Contar por imágenes: la narrativa de Juan Benet

This study investigates the use of descriptions in the oeuvre of the Spanish writer Juan Benet (1927-1993). An exceptional voice in the history of Spanish post-war literature, Benet is one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. Unlike many authors of his time, he does not draw on mimetic representations, but makes use of long descriptions. The use of descriptions allows Benet to disrupt the process of plot construction in any narrative, fictional or nonfictional, since he firmly believes that any account based on reasoning is artificial and unreliable. Suggesting an innovative hermeneutic approach, this thesis focuses on the analysis of these descriptions, that the author calls “estampas”. Relying on Walter Benjamin's ideas on image, lately actualized by Georges Didi-Huberman, I explore how Benet's descriptions combine heterogeneous times and information to either help or complicate the process of reading.