Cela's Oficio de tinieblas 5: Nihilism, Demolition and Reconstruction of the Novel

Abstract

In oficio de tinieblas 5, the Nobel Prize winner takes complete liberty of expression, creating a "ritual of darkness" or "black mass" which represents essentially the total rejection of all generally accepted beliefs, facts, and traditions.

The study shows how the author not only demolishes and ridicules academic and literary practices, but also distorts and recreates the knowledge found in history books, encyclopedias, ancient and modern literature, and the Bible. Like a nihilist, Cela seeks to do away with the status quo and thereby remodel, restore, and improve. But the author, unlike most nihilists, is not attempting to change politics or society, but rather literature, which he felt had become stagnant and irrelevant. Cela's unconventional narrative techniques are brought to the fore and particular attention is paid to the ubiquitous use of perverted sexuality and obscenities. the study also explains how the reader is taken through a maze of difficulties, contradictions, illogic and confusion. Comments are offered as to why the reader is left with a rather original reading experience which is strange, humorous and entertaining as well as frustrating, depressing, shocking and offensive. The value of the work as literature is also discussed.