Aura(Blog #3)

I appreciated the fact that Aura written by Carlos Fuentes was originally published in Spanish then later translated into English. I definitely feel that this book should be enjoyed by all because the reader experiences a sort of personal haunting from the story. The reason I say this is because the entire novel is written in the second person as if you, the reader, plays out the character Felipe Montero himself. The novel dives deep into the gothic eeriness as he obtains the job and enters the dark house in which he has to be lead by a strange voice. The job advertisement asks that "you" be a young historian, fluent in French, and to be a live-in assistant. Upon arriving, Felipe immediately starts his task of completing Señora Consuelo's deceased husbands Will. What I found particularly interesting in the novel was that as Felipe began to read the General's Will more and more, the more he resembled the General himself. He then starts to have this infatuation with Señora Consuelo's niece, Aura, who creepily mirrors the young Señora depicted in General Llorente's Will. As the story progresses, Felipe sees what appears to be faulty aging in Aura. First she's young looking, then gradually approaches the middle-age. Interesting enough, the end scene cuts off with Felipe lying in bed with Aura who then magically transforms into the old Señora Consuelo. I'd like to say that Fuentes work in Aura relates a lot to Poe's common writings about the "double." This character usually undermines its own-self and the unity of its personal identity. The idea of the doppelganger or double is very evident here, and what makes it more intriguing is that the notion of time is involved.