Los (anti)héroes de la Conquista: el efecto-personaje en Ursúa (2005), de William Ospina

Based on the theory of “effet-personnage” by Vincent Jouve, this article analyses the structure of the eponymous character of the historical novel Ursúa (2005), by the Colombian writer William Ospina. It shows to what extent the psychological and actantial characterization of the protagonist both gets rid of the gallery of portraits of conquerors that surround it, and nuances itself with two specific architexts: the epic genre and the tragic genre. This work concludes with a character interpretation of Ursúa as a hermeneutic peon whose valuation fluctuates based on the ambivalent look of a mixed-raced narrator.