La Montaña de Estanislao

Abstract

This essay approaches the literary readings of Estanislao Zuleta (1935- 1990), who was one of the most influential intellectuals in contemporary Colombian thought. On the basis of Marxism and psychoanalysis the author attempted a rigorous interpretation of The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann. His main purpose can be explained from the standpoint of a libertarian pedagogy (redeeming, therapeutic, are other possible attributes); he saw in literature, and particularly in the work of the German novelist, an opportunity for the reader to question the false oppositions that are presented to him by ideology, revealing "the effective differences". On the other hand, the author considers this possible because literature, according to him, has the ability to activate the primary processes of the unconscious, from which the subject may subvert the laws that bind him.