LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES: TOWARDS A HERMENEUTICAL DIALECTICS OF HUMOR IN CARLOS CASTANEDA’S ATTEMPT AT TRANSLATING THE SACRED

Abstract

This article deals with the debate over the narrative of American anthropologist Carlos Castaneda and the problematic of his Yaqui informant Don Juan. It is my contention that Castaneda’s narrative presents a blend of interdisciplinary discourses involving primarily literature and ethnography. I propose the discussion of whether the traces of fictional narrative to be found in a supposed ethnographic account are meant to work as a form of translation of sacred space, that is, as a challenge at transcribing the unworldly, or simply as a means of representing the concept of power within shamanism as personal amoral gratification. In short, I argue that Castaneda’s narrative could be seen as paradigmatic of the power of language not to originate the supernatural but rather, given the use of certain literary techniques, to attempt at representing that which cannot be grasped by words alone.