Diario de 360° de Luis Goytisolo: describir, narrar y argumentara lo largo del tiempo cíclico

Abstract

In his work Diario de 360°, published in 2000, the Spanish writer Luis Goytisolo gives birth to one of the best examples of “high” Literature. As the title indicates, it is written in the form of a diary, or better of a pseudo-diary, that begins on March 17, 1999, and concludes one year later on March 2000. It has a chronological structure where each entry/chapter identifies with a topic and a style of writing: short stories at the edge of the bizarre; autobiography; literary criticism about the novel; philosophical chapters; brief and lyrical fragments about nature and past. In such a kaleidoscopic text, beyond any genre classification, the reader is called upon to reassemble the “chronological puzzle” and he/she must commit to the text in order to recognize the deeper messages hidden in the pages. Although the author sees the future decadence of the novel as mere “popular” literature, his diary is a clear example of how literature can be still, through the constant mixing – in the fictional world – of “description – narration – reflection”, an instrument of knowledge about our society and our inner worlds, as in Montaigne’s Essays.