Testimony and apocryphal writing: Aesthetic configuration of "Manuscrito Cuervo: Jacobo's Story" by Max Aub

The goal of this article is to propose answers to this question: how and why in "Manuscrito cuervo" [The raven & PRIME;s manuscript] Aub combines different forms of elaboration of the literary testimony with apocryphal wri-ting, an issue that has not been considered in his critical fortune. The theoretical perspective of this work comes from Hegel, Benjamin, Arendt and Agamben. Initially, it formulates an interpretation of critical and hegemonic historiographical practices in Spain, attributing them to the difficulties in recognizing the aesthetic dimension of Aub & PRIME;s works, thus excluding him from the canon. It could be considered that the aesthetical strangeness provoked by his texts would be a consequence of its structural mo-vement: the simultaneous creation in the field of writing and in the field of reading. This one offers to the critic the challenge of breaking the chronological line of Aub & PRIME;s pu-blications; this could be the reason for non identifying the apocryphal writing of "Manuscrito cuervo". Finally, the work examines the meaning of the apocryphal, in order to interpret the tale.