Melusine, Memory and Reconstruction of the Past in El unicornio, by Manuel Mujica Láinez

JUAN MANUEL LACALLE

Leeds

Congreso; XXV International Medieval Congress; 2018

The Argentinian author Manuel Mujica Láinez wrote El unicornio in 1965, a historical novel with a medieval theme. The story is narrated by the fairy Melusine herself who, as a memoir or autobiography, intersects the genealogical history of her family with the medieval context of the Crusades. The aim of our proposal will be to analyze the representation of the Middle Ages through the eyes of the legendary French character Melusine de Lusignan. We will also address the specificities that the reconstruction of the past acquires by means of the constant counterpoint with the present from which it is narrated. We will consider, especially, her immortality regarding her remembrances.