La passió segons Renée Vivien and The Mirage- Miracle of the Mirror

Abstract

In this article, Rosa Cabré discusses Marçal´s novel and illustrates how, according to the author, the desire of love, which is a source of pleasure often accompanied by guilt and distress, can lead to the creation or the illusion of an absolute beauty, like poetry. She explains in what way the mirror and the mask, recurring motifs in Marçal´s work, symbolise identity and “otherness” and how these unite the real and the symbolic level. The novel contains an infinite number of mirrors, both external and internal ones, which enable the characters to see themselves reflected. This reflection is linked to feminity and to the possibilities of discovering ones own identity.