Un hombre de Zapotlán colgado de Kafka: La literatura kafkiana de Juan José Arreola

The literary poetics of Mexican writer Juan José Arreola (1918–2001), one of the great figures of 20th century Latin American narrative, rests on three pillars: his inscription in a specific literary tradition, an authorial position as a “cultural megaphone” and his preference for fantastic literature. Within that literary tradition, for Arreola Kafka, perhaps like no other author, provides a possible literary lens to examine in depth the human being of our time. The purpose of this paper is to traverse this Arreola-Kafka literary bridge and to read some edges of the Kafkaesque in Arreola’s work, paying special attention to the possible communicating vessels between the two literary projects.