Sarraute, Portrait d’un Inconnu [Portrait of a Man Unknown, Retrato de un desconocido]

(an "anti-roman"... tiene la virtud de deshacer la forma de la novela tradicional: few people are given names... there is an absolute minimum of action)

The title… refers to a Flemish painting by an unknown painter (citado por el narrador en una conversación mantenida en un museo con ella -la hija- casi al final de la novela): The Man in the Doublet [El hombre del chaleco]. {"hay algo en ese retrato... una angustia... como un llamamiento..."}

A (first-person) narrator… also the main character [protagonista]… a neurotic, fragile –nameless and vague himself, of indefinite age, appearance and social class- narrator who is himself a character in his novel…

{already introduced in Tropism no. XXII: “when he noticed their looks behind himself observing him [...] gave some crossings with three fingers of the right hand, three times three, the real effective gesture of the spell […] The objects also mistrusted a lot of him [...] had the erased face, anonymous [...] Only from time to time [...] he was allowed to go out [...] and there he looked through a clear glass a room [...] where warm, full, plenty of a mysterious density, there were objects that threw him some lots -also to him, although he was unknown and foreign- of their shine... (quand… regards en l'observant… des objets se méfiaient… avaient le visage effacé, anonyme… de temps en temps… il regardait à travers un cristal…où chargés d'une mystérieuse densité, il y avait des objets que lui lançaient parcelles -aussi à lui, bien que dehors ignoré et étranger- de leur éclat…)}

The narrator slowly…

unravels the minimal plot (investigando a -tras las huellas de-…)
presents the nameless characters (un padre y su hija)
describes the inaction
quotes conversation and sub-conversation: stereotyped words or phrases (speak in cliché) that cloak their solitude and their individuality

The novel employs…

repetitive imaginary -serialization of places and names-:

fragmentary phases and gestures of the earlies pages are repeated
(aunque cuando reaparecen más adelante sirven como detonantes de monólogos interiores o de escenas narrativas)

repetitive also means:

-multiple references to a “shell”;

-numerous uses of descriptive adjectives as “hard”, “smooth”, “solid”, “bottom”, “hole”, “void”;

-many instances of verbs denoting the idea of clinging to, holding on to;

-use of lists of spare parts (animal attributes, alone or in conjunction with a specific animal reference)

Sarraute, Portrait d’un Inconnu [Portrait of a Man Unknown, Retrato de un desconocido]