Past (re)presented: The function of body and time in Carlos Fuentes’ “Chac mool”

Abstract

The article explores the function of the body and its connection with time transgression in the story “Chac Mool” by Carlos Fuentes. The hypothesis of this work takes the body into account not only as a vehicle to generate the destabilization characteristic of the fantastic, but as the place from which the fantastic element is perceived. Therefore, the objective is to trace the connections between the materiality of the character's body and the effect of the clash between past and present in the story: on the one hand, the space represented by the body of the statue will be taken into account, where time transgresses its conventional linearity and, in this way, challenges the paradigm of reality in the story. On the other hand, the function of the corporeality and of the sensory perception of Filiberto, the collector who acquires the statue, will be analysed.