"El gran surubí" de Pedro Mairal: un análisis intertextual

This article presents a study of the intertextual relationships which Pedro Mairal’s "El gran surubí" establishes with some Argentinian and Anglo-American literary works, as well as with the production of the author himself. Our work starts with a formal analysis of the text, underlining its compositional peculiarities (it consists of a series of sixty sonnets) and the connections with Mairal’s "Pornosonetos", which have the same rhyme scheme and whose fictional author, the pseudonymous Ramón Paz, coincides with the protagonist of "El gran surubí". Secondly, we point out the intertextual relationships with Melville’s "Moby Dick", José Hernández’s "Martín Fierro" and the poetic production of Juan L. Ortiz, literary references which appear in the text in different ways and with a different level of explicitness. Finally, we highlight some interesting relations between "El gran surubí" and Mairal’s first novel, "Una noche con Sabrina Love", focusing at the same time on the evolution of Ramón Paz’s character in comparison with the fictional author of "Pornosonetos".