La présence de la nuit dans Wakolda de Lucía Puenzo

Abstract

This paper analyzes the presence and significance of the night in the novel Wakolda by Lucía Puenzo and also in the film adaptation of the text. The novel presents the short period during which the former Auschwitz extermination camp doctor, Josef Mengele, supposedly spent under the name of Helmut Gregor in Bariloche in Argentina. It is clear that there is no shortage of expressions linked to night when it comes to evoking the horrors committed by the Nazis. True to its etymology, the time between sunset and sunrise, is marked by the presence of darkness conducive to crimes. The paper thus links the night to the ideas of destruction, misfortune and death. The night is analyzed on three levels: as a singular space-temporal concept, as a symbol of criminal acts, and as a mirror of the sexual awakening of the character of Lilith.