Una 'vampira' en la selva: la mujer indígena en "La Nieve del Almirante"

Abstract

One of the secondary characters in Álvaro Mutis’ La Nieve del Almirante (1986), the first novel about Maqroll, is an indigenous woman, both mysterious and beastly, who approaches the protagonist and almost rapes him. The description of the native woman, the act, and its consequences for Maqroll recall, on the one hand, local models which have been already recognized by Mutis’ scholars. On the other hand, certain traits stand out that recall the European Gothic imaginary, particularly the figure of the feminine vampire. By comparing these features with some counterparts from La Morte amoureuse (Gautier 1836), Carmilla (Le Fanu 1872), and Dracula (Stoker 1897), where lady vampires play a central role, parallels with La Nieve del Almirante will be shown that highlight a deep affinity and a certain ‘tropicalization’ of the most famous of the femmes fatales.