El empréstito como herramienta de entrecruce en Maniac: entre la ciencia y la literatura

Abstract

Science is sometimes portrayed as a body of rational ideas that seeks a deep understanding of the world. Literature is also seen as the art of exploring the dark and dangerous. In these definitions both science and literature seek to explore and reveal deep aspects of reality using di↵erent methods. In Benjamin Labatut’s novel Maniac an approach is used that mixes science fact and fiction making use of the literary resource of borrowing to tell stories about scientific advances and historical figures. The latter understood as the borrowing of narrative elements from one discipline to enrich another will be the high point of the entire work where the author intertwines scientific concepts with fictional relationships to explore the human condition and the impact of science in the 20th and 21st centuries. In this article we seek to analyze the use of borrowing in a text such as Maniac and how the veracity of fictional discourses that incorporate real facts can be determined. Through works such as those of John Searle the logical status of fictional discourse will be discussed suggesting how in these Works literature can offer a unique perspective on science making knowledge more accessible and reflective.