The Lying Game: Falsehoods and Fabrications in La vida breve
Elizabeth A. Zahnd than a damaged product to be thrown away. No longer able to find "la sen-
Francis Marion University
In his "Requiem Para un Raro," Uraguay's President Julio Maria Sanguinetti
paints a rather bleak picture of Juan Carlos Onetti's fictional universe, describ-
ing it as a "humedad sordida, en que el alcohol, el sexo, la decadencia, se
anudan cansinamente..." (Sanguinetti 7). Likewise, the critic Gabriella Leiton
characterizes Onetti's settings as "un mundo deforme y cerrado" from which
fiction offers the only possibility for escape (Leiton 114). La vida breve pro-
vides no exception to these descriptions of a dismal Onettian environment.
Without a doubt, the climate of the novel is one of cruelty, debauchery, and
human despair.
If there is one vice that stands out above all others in La vida breve, it is
that of lying. As I will demonstrate in this paper, deception flourishes in the
novel in all its forms: it permeates the relationships between the characters,
guides the direction of the plot, causes a shift in identity for the protagonist,
and ultimately leads the reader to question the possibility of truthfulness in fic-
tion.
First and foremost, lying is an integral part of all the characters' actions in
La vida breve. This is due to the fact that in Onetti's fictional universe, the
impelling force behind all human relationships, real or imagined, is economics.
Onetti presents a world in which men and women, unable to accept the status
quo, use and abuse one another in an attempt to achieve pleasure or escape
from suffering. The most evident example of this exploitation is that of prosti-
tution.
In the novel's primary setting, La Queca offers sexual favors to a multitude
of men in return for cash, whereas in Brausen's imagined storyline, Elena Sala
reveals her nude body in order to seduce the doctor Diaz Grey and thus obtain
morphine. The fact that the novel's two principal female characters are harlots
is far from coincidental. The blatant acts of prostitution reduce the women to
the status of objects defined exclusively in terms of physical traits, as expressed
by Brausen's description of La Queca: "Esta boca hizo y dijo, esos ojos
miraron, las manos tocaron" (Onetti 102).
Like the prostitute,'sother patrons, the protagonist sees La Queca as an eco-
nomic good to be exploited. The client-prostitute relationship is essentially that
of a buyer and a seller, as illustrated by mounds of cash on the table in La
Queca's apartment.
Economics, or more specifically that which Freud termed "object-instinct,"
the will to satisfy purely selfish desires through objects and people (Freud 62),
also figures into relations between co-workers, friends, lovers, and acquaintanc-
es in La vida breve and is the basis of Brausen's marriage with Gertrudis,
whom the protagonist claims to have wed solely for sexual profit. Once the
young, desirable Gertrudis ages and falls victim to cancer, she is little more
sacion de paz que habia sentido al entrar en el cuerpo de Gertrudis cuando la
amaba" (Onetti 208), Brausen looks elsewhere to achieve satisfaction.
Since economics is the dominant force behind the relationships in La vida
breve, it follows that lying, as a function of these economics, is simply a way in
which Onetti's characters exploit one another in order to fulfill selfish desires.
This is certainly true in the case of Brausen, who lies habitually in order to
comfort and silence the suffering Gertrudis, to get money from Stein and
McLeod, to seduce La Queca, and to bind La Queca's lover Ernesto to an
adventurous dead-end flight from the police. Brausen takes open pleasure in his
deceits and abuses of the others, in one passage experiencing a certain "placer
y... necesidad de mentir" (Onetti 106) and in another likening his trickery to a
game: "asi transformaba el mundo, desinteresado, por el solo placer del juego"
(Onetti 311).
Brausen's penchant for deceit does not stand out as unique or unusual in the
cold world of Onettian politics. To the contrary, there is evidence that other
characters lie with as great if not greater frequency than the protagonist. Elena
lies to Diaz Grey in order to get morphine, Stein and McLeod exchange lies
constantly while discussing business, and the character Bichito openly admits
to lying pathologically: "...yo, que miento siempre" (Onetti 167). Lying in La
vida breve is thus a way of life. For this reason the protagonist identifies and
accepts deception as a normal part of human relations.
Perhaps one scene from La vida breve shows more than any other the great
extent to which dishonesty directs the characters' actions. Towards the end of
the novel, when La Queca dies and Brausen examines her dead, exploited body,
the protagonist takes for granted the amount of abuse and trickery it has under-
gone, and is shocked only by the absurdity of death itself:
...no miraba el cuerpo frio de una mujer abusada por
hombres y mujeres, por certidumbres y mentiras, las
necesidades, los estilos fraguados y espontaneos de la
incomprehension; no rniraba su rostro clausurado, sino
el de la muerte, insomne, activo, que seiialaba el
absurdo con dos cuadros dientes frontales y 10aludia con
el menton caido en la busqueda de un monosilabo
impronuciable. (Onetti 298)
The juxtaposition in this passage of the word "mentiras" with "certidum-
bres" and "necesidades" shows how lying in La vida breve is an accepted,
obligatory part of human interactions. That the protagonist refuses to even
acknowledge how the results of all the abuses against La Queca reflect his
unwillingness to question the meaning of the lies; here deception is simply one
of many bitter facts of life. Furthermore, what does seem to shock Brausen is
the absence of such abuse; in her state of death, La Queca can no longer
pronounce the lie, bemoan her suffering, or brag of abuses against others:
Muerta v regreso de la muerte, dura v fria como una verdad
prematura, absteniendose de vociferar sus experiencias, sus
2
 fracasos, los tesoros conquistados. (Onetti 298)
As this passage illustrates, Brausen associates death with truth: the absurd,
almost incomprehensible absence of lies and exploitation. Only in death do
humans cease to deceive and abuse one another. In other words, in La vida
breve to live is to lie.
As the following discussion shall demonstrate, deceit in La vida breve
extends far beyond verbal lying, as the need to fabricate alternate realities
becomes a driving force that controls characters' actions and perceptions of
themselves.
To escape the suffering of his personal life and to fill the void left by
Gertrudis, or more specifically by the loss of her breast (and thus Brausen's
opportunity for sexual gratification), the protagonist turns to his work. As he
plunges further and further into his writing, the initial level of the novel's plot
gives way to a second, or "fantasy" level-- that of the imagined film script. At
the same time, Brausen creates for himself a third reality, posing as Arce, in
order to seduce La Queca and escape his own responsibilities towards
Gertrudis. Both of these alternative lives are based on the protagonist's self-
deception. From the very beginning, when he first takes up his pen to write the
film script, Brausen must convince himself that he can escape the suffering in
his life:
Me convenci de que solo disponia, para salvarme, de aquella
noche que estaba empezando mas alla del balcon, excitante, con
sus espaciadas rafagas de viento calido-- estaria salvado si
empezaba a escibir el argumente para Stein, si terminaba dos
paginas, 0 una, siquiera, si lograba que la mujer entrara en el
consultorio de Diaz Grey y se escondiera detras del biombo, si
escribia una sola frase, tal vez. (Onetti 39-40)
Interestingly enough, in order to fabricate for others, Brausen must first lie
to himself. This passage reveals how at least one part of the protagonist's psy-
che is resistant to the lie: before letting his imagination run wild, he must con-
vince this part of himself of the possibility of salvation. As many do when
faced with a difficult task, Brausen bargains with himself, decreasing more and
more the requirements of the task and telling himself that if he can only write
two pages, or one page, or even one little sentence, everything will be fine and
he will be saved.
Once he accepts deceit as a means of escaping reality, Brausen lets his
imagination take over all aspects of his life. In effect, he becomes addicted to
his own fabrications as if to a drug, feeling a certain necessity to lie, not to
excuse himself but for the sake of pure pleasure. During a conversation with
Stein, Brausen admits to this pathological addiction: " - Se me ocurrio que me
seria imposible dejar de mentir durante toda la noche..." (Onetti 311).
Likewise, the protagonist admits his addiction to the fantasy of the film script:
... no me era posible desinteresarme de Elena Sala y el medico;
mil veces hubiera pagado cualquier precio para poder
abandonarme, sin interrupciones, al hechizo, a la absorta
3 4
atencion con que seguia sus movimientos absurdos, sus
mentiras, las situaciones que repetian y modificaban sin
causa (Onetti 154)
In the case of Brausen, admitting to an addiction is not the first step to
recovery.As the novel progresses, Brausen sinks further and further into the
realm of imagination until it finally overtakes and destroys his original self.
At first, Brausen declares his fantasy games to be part of an identity quest:
"... podria llegar a ser y a reconocerme." However, every time he looks in the
mirror, the protagonist fails to recognize his reflection, an indication that he has
done more to destroy his old identity than to create a new self-image. As the
novel progresses and the fictitious selves take over, the protagonist becomes
decreasingly conscious of any identity, be it that of Brausen, Arce, or Diaz
Grey.
Midway through the novel, Brausen comes to the realization that he is
becoming another, or two new Others, as is the case. The identity of these new
selves is far from stable, however; the protagonist is only aware of a growing
detachment from his actions and of the fact that he is losing himself to the very
fabrications he has created:
... yo casi no trabajaba y existia a penas: era Arce en las
regulares borraches con la Queca, en el creciente placer de
golpearla, en el asombro de que me fuera facil y necesario
hacerlo; era Diaz Grey, escribiendolo 0 pensandolo, asombrado
aqui de mi poder y de la riqueza de la vida. (Onetti 87-88)
When the fictitious selves do finally take over Brausen, they are no more
conscious of their identity than was the original protagonist. Like Brausen,
Diaz Grey cannot even look himself in the mirror, proving that Brausen's iden-
tity quest has failed; the world of fantasy only serves to further alienate the
protagonist.
This detachment from self evokes little concern in the heart of the protago-
nist. To the contrary, alienation seems to be his very goal. Brausen convinces
himself that through fantasy and fabrications, he has freed himself from the
suffering of ordinary human life: " 'Esto era 10que yo buscaba desde el princi-
pio -ser libre, ser irresponsable ante los demas, conquistarlme sin esfuerzo en
una verdadera soledad"'(Onetti 366).
Brausen goes as far as to call himself the master of the universe- "el
duefio del mundo" (Onetti 144), one who exists on a plane above the rest of
society. Thinking himself god-like, the protagonist develops a sense of immor-
tality.
As if he has conquered death by transferring his existence to the imaginary
realm, Brausen basks in the "seguridad de la muerte vencida por (su) triple pro-
longacion en el tiempo" (Onetti 246). Despite his feelings of conquest, howev-
er, Brausen is once again only fooling himself when he claims to have over-
come life's struggles. As the critic Ian Adams points out, Brausen's fantasies
and lies bear more resemblance to a death sentence than to a life-line:
The solitude desired is that resulting from total alienation and
 from complete destruction of self. The self he desires to the author. Likewise, the novel's very structure demonstrates how literature
conquer is that which, free from all external human contacts involves not only the writer's will to deceive, but also a willingness to be
and actions, is the minimum definition of an individual deceived on the part of the reader. As the reader delves deeper into the novel's
existence. It would seem that Brausen's goal is self- plot, Brausen loses himself more and more to his fantasies. Both are lured away
destruction, covered by a false desire for self-definition. from reality by the possibility of an alternate existence, and for both the bound-
(Adams 76-77) aries between truth and fiction become increasingly unclear until the end, when
Eventually, the protagonist does eradicate himself. Increasingly, he loses control all that is left is fantasy. In sum, Onetti uses La vida breve to show the reader
of his fantasies and deceptions, until they become entities unto themselves. As how both the writing and reading process are based on lies to others and to
Brausen himself puts it, his imagination begins to branch off on its own: "sin oneself. At its root, according to Onetti, all literature is deceit.
que contrara mi voluntad, el episodio nunca escrito debia bifurcarse" (Onetti
261).
Despite his illusions of grandeur, at the end of the novel Brausen is ren-
dered powerless. It is not the protagonist who is victorious over real life, but
rather the fabrication itself, as Diaz Grey's narrative voice takes over the interi-
or monologue. Effectively,Brausen is exterminated by his own lie.
The critic Josefina Ludmer argues that all of Onetti's novels, in one way or
another, revolve around the subject of writing, and that essentially, within these
novels, there exists no other theme: "...el hecho de escribir sobre el escribir
dibuja una matriz de todo 10que no serian mas que variaciones de ese esquema
fundamental" (Ludmer 465). Following Ludmer's line of thinking, one may
argue that Brausen's penchant for deceit originates in his profession as a writer.
Further, his self-proclaimed powers are none other than those of the writer and
the narrator.
Brausen's claim to be the master of the universe reflects the power of an
author to determine the actions and feelings of the inhabitants of his fictitious
world. Likewise, the protagonist's supposed ability to extend himself in space
and time via his fabricated selves reflects the immortality of the author, whose
soul lives on eternally through the written word.
In fabricating and falsifying then, Brausen is only imitating his own cre-
ator- the writer Onetti. Thus it should come as no coincidence that as the nar-
rative voice shifts from that of Brausen to that of Diaz Grey, the reader has a
fleeting image of a character named Onetti who both owns and shares
Brausen's office. For as the author of La vida breve, does not Onetti in one
sense "own" Brausen, and in another "share" his office and profession as cre-
ator of fiction? Onetti's position of superiority is also significant in that it situ-
ates him on the same plane as Brausen's employer, as one who can decide to
retain or cast out the protagonist. Finally, it is worth noting that as an authority
figure, Onetti appears just as Brausen loses both of his jobs, that of advertising
agent and that of narrator/protagonist. Oddly enough, it is almost as if Onetti
has arrived on the scene for the sheer purpose of overseeing Brausen's termina-
tion and the narrator's subsequent replacement by the voice of Diaz Grey.
Ultimately, the physical and metaphysical proximity of Onetti to Brausen
reinforces the parallel between the writer and the liar.After all, the primary
function of both is to tell stories. Onetti seems to be telling us that realist fic-
tion is a fraud in that it is but a constructed reality, a fabrication on the part of
5 6
 Works Cited

Adams, Ian M. ThreeAuthors ofAlienation: Bombai, Onetti, Carpentier.Austin:

University of Texas Press, 1975.
Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Ed. and Trans. James
Strachey. New York:WW Norton and Company, 1961.
Leiton, Gabriela. "Beckett y Onetti: dos miradas para una estetica del fracaso."
Samuel Beckett en la Argentina: Estudios y testimonios de Teatro
Comparado. Ed. Jorge Dubatti. Buenos Aires, Eudeba, 1998. 113-18.
Ludmer, Josefina. "La vida breve, entre la lengua y el texto (Ficci6n,
ubficci6n y ficci6n te6rica)." Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos 294 (1974)
465-79.
Onetti, Juan Carlos. La vida breve. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1950.
Sanguinetti, Julio Maria. "Requiem Para un Raro." Miradas Sobre Onetti:
Homenaje un ano despues. Ed. Omar Prego Gadea. Montevideo: Alfaguara,
1995.7-10.