Ramon Vinyes and the renewal of the Colombian narrative: Literary proteism in The Lake of Atitlan

This article analyses literary proteanism in Ramon Vinyes' narrative and particularly in his short story "El llac d'Atitlan". In this tale Ramon Vinyes turns into fiction his reflections about literary dynamism and the interconnection between literary systems. Literature facilitates knowledge transfer throughout epochs and cultures. Besides, the literary text is the result of various metamorphoses in which individuality and cultural hegemony play an outstanding role. "El llac d'Atitlan" fictionalises through the imagination of a Guatemalan poet the transfer of Renaissance philosophy in Latin America and its corruption under the influence of North American culture. Intertextuality and self-reference are the mechanisms to reshape knowledge. Literary proteanism becomes apparent through semantic and narratological transformation.