the tendency of writers to become critics as well, and at the same time, turn their own literature into a reflection on how to create literature. In the Iberian context, Javier Cercas, a contemporary writer of international renown, has characterized his production by continuous reflection on the novel, conducted both in the works of fiction, in which the meta-literary com- ponent becomes ever more present, to reach a mixed genre with blurred boundaries, and also in his works of non-fiction. This study focuses on this particular aspect of Cercas’ bibliography, attaching particular importance to El punto ciego, Javier Cercas’s most recent essay, published in 2016. Keywords: El punto ciego, faction, Javier Cercas, metaliterature, post- modern literature Un tempo c’erano gli eroi, protagonisti di avventure talmente grandi da mettere in ombra anche il loro creatore. C’era Orlando, c’era don Chisciotte, c’era Moby Dick, c’era l’inquieta e struggente Madame Bovary, e solo die- tro a loro, molto nascosti, c’erano Ariosto, Cervantes, Melville, Flaubert, e come loro molti altri, “poveri” scrittori condannati per l’eternità a vivere in secondo piano rispetto alle loro creature.